CEP 726 (Part II): Smart Materials and Structures, conducted at Smart Structures and Dynamics Lab, IIT

Delhi

Experiment 3: FORCED EXCITATION OF RC BEAM USING PORTABLE SHAKER

ANURAG CHOUKSEY1(2014CES2030), AKSHAY KUMAR(2014CES2030)
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi

ABSTRACT
Forced harmonic vibration theory provide tools and platform to determine the natural frequency and
damping ratio of a structure from its measured response in frequency domain to a harmonic vibration
generated by the inertial type shaker. In this study, the vibration characteristics of a simply supported
reinforced concrete beam are determined by exciting beam with input of sweep sinusoidal wave form

OBJECTIVES
This experiment objective is to find out the natural frequency and damping ratio for simply supported
reinforced concrete beam (4 m X 0.150 m X 0.20 m) by applying forced harmonic excitation/vibration.
Also, calculating the theoretical value of the natural frequency and damping ratio and compare it with
the experimental value.

EXPERIMENTAL SET UP
This experiment involve simply supported reinforced concrete beam of dimensions 4 m X 0.150 m X
0.20 m. A signal generator which generate sweep sinusoidal signal (5HZ to 40HZ) which is further
amplified by amplifier and transmitted to inertial type shaker. PZT sensor also bonded to the surface of
beam which generates voltage difference across its ends because of beam surface undergoes strain
fluctuation due to vibration, data is visible in oscilloscope. The data is converted into frequency
domain from time domain.

RC Beam

Shaker

Fig.(1): Experimental setup

RESULTS
Observations-
Properties of RCC beam –
Span of beam (L) = 4m, Width of beam (B) = 0.150m,
Depth of Beam (D) = 0.20 m, Centre to Centre span of beam = 3.76m,
Grade of concrete, fck= 30MPa, Young Modulus of Elasticity (Ec)=5000√fck= 2.7386x104 MPa
Moment of Inertia (I)=1X10-4m4 Area (A) = 3X10-2m2 , Density(ρ) = 2500kg/m3,

1
Coordinator of the experiment
Date of Experiment: 14/11/2014 Date of Submission: 20/11/2014
 CEP 726 (Part II): Smart Materials and Structures, conducted at Smart Structures and Dynamics Lab, IIT Delhi

Equations

Damping ratio (using the half power band method)

f 2  f1 …Eq. (1)
   2.76
2 fn

Where ξ denotes damping ratio, fn is natural frequency corresponding to peak response and f1 , f2
represents the frequencies corresponding0.707 times of peak response (f2>fn>f1).
𝜋𝑛 2 𝐸𝐼
𝑓𝑛 = = 21.22 𝐻𝑧. … Eq. (2)
2𝐿2 𝜌𝐴

fn= the natural frequency of the beam in the nth order, i.e. n= 1,2,3
Tables
Table 1: Experimental values for half power band method
Sensor f1|(Hz) fn(Hz) f2|(Hz)
PZT sensor 15.75 16.27 16.65

Table 2: Comparison between experimental and theoretical results

Experimental Value Theoretical Value Percentage error
Natural frequency, fn 16.27Hz 21.22 Hz 23.32 %
Damping Ratio, ξ 2.76% 3 - 5% -
Figure:

Fig.(2): Amplitude versus Frequency (FFT)

CONCLUSIONS
From the experiment conducted, we can conclude that with increase in frequency near the natural
frequency, the sinusoidal AC voltage measured increases very abruptly as plotted in the graph above
and then decreases and the peak natural frequency is 16.27Hz, whereas the theoretical calculated
frequency is 21.22Hz. Damping of the RC beam is coming 2.76% which is close to the theoretical
value (3-5 %).

REFERENCES
1. Bhalla S.(2014), Manual of Experiment No. 1, Virtual Smart Structures and Dynamics Lab.
2. Chopra, A. (2001), Dynamics of Structures, Prentice Hall of India limited, New Delhi.

Date of Experiment: 14/11/2014 Date of Submission: 20/11/2014