Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014

Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

Innovative vibration learning system

Dr. Budhaditya Hazra, Liang Xu and Dr. Suri Ganeriwala

SpectraQuest Inc (Nov-2014)

Abstract:
Spectraquest inc (http://spectraquest.com/) introduces an innovative vibration
learning system called vibration fundamentals training system (VFT). To meet the
ever increasing industrial demands of understanding the dynamic behaviour of
high speed machines like turbines, pumps, aircraft engines etc, it is important that
the practitioners of vibration engineering get hands on knowledge of structural
dynamics and vibration theory. However, to date most of the college and
university curricula on vibration theory is mostly theoretical; involving solution of
equations and lot of number crunching. VFT system aims to bridge this gap by
bringing the classical vibration theory to life. The VFT clearly reinforces the
vibration theory concepts by providing a convenient means to validate predictions
and to demonstrate the influence of parameter changes on system response
visually. Students can perform virtual experiments using the vibration simulation
software and then verify the results with actual experiments thereby strengthening
the learning of difficult principles. The basic VFT frame consists of two identical
test stations mounted on a portable structure. It features into changeable restraint
fixtures, optional force transducers to measure the support reactions, sensors to
measure deflection and acceleration, and a variable frequency rotary shaker for
forced excitation. It allows for the first time to perform almost damping free
vibration experiments to verify the theory using SpectraQuest in-house developed
wireless sensor technology.

Keywords: VFT, vibration theory experiments, structural dynamics experiments,

1. INTRODUCTION

With an increase in high speed manufacturing and automation, it has become more
important to use the theory of vibration for design and maintenance of machinery.
This vibration theory is even more important in the monitoring and diagnosis of
machinery malfunctions. Hence an effective manner of hands on teaching of
vibration principles is the need of the decade. However, most academic
institutions include only theoretical lectures without laboratory exercises due a
Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

lack of an apparatus combined with an instrumentation setup. Keeping this chasm

between industrial needs and academic output in mind, Spectraquest Inc. has
introduced a new innovative and modular bench scale experimental set-up called
vibration fundamentals training system.
The Vibration Fundamentals Training System (alias VFT) is a turn-key
integrated educational package for teaching/learning the fundamental principles
of mechanical vibration as well as engineering mechanics. It provides both a
comprehensive hands-on experimental device and an instrumentation package
including wireless sensors for performing laboratory exercises to enhance student
understanding of vibration theory. The VFT clearly brings classical theory to life
by providing a convenient means to validate predictions and to demonstrate the
influence of parameter changes on system response visually. Students can
perform virtual experiments using the vibration simulation software and then
verify the results with actual experiments thereby reinforcing the learning of
difficult principles. The VFT provides an ideal tool for damping free vibration
experiments using the wireless sensors without affected by the damping
associated with the sensor cables. It is a perfect tool for teaching mechanical
vibration courses both at under graduate and graduate levels.
In this technote, we present some of the very basic set of experiments that
can be easily performed as a part of the vibration teaching curriculum. More
advanced applications will be dealt later in subsequent tech notes.

Figure 1: SpectraQuest’s vibration fundamentals training system (VFT)

Figure. 1 shows the VFT system with the basic modules like: torsional vibration
module, beam vibration module, spring-mass-damper system module and
vibration control module. Wireless accelerometers are used to collect data in the
framework of a wireless data acquisition system. The data thus obtained is
processed through Spectraquest’s custom built software.
Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

We now demonstrate the usage of the VFT system with the aid of a few simple
experiments. The experiments are created in such a way that it can be used by any
end-user to incorporate in a vibration teaching curriculum.

2. EXPERIMENTS
2.1 Experiment 1: Determination of Spring Stiffness
2.1.1- Scope and objectives
The basic step towards performing laboratory experiments to verify the
fundamental concepts of vibration theory, is to determine the spring stiffness or
the stiffness constant. The most common practical problem is getting a massless
spring. Mass springs merely facilitates theoretical development of single degree of
freedom vibration equations. In reality, all springs have masses and the mass of
the spring that participates in the SDOF vibration idealized as a lumped system is
called the effective mass. The expression of effective mass is given in any
standard textbooks and the readers are referred to some common works in this area
[1, 2, 3].
In the first experiment, the stiffness constant of the spring is determined using both
the static and the dynamic methods and verified with the theoretical expression
obtained from the strength of materials background on close coiled helical springs.
Objectives
 To determine the stiffness of a helical spring using two methods;

 Deflection curve and Hooke’s Law (static method).

 Natural frequency measurements of the SDOF mass-spring system
(dynamic method)
 Compare their results with the analytical value.

2.2- System Description:

The spring-mass system in Figure-2 shows an extension linear helical spring with
an initial free length Li, effective mass mS (=0.006 kg), supported vertically from
one of its ends; while the other end is free to elongate and attached to a load-
carrier of (mC = 0.028 kg) mass. The free length of the spring loaded with the load
carrier alone is Lo.
Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

Figure-2: General layout of the experiment set-up

Disks each of (m= 0.350Kg, 0.572Kg, 0.784Kg and 0.920Kg) mass are added to
the carrier gradually, and each loading state causes the spring to elongate by the
distance  from its unloaded length Lo to get a total length of L.

2.1.2- Governing Equations:

For the spring-mass system shown in Figure-2, in the case of free vibration in
the vertical direction Y, the equation of motion of the system is given by:

My  Ky  0 (1)

where:

M is the total mass of the system, and equals to:

M  m  mC  mS

From the equation of motion, we can find that:

K
* Natural frequency= n 
M
(2)
2 M m  mC  mS
* Period of oscillation=   2  2
n K K
(3)

For the linear spring following Hooke’s law, then:

Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

FS  K (4)
But for the present system, the spring force FS is also given by:
FS  mg (5)

Combine eqns-4 & 5, to get:

K
 m  (6)
g

For a helical spring, the stiffness is expressed analytically as:

Gd 4
K (7)
8ND 3

Using the dimensions of the spring as d=0.062 inches, D = 0.938 inches, number
of coils (N) = 17 and, torsional modulus G as 77.2 GPa, the theoretical value of
stiffness comes out as: 254.0836 N/m.

To verify the stiffness dynamically, the vertical mass spring system is set to
vibrate using initial velocity (impulse) and the natural frequency of vibration is
recorded using the spectra quest’s software. The stiffness calculated from the
recorded value of natural frequency can be written down as:

(8)

Where f is the natural frequency in hertz

2.1.3- Experimental Procedures:

1) Hang the spring vertically with the load carrier attached to its end, and then
measure the total length of the spring Lo.
(This length is not the initial free length of the spring Li)
2) Add one disk to the carrier (m = md), and measure the total length of the spring
after elongation L.
3) Calculate the extension,
4) With this loading, stretch the spring downward, then leave it to oscillate freely
and record the natural frequency
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Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

5) Keep changing the disc mass to higher values (0.350Kg, 0.572Kg, 0.784Kg and
0.920Kg) and repeat steps 1 to 4

2.1.4- Data processing:

Table-1 Data collected from the free vibration of spring mass system

Trial m (kg) (cm) (Hz) K (est) using 8 K (est) using 6

(N/m) (N/m)
1 0.35 1.3 4.02 245 264.3
2 0.57 2.1 3.26 253 266.54
3 0.784 2.9 2.75 244.2 265.47
4 0.920 3.4 2.55 245 265

Figure 3 clearly shows that the errors in estimating stiffness is more using the
static method compared to the dynamic method. However, for both the cases, the
errors are less than 5%, which are within the acceptable limits for engineering
applications.

2.1.5- More experiments based on the same working principle

Few more experiments can also be performed based on the sample working
principle. Presenting the details of them with data and results is beyond the scope
of the technote. They are summarized briefly in the table underneath.

6
Dynamic
Static
5
absolute error (%)

1
1 2 3 4
No of trials

Figure 3: Absolute error in stiffness estimation using static and dynamic methods
Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

Table-1: Summary of the experiments that can be performed with experiment-1

Square eqn-3, to get: Draw 2 versus m as 1) Intercept with the vertical

4 2
4 2 4 2
2  m  mC  mS  graph; Slope S1  axis YInter  mC  mS 
K
K K
 mS can be estimated

From eqn-6: Draw m versus  graph K

K Slope S 2 
m  g
g  K can be obtained.

Multiply the slopes of the You get the value:  g is estimated; compare it
previous two steps. 4 2 with textbook value
S1 S 2 
g
Use eqn-7: Find K directly. Compare the two experimental
Gd 4 values of K obtained before,
K with this theoretical value.
8ND 3
Square eqn-3, and Draw 2 versus m as 32 2 D 3 N
eliminate K using eqn-7, graph Slope = ,
Gd 4
then:
 Determine G, and compare
 32 2 D 3 N 
 2   4
m  mC  mS  it with the standard value for
 Gd  steel.

2.2 Experiment 2: Free vibration of spring mass damper system

2.2.1- Introduction:
Generally speaking, vibratory systems consist basically of: potential energy
storing element (Stiffness), kinetic energy storing element (Mass or Inertia) and
energy dissipation element (Damping).
Damping effect in vibratory systems may be caused by surface friction
between adjacent moving parts (dry friction), or due to plastic deformation and
internal friction between layers of the material of the part (structural damping);
Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

and these two categories may not be eliminated perfectly, as they are
uncontrollable. The third source of damping in vibrations is the use of mechanical
viscous dampers, and this type with determinate value of damping is used to get
the required damping effect. Generally, the first two types can be ignored in the
analysis of vibrations under certain conditions, and a system under vibrations is
treated as an un-damped vibrations case unless viscous dampers are employed. In
the subsequent experiments we show that the damping contribution from dry
friction and structural action is indeed negligible.
2.2.2- Objectives:
In this experiment, a simple spring-mass-damper system is to be studied, in
order to determine the damping coefficient C by logarithmic decrement method.

2.2.3- System Description:

Figure-4 shows the system to be studied, which consists of a solid disc of

mass M (sum of the disc mass, springs effective mass and the load career), that
moves vertically up and down, while attached from its upper side by a spring of
stiffness K, and from its lower side by a dashpot damper with damping coefficient
C; the spring and the damper are fixed to the main frame.

The dashpot used consists of a cylindrical disk immersed in a container filled

with oil. Figure-6 shows the details of the cylinder piston type arrangement. The
coefficient of damping of the dashpot varies according to the spacing between the
disc and the wall of the container. All the calculations are performed based on the
acceleration measurement carried out using the wireless accelerometer
Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

Figure 4: Setup for free vibration test

2.2.4- Governing Equations:

By giving the system shown schematically in Figure-4 an initial vertical

displacement Y, it will vibrate freely with a time-varying function y(t), and the
resulting equation of motion will be:

My  Cy  Ky  0 (9)

To solve for y(t); let y(t )  Ye , then the auxiliary equation and its solutions are:
st

Ms 2  Cs  K  0
C C2 K
 s  2
 (10)
2M 4M M

Substitute in y(t), to get:

y(t )  Y1e S1t  Y2 e S2t


C   K C2   2 
 A1 sin t  A cos K  C t 
t
 y (t )  e M

  M 4M 2  2
 M 4M 2 
   
(11)
But:
C C C
   (12)
CCritical 2 KM 2M n
Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
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Then, eqn-3.3 becomes:

     
y(t )  e nt A1 sin n 1   2 t  A2 cos n 1   2 t
(13)

Logarithmic decrement method:

Figure-5. Logarithmic decrement of the spring mass system for under-damping case
Considering a typical decaying curve as the one shown in Figure-5 above,
then the ratio of the amplitude Yo corresponding to the time t = to, to the amplitude
Yn at time t = to + n, is given by:-

Yo e  nto
  n to  n d   e n n d (14)
Yn e

Define the Logarithmic Decrement  as:

1 Y 
  ln  o  (15)
n  Yn 
Y 
Eliminate ln  o  from eqns-14& 15 to obtain an expression for  as:
 Yn 
2
   n d 
1 2

 2 (16)
  4 2

Then eqn-12 is used to find the damping coefficient, where:

Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

K
n 
M
(17)
Gd 4
K (18)
8ND 3

Figure-6: Cylinder piston type viscous damper

Theoretical values of damping ratio ( )

The theoretical expression for viscous damping coefficient for the piston cylinder
arrangement as shown in Fig. 6 is given by the following formula [1 ]:

* ( )+
(19)

Where is the coefficient of kinematic viscosity in micro-reyns (or centistokes).

The damping co-efficient is expressed in . Once c is known can be calculated
using the following expression:

[ ( )]

(20)

To arrive at the theoretical values of using equation the following values of the
parameters are used: l = 6.5 mm; d = 4.15 mm; = 3 micro-reyns. The diameter of
the cylindrical cup containing the damping fluid is 73 mm.
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2.2.5- Experimental Procedures:

1) Start with the system shown in Figure. 4

2) Pull the mass down and then release it to let it oscillate freely.
3) The accelerometer gathers the acceleration data
4) Use the software to calculate natural frequency and damping using Fourier
spectra and logarithmic decrement respectively.
5) Perform two sets of experiments for two situations: with the damper attached
and no damper attached.

Figure-7: Estimated and using the custom software for the undamped case
Table-2: Results for spring mass damper system in absence of viscous damping

Trial m (kg) (Hz) estimated (%) theoretical

1 0.35 4.02 0.141 0
2 0.57 3.26 0.2 0
3 0.784 2.75 0.18 0
4 0.920 2.55 0.19 0
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Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

Figure-8: Estimated and using the custom software for the damped case

Table-3: Results for spring mass damper system in presence of viscous damping

Trial m (kg) (Hz) estimated (%) theoretical Error (%)

1 0.35 3.98 11.0 7.66 46.6
2 0.57 3.20 7.4 5.8 28.48
3 0.784 2.74 6.6 5 32.0
4 0.920 2.54 5.8 4.59 26.36

From the results in tables-2 and 3, it can be observed that even the undamped
system possesses some damping although negligibly small. The theoretical values
of damping ratio ( theoretical) is calculated using eqn. 3.11 and eqn. 3.12. It can
be observed that there is significant error between the actual and the estimated
values of damping. This is attributed to the fact that there are many unobservable
sources of damping which is not practically easy to determine. For example, the
movement of the cylindrical rod that connects the vibration mass to the piston,
generates friction between the rod and the guide through which it slides. Figures 7
and 8 further provides the screen capture for the damping and frequency estimates
of the spring-mass-damper system using the customised VFT software.

Thus, it is safe to conclude that accurate estimation of damping is practically

difficult. The problem gets mitigated to a large extent by increasing the mass of
the vibrating body keeping the stiffness fixed.

3. VIRTUAL EXPERIMENTATION

One of the key aspects of the VFT system is virtual experimentation. The key
philosophy behind virtual experimentation is that the students should be able to
perform all the experiments on a simulation setting before performing the actual
experiment. The VFT package offers a simulation software is designed to teach
basic concepts using a new interactive and visual simulation technique. Users can
perform virtual experiments on various topics by changing the parameters of a
vibratory system and see how the system behavior is affected. The effect is
displayed dynamically. The vivid visualization enhances the learning and
clarification. A spring-mass-damper system is used to animate the vibration
response. It is important to observe that the speed of animation is proportional to the
natural frequency of the spring mass system: the higher the frequency, the faster it
moves.
 Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

Figure-9: Simulation software showing a SDOF system vibration

One of the attractive features of the software is the multi-plot option. A multi-plot
can be used to compare their effects on vibration response. Therefore, instead of
deriving the equations, the user can go one step further, “play and see” the vibration
behavior. The software includes the most common topics of a typical vibration
course. This is particularly useful, for example, to demonstrate resonance of a
SDOF vibrating system. Users can set the frequency of the forcing function close to
the natural frequency of the SDOF system and compare the response amplitudes as
the forcing function frequency is perturbed to values slightly higher and lower than
the natural frequency.
Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

Figure-10: Simulation software demonstrating resonance using the multiplot

feature

4. CONCLUSIONS:

In this technote, we have presented a very innovative vibration learning

system; spectraquest’s vibration fundamental training (VFT) system. VFT is a
modular, attractive, hands on vibration training system that supplements
textbook learning with very easy, convenient and effective bench scale
experiments. The system facilitates different levels of modularisation to
perform wide gamut of vibration experiments. The results from some of the
experiments clearly prove this point. It is well supplemented by a wonderful
virtual experimental package in the form of a simulation software which
clearly demonstrates its efficacy in providing a preparatory guidance before
performing the actual laboratory tests.
Innovative vibration learning system SQi-02C-112014
Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (Nov. 2014)

5. REFERENCES:

1. “Rao, S. S.”, Mechanical vibrations, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2003.

2. “Den Hartog, J. P.”, Mechanical vibrations, Dover, 1984.
3. “Thomson, W, T., and Dahleh, M.” Theory of Vibration with Applications,
Prentice Hall, 1997.