AFFILIATED TO PURBANCHAL UNIVERSITY

KHWOPA ENGINEERING COLLEGE

An Undertaking of Bhaktapur Municipality
Libali-2, Bhaktapur
Nepal

A
REPORT ON
FREQUENCY AND DAMPING OF SDOF (FREE VIBRATION)
Practical No: 1

SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED TO:

Name: Dinesh Sakhakarmi Department of Earthquake Engineering
Roll No: ME07603 Khwopa Engineering College
Libali, Bhaktapur

Date of Submission: 2077/11/03

OBJECTIVES
1. To determine the frequency,time period and damping of single degree of freedom system
using free vibration analysis
2. To be familiar with the mathematical calculation of analysis as well as comparing it with
the FFT analysis.
APPARATUS AND INSTRUMENT REQUIRED
1. Cantilever Beam Setup
2. 1 kg mass
3. Vernier Caliper
4. Stopwatch
5. Accelerometer
6. Measuring tape
THEORY
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It describes the
number of waves that pass a fixed place in a given amount of time.
Damping is any effect that tends to reduce the amplitude of vibrations or the oscillations. In
mechanics, the internal friction may be one of the causes of such damping effect. It is
produced by mechanisms that disperse the energy accumulated in the oscillation.
Types of Vibration
1. Free Vibration: A free vibration is where there is no externally applied vibration forcing.
In this vibration, the amplitude of vibration stays the same and oscillates in natural
frequency.
2. Forced vibration: When a time dependent and altering interruption (i.e. load, displacement
or velocity) is applied to a mechanical system to cause vibrations then the resulting
vibration is known as forced vibration. The interruption can be Periodic, steady state (long
lasting), transient (short term) or a random (arbitrary).
Single Degree of Freedom (SDOF) Systems
A single mass attached to a spring represents the simplest vibratory structural system. If the
mass is only permitted to move along the direction of spring elongation then such systems are
known as single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems.

The equation for a SDOF system for

free vibration can be given as
mu   cu  ku  0 …………….(i)
where, m is mass, c is damping
constant, k is spring stiffness and
and u, u, u  displacement, velocity and
acceleration respectively.

Figure 1 Single Degree of Freedom (SDOF) system

Logarithmic Decrement:
The logarithmic decrement is defined as the natural log of the ratio of the amplitudes of any
two successive peaks: (time domain function)
( )
(
……………………………………….….. (ix)
)

where, x(t) is the amplitude at time t and x(t + nT) is the amplitude of the peak n periods
away, where n is any integer number of successive, positive peaks.
Damping Ratio:
The damping ratio provides a mathematical means of expressing the level of damping in a
system relative to critical damping. For a damped harmonic oscillator with mass m, damping
coefficient c, and spring constant k, it can be defined as the ratio of the damping coefficient
in the system's differential equation to the critical damping coefficient:

ξ= …………………………………………. (x)

where, c= actual damping and ccr is critical damping.

Also, We can get the damping coefficient from the expression shown in below

ξ= …………………………………….. (xi)

where, fn= peak frequency obtained after fast fourier transform of time domain data

Figure 3: rms frequencies

PROCEDURE
1. A cantilever beam placed over a vertical stand supporting at one end was taken.
2. A 1 kg mass was placed over the plastic sheet slab supported on four beams.
3. The accelerometer was placed over the free end of beam to record the acceleration during
the free vibration..
4. The four sets of data was recorded for the single degree of freedom.
5. Sets of data were extracted from computer as csv file.
6. Length and width of the beam as well as plastic material on top of beam was taken with
the help of a measuring tape and thickness was measured with the help of a veriner
calliper.
7. The obtained acceleration was transformed using FFT and then plotted with the help of
MATLAB so as to obtain the required parameters .

OBSERVATION AND CALCULATIONS

Properties of Material
Material used= Aluminium
Density= 2710 kg/m3
Young’s Modulus (E) = 6.9*1010 N/m2
Length of Beam (L) = 445mm = 0.445m
Width of Beam (b) = 25.10mm = 0.0251m
Depth of Beam (d) = 4.55mm=0.0045m
Moment of Inertia (I) = bd3/12 = 1.90*10-10 m4
Stiffness of Beam (k) = 4*12EI/L3 = 7141.07 N/m
Density of plastic material = 940 kg/m3
Length of plastic material = 300mm =0.3m
Width of plastic material = 150mm =0.15m
Depth of plastic material = 12.15mm= 0.01215m
Mass of aluminium material (m1) = ρ*l*b*h = (2710*0.0251*0.0045*0.445) = 0.1362 kg
Mass of plastic material (m2) = (940*0.3*0.15*0.01215) =0.513 kg
Now,

For Single Degree of Freedom

When 1 kg mass is added on the free end of cantilever beam i.e. for single degree of freedom

Circular natural frequency, ω= √ = 68.70 rad/sec

Natural frequency, f= = 10.93 Hz.

Effective mass on tip of beam, m = k/ω2 = 1.513 kg
Fundamental time period, T = 1/ f =0.091 sec
MATLAB CODING
For All Case

data=xlsread('Lab1_Data.csv');
t=data(:,1);
a=data(:,2);
figure(1);
plot(t,a,'g');
title('all experiment data');
xlabel('time,sec');
ylabel('acceleration,gal');

%data set-1;
t1=data(2:6002,1);
a1=data(2:6002,2);
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t1,a1);
title('collected data from accelerometer');
xlabel('time,sec');
ylabel('acceleration');
A1=fft(a1);
amp1=abs(A1);
N1=length(amp1);
fs=100;
freq1=(0:1:N1-1)*fs/N1;
subplot(2,1,2)
plot(freq1,amp1);
title('frequency domain');
xlabel('frequency,Hz');
ylabel('amplitude,cm');

%data set-2;
figure(2)
t2=data(9502:11902,1);
a2=data(9502:11902,2);
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t2,a2);
title('time domain');
xlabel('time,sec');
ylabel('acceleration,gal');
A2=fft(a2);
amp2=abs(A2);
N2=length(amp2);
fs=100;
freq2=(0:1:N2-1)*fs/N2;
subplot(2,1,2)
plot(freq2,amp2);
title('frequency domain');
xlabel('frequency,Hz');
ylabel('amplitude,cm');

%data set-3;
figure(3)
t3=data(15402:17702,1);
a3=data(15402:17702,2);
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t3,a3);
title('time domain');
xlabel('time,sec');
ylabel('acceleration,gal');
A3=fft(a3);
amp3=abs(A3);
N3=length(amp3);
fs=100;
freq3=(0:1:N3-1)*fs/N3;
subplot(2,1,2)
plot(freq3,amp3);
title('frequency domain');
xlabel('frequency,Hz');
ylabel('amplitude,cm');

%data set-4;
figure(4)
t4=data(22402:24302,1);
a4=data(22402:24302,2);
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(t4,a4);
title('time domain');
xlabel('time,sec');
ylabel('acceleration,gal');
A4=fft(a4);
amp4=abs(A4);
N4=length(amp4);
fs=100;
freq4=(0:1:N4-1)*fs/N4;
subplot(2,1,2)
plot(freq4,amp4);
title('frequency domain');
xlabel('frequency,Hz');
ylabel('amplitude,cm');

Data set-1
Data set-2

Data set-3
Data set-4

To determine Damping ratio(ξ) and Time period , (From Graph above)

For First trial,

we have,
ln(Vn/Vn+1)=

ξ = ln(758.305/53.48)/( )
= 0.0117 = 1.17%

For Second trial,

we have,
ln(Vn/Vn+1)=

ξ = ln(667.51/82.43)/( )
= 0.012 = 1.2 %
For Third trial,

we have,
ln(Vn/Vn+1)=

ξ = ln(793.61/42.86)/( )
= 0.0132 = 1.32 %

For Fourth trial,

we have,
ln(Vn/Vn+1)=

ξ = ln(808.27/67.13)/( )
= 0.0141 = 1.41 %

Average damping ratio is given as

ξavg = (0.0117+0.012+0.0132+0.0141)/4 = 0.01275 = 1.275 %

Computing Time period Experimentally,(From graph)

For First trial (T1) = 0.21 sec

For Second trial (T2) = 0.2 sec
For Third trial (T3) = 0.2 sec
For Fourth trial (T4) = 0.22 sec

Average Time period = 0.202 sec

Using Fast fourier transform

Outputs from above matlab codings,
From above matlab outputs we can see that

Peak amplitude (Ao) = = 1.869*105 cm

= =1.32*105 cm
√ √

Peak frequency (fn)=4.85 Hz

From above figures,

fn-1= =4.75 Hz

fn+1= = 4.875 Hz

Damping Ratio(ξ)= = =0.0154 =1.54%

Logarithmic Decrement(δ)= =0.097
√

RESULTS
Time period obtained from analytical calculation (formula) = 0.09 sec
Time period obtained from Matlab analysis = 0.202 sec
Error in Time period = 55.44%
Damping ratio from experimental data = 0.01275 = 1.275 %
Damping ratio from experimental using FFT = 0.0154 = 1.54 %
Error in damping ratio = 17.207%
Logarithmic Decrement (average) = 0.097

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

Thus, we determined the frequency and time period as well as damping of the single degree
of freedom system by using Analytical method. Also,Damping ratio is obtained using Fast
fourier transform method. The Damping ratios values obtained from analytical and FFT
methods were compared to each other and found to be 0.01275 & 0.0154 respectively which
is very close to each other. Time period obtained theoretically is found to be 0.09 sec whereas
time period is found to be 0.202 sec experimentally.