Experiment No.

Objectives: To determine the natural frequencies of a cantilever beam by resonance method.

Theory:

Fig.1 Free body diagram of a section of cantilever beam

The transverse displacement y is a function of position x and time t, i.e., y=y(x,t)

Flexural Vibration of Euler-Bernoulli Beam:

Assumptions:
1. Plane section remain plane after deformation [ Pure bending case]
2. Rotation of cross section is neglected.
3. Effect of rotational inertia is neglected. [Rayleigh beam takes care]
4. Shear deformation is neglected. [ Timoshenko takes care both 3 & 4]
5. Deflections are small. [To avoid non-linearity]

y=y(x,t), (deflection as a function of space and time)

M= M(x,t), [ Bending Moment]
V=V(x,t). [Shear force]
p(x,t) is the external force per unit length of the beam
m(x)= Mass per unit length
Take an element length of dx, V and M are the Shear force and Bending Moments
respectively.

By force summing
V 2 y (1)
 p( x, t )  m( x) 2
x t
By moment summing
M V 1
M dx  M  (V  dx)dx  p( x, t ).(dx) 2  0
x x 2
which turns to
M  2 M V
 V  0 or  0 neglecting higher order term of dx (2)
x x 2 x
2 y
From (1) & (2) and applying M  EI 2 we get
x
 2
 y
2
 y
2
 2 ( EI 2 )  p( x, t )  m( x) 2
x x t

For uniform beam (both in rigidity and geometry) and for free vibration (p(x,t)=0), above
reduces to
4 y 2 y
 EI  m (3)
x 4 t 2

By separation of variable
y(x,t) = Y(x) F(t).

We get the form of Eqn.(3) as

d 2F d 4Y
dt 2   EI dx 4   2 , where ω is natural frequency and m=ρA is mass per unit length.
F m Y

Finally, the space part becomes

d 4Y m 2
  Y  0 , where  
4 4
.
dx 4 EI

Now the general solution to this equation becomes as

Y ( x)  A sin  x  B cos  x  C sinh  x  D cosh  x
If we apply boundary condition for cantilever beam, (Fixed- Free) we get
Y ( x) x 0  0  B   D
dY ( x)
 0  A  C
dx x 0

The solution turns out as

Y ( x)  A  sin  x  sinh  x   B  cos  x  cosh  x 
Applying the boundary condition at the free end we obtain
d 2Y ( x)
EI 0  A 2   sin  L  sinh  L   A 2   cos  L  cosh  L   0
dx 2 x  L
d 3Y ( x)
EI 3
 0  A 3   cos  L  cosh  L   B 3  sin  L  sinh  L   0
dx x  L

which yields the homogeneous equation

   sin  L  sinh  L    cos  L  cosh  L   A 0
 
  cos  L  cosh  L   sin  L  sinh  L    B  0

The determinant asserts the following relation as

cos  L cosh  L  1  0 .

The solutions of the transcendental equation are given below (for cantilever beam)

Fundamental Mode Second Mode Third Mode

2
(βL) 3.52 22.4 61.7

Question
Using above theory, find out the first three natural frequencies of cantilever beam having
length 485mm, width 50mm and thickness 5mm and is made up of mild steel.
Apparatus:

Procedure:

 Assume the impact hammer applies a unit impulse.

 Find out first 3 mode natural frequencies and fill up the following table:

Fundamental Second Mode Third Mode

Mode
Theoretical Frequency (Hz)

Questions:

1. Will the Mass of Accelerometer affect the natural frequencies? State the reason.
2. Why the theoretical results are different from experiment results?
3. Why the differences are much prominent in higher modes?
4. If we reduce the length of given beam by 50%, what is the change in Fundamental
frequency?
5. If we place the beam vertically instead of horizontal will there be any change in
natural frequency? State the reason.
6. Why the exciter is placed near the root and middle of the width?

Reference: SS Rao, Mechanical Vibrations, 6th edition in SI units, Chapter 8

W. T. Thomson and Dahleh, M. D., Theory of Vibration with Applications Chapter 4

Experiment No. 2
Objective: To study the forced vibration and transfer function of a cantilever beam from the
time response.

Experimental setup:

Procedure*:
 Configure the sensor actuator system as per the above diagram.
 After getting the estimate of frequency go for the finer estimation from the Lissajous
plot. Please note that at the excitation frequency of 𝜔𝑛 only Lissajous plot will be
vertical otherwise it will be inclined.
 Set the current input 2A, gain to 20dB, and then gradually increase the gain using
variable gain.
 Set the Amplifier Input to 5Vpp and 5Hz
 Reading on amplifier display should not cross the limit set. (Voltage limit 1.8V,
Current limit 1.5A)

*Above procedure can be done only in the lab.

For this lab, go to next page.

Theory:
The forced-vibration solution of a beam can be determined using the mode superposition
principle. For this, the deflection of the beam is assumed as

where is the 𝑊𝑛 (𝑥) nth normal mode or characteristic function satisfying the differential
equation

The time response of individual modes has been represented by the 𝑞𝑛 (𝑡) in equation. The
separation of time and space helps solve it separately. Putting the solution into the Euler-
Bernoulli equation, and integrating it to get the differential dimensionless form

Let exclude the external forces to obtain a solution called the free vibration:
𝑞̈ 𝑛 + 𝜔𝑛2 𝑞𝑛 = 0

The spatial and time responses are naturally interconnected. Each spatial mode has its own
natural frequency characterizing its time response.

Input-output model for Transfer Function

The set of equations can be transformed into an input-output model. A one-dimensional case
for the transverse displacement u3 = u3(x,t) might be assumed to have a separate solution. The
time-frequency Laplace transform can be given by:
∞

U3 (X, s) = ∑ Wn (x)Φn (s)

𝑛=1
The solution in time qn (t) for an undamped case can be rewritten using the orthogonality
conditions,
𝑞̈ 𝑛 + 𝜔𝑛2 𝑞𝑛 = 𝑄𝑛 (𝑡)
𝑙
The variable 𝑄𝑛 (𝑡) = ∫0 𝑓(𝑥, 𝑡)𝑊𝑛 (𝑥)𝑑𝑥 can often be decomposed to
 𝑄𝑛 (𝑡) = 𝐹𝑛 𝑢(𝑡)

The Laplace transform is

and use of a Laplace transformed relation result in a transfer function for one single (nth)
mode
𝛷𝑛 (𝑠) 𝑊𝑛 𝐹𝑛
𝐺𝑛 (𝑠, 𝑥) = = 2
𝑈(𝑠) 𝑠 + 𝜔𝑛2

The complete solution is then obtained by including all the terms

∞
𝑊𝑛 𝐹𝑛
𝐺𝑛 (𝑠, 𝑥) = ∑
𝑠 2 + 𝜔𝑛2
𝑛

Procedure:
 Current output of 2A (peak-peak) from the power amplifier is fed to the exciter.
 Find the exciter force output (Use the exciter specification sheet attached)
Question:
 Plot the transfer function vs frequency of the cantilever beam of length 250mm,
thickness 1mm and width 24mm which is made up of steel.

References
SS Rao, Mechanical Vibrations, 6th edition in SI units, Chapter 8
Bp_2013_hudec_marek.pdf (cvut.cz)