MEng 18 – Vibration Engineering

Midterm Examination
Name: __________________________ Course & Year: ____________ Date & Time: _______________
Part I (2 pts each) – Encircle the letter of your answer and show your solution (+2 pts. for each
correct solution).

1. A harmonic displacement is 𝑥(𝑡) = 10 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (30𝑡 − 𝜋/3) 𝑚𝑚, where t is in seconds and the phase angle
in radians. Find the frequency of the motion.
a) 0.2094 b) 1.209 c) 2.094 d) 4.77
2. Determine the torsional stiffness of the shaft in the system with modulus of rigidity 80 GPa, internal
radius 15 mm, outside radius 25 mm and length 1.4 m.
a) 1.05 X 104 N-m/rad b) 2.05 X 104 N-m/rad c) 3.05 X 104 N-m/rad d) 4.05 X 104 N-m/rad
3. A harmonic motion is described as 𝑥(𝑡) = 𝐴 𝑐𝑜𝑠 (100𝑡 + ∅) 𝑚𝑚. The initial conditions are 𝑥0 = 4.0 mm
and 𝑥̇ 0 = 1.0 m/s. Find the constant ∅.
a) 10.77° b) 30.42° c) 50.86° d) 68.19°
4. A block is attached to a system shown. Knowing that m = 50 kg, determine the equivalent spring
constant.

a) 96.85 kN/m b) 265 kN/m c) 349 kN/m d) 469 kN/m

5. An electronic instrument, weighing 400 N, is supported on a rubber mounting whose force deflection
relationship is given by 𝐹(𝑥) = 2𝑥 3 − 26𝑥 2 − 260𝑥 where the force (F) and the deflection (x) are in N
and mm, respectively. Determine the deflection of the mounting corresponding to the equivalent linear
spring constant.
a) 0.1100 mm b) 0.2361 mm c) 0.3636 mm d) 0.4649 mm
6. A sinusoidal motion is given by 𝑥(𝑡) = 20 𝑠𝑖𝑛 41.89𝑡 mm, where t is in seconds and the natural
frequency in radian per seconds. Find the maximum velocity.
a) 838 mm/s b) 1283.35 mm/s c) 3950.9 mm/s d) 35,090 mm/s
7. A sinusoidal motion has a frequency of 10 Hz. Find the maximum velocity if the maximum acceleration
is 287.1 m/s2.
a) 4.57 m/s b) 5.74 m/s c) 7.27 m/s d) 9.45 m/s
𝜋
8. A harmonic motion is 𝑥 = 𝐴 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝜔𝑡 + ∅) mm. Knowing that 𝑥1 = 2 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝜔𝑡 + ) mm and 𝑥2 = 3 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝜔𝑡 +
3
2𝜋
) mm, find A.
3
a) – 4.357mm b) 5.437mm c) 6.253mm d) 8.341mm
9. A machine is subjected to the motion 𝑥(𝑡) = 𝐴 𝑐𝑜𝑠 (𝑤𝑡 + ∅) mm. The initial conditions are 𝑥(0) = 3 𝑚𝑚
and 𝑥̇ (0) = 1 m/s. Express the motion in the form 𝑥(𝑡) = 𝐴1 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔𝑡 + 𝐴2 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔𝑡 and determine the
constant 𝐴2 .
a) 3 mm b) 7 mm c) 11 mm d) 20 mm
10. When the displacement of a machine is given by 𝑥(𝑡) = 18 𝑐𝑜𝑠 8𝑡 where x is measured in millimeters
and t in seconds, find the period of the machine in sec.
 a) 0.5427 s b) 0.7854 s c) 1.2732 s d) 2.2352 s
11. An industrial press is mounted on a rubber pad to isolate it from its foundation. If the rubber pad is
compressed 5 mm by the self weight of the press, find the natural frequency of the system.
a) 34.4 rad/s b) 44.3 rad/s c) 53.5 rad/s d) 64.5 rad/s
12. A spring-mass system has a natural period of 0.21 sec. What will be the new period if the spring
constant is decreased by 50 percent?
a) 0.172 s b) 0.297 s c) 0.359 s d) 0.475 s
13. The maximum velocity attained by the mass of a simple harmonic oscillator is 10 cm/s, and the period
of oscillation is 2 s. If the mass is released with an initial displacement of 2 cm, find the amplitude.
a) 0.032 m b) 0.08 m c) 0.314 m d) 51.07 mm
14. In problem 13, find the initial velocity
a) 0.032 m /s b) 0.08 m/s c) 0.314 m/s d) 51.07 mm/s
15. The natural frequency of a spring-mass system is found to be 2 Hz. When an additional mass of 1 kg is
added to the original mass m, the natural frequency is reduced to 1 Hz. Find the spring constant k.
a) 0.33 N/m b) 35.46 N/m c) 46.33 N/m d) 52.64 N/m
16. An electrical switch gear is supported by a crane through a steel cable with modulus of elasticity 207
GPa, of length 4 m and diameter 0.01 m. If the natural time period of axial vibration of the switch gear is
found to be 0.1 s, find the cable stiffness.
a) 1029.5 kN/m b) 2040 kN/m c) 3049.5 kN/m d) 4060 kN/m
17. Determine the acceleration of the mass of a spring-mass system after 2 seconds with 𝑘 = 500 𝑁/𝑚,
𝑚 = 2 𝑘𝑔, 𝑥0 = 0.1 m and 𝑥̇ 0 = 5 𝑚/𝑠.
a) 4.57 m/s2 b) 20.5 m/s2 c) 40.7 m/s2 d) 45.7 m/s2
18. An automobile is found to have a natural frequency of 20 rad/s without passengers and 17.32 rad/s with
passengers of mass 500 kg. Find the mass of the automobile by treating it as a single-degree-of-
freedom system.
a) 500 kg b) 600 kg c) 1500 kg d) 1600 kg
19. A weight of 50 N is suspended from a spring of stiffness 4000 N/m and is subjected to a harmonic force
of amplitude 60 N and frequency 6 Hz. Find beating period.
a) 0.14 s b) 0.65 s c) 1.54 s c) 2.46 s
Part II – Solve the following and show your solution (12 pts each).
1. A block is attached to a system shown. Knowing that m = 10 kg and k = 3428.57 N/m. Determine the
steady state and the general state response of the system if the exciting force is given by 𝐹(𝑡) =
400 𝑐𝑜𝑠 10𝑡, 𝑥(0) = 0.1 m, 𝑥̇ (0) = 10 m/s

2. Consider a spring-mass-damper system with m = 10 kg, k = 4000 N/m and c = 400 N-s/m. Determine
the steady state and the general state response of the system if the exciting force is given by 𝐹(𝑡) =
200 𝑐𝑜𝑠 10𝑡, 𝑥(0) = 0.1 m, 𝑥̇ (0) = 10 m/s