Discussion

Free Vibration
In natural oscillation, the beam is given with slight displacement and the oscillation of the beam until
it stops is observed. Therefore, in this study, the amplitude of the oscillation and the time taken for
the beam to reach steady state (stop oscillating) for different cases is studied. Based on the result
obtained, it was found that the oscillation of undamped free oscillation (Case 1) has the longest time
to reach its steady state as compared to damped natural vibration test. For the damped natural
vibration, it can be seen that the amplitude of the oscillation decreases faster compared to the
undamped natural vibration. Thus, the system is able to reach steady state faster when it is damped.
As observed in the experiment, the higher the damping magnitude, the faster the system reach
steady state.

Forced Oscillation
For forced undamped oscillation, the frequency of the forced oscillator is increased until the system
reaches its maximum amplitude. At this condition, the system is oscillating at its natural frequency
which is 5.78Hz in this case. As the frequency is increased further to 10Hz and 20Hz, the amplitude
of the oscillation is observed to be lower than the one obtained at natural frequency. It was found
that any increase in the frequency of the oscillation after the natural frequency will result in the
decrease of the amplitude of the oscillation.

For forced damped oscillation, it is observed that the amplitude of the oscillation at natural
frequency decreases significantly. From the experiment, it was found that the amplitude of the
oscillation in forced oscillation decreases when the damping is increased. When the frequency of the
oscillation is increased to 10Hz and 20Hz, similar to the undamped forced oscillation, the amplitude
of the oscillations also decreases. However, the amplitude of the oscillation is far lower compared to
the amplitude recorded at undamped oscillation. This is because the damper limits the maximum
amplitude of the system.

Errors
In this experiment, there are a few errors conducted which may affect the result obtained. First of
all, in natural vibration experiment, the beam is displaced manually by using hand without proper
measurement of the displacement displaced. The displacement of the beam is estimated by
observation for each testing conducted. This may affect the amplitude and the time of the system to
reach steady state. Aside from that, the damper is adjusted manually without any gauge or meter
indicating the amount of turns adjusted. Thus, this may cause the result obtained by one group to
differ from another group. However, overall, the results obtained is accurate and the experiment is
conducted successfully without any significant error that causes the result to differ from the
theoretical understanding.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, the experiment has been conducted successfully where the natural vibration, forced
oscillation and the effect of damping to the vibration of the system is studied thoroughly. As
observed in the experiment, damping decreases the maximum oscillation amplitude of the system
and also enables the system to reach steady state faster. Aside from that, the system will oscillate at
maximum frequency when it is at natural frequency. Any increase or decrease in the frequency from
the natural frequency will result in the decrease in the amplitude of the oscillation. This
fundamentals of damping and vibration principle is very important when designing machinery parts
in order to get system to function at the intended performance. For example, this principle can be
applied in the designing of the suspension system of the car. In city driving, lower damping is desired
as it provides more comfort driving as it provide less stiff suspension. However, in racing application,
as the vehicle is operating at its limit, higher damping magnitude is required in the absorber so that
it is able to absorb any shock from the road faster and reach steady state faster and also reduce the
amplitude of suspension travel. This will improve the performance of the car in handling and
cornering.