Vibration analysis of a multi degree of freedom

cantilever beam using theoretical and computational

tools
Iftikhar Ahmad*, Muhammad Rizwan, Masroor Khan, Noman Iqbal, Sarvat Mushtaq Ahmad
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology
Topi (23460), Pakistan
Email: iftikharahmad@giki.edu.pk

Abstract— Vibration analysis of a multi degree of freedom
cantilever beam has been illustrated in this work. Different data
acquisition systems have been used for acquiring data. The first
three natural frequencies of the beam have been found
theoretically and computationally by finite element method. The
accelerometers like MPU6050 and MMAQ 7260 are used with
Arduino and PCI-1716L DAQ card for experiment one and two
respectively. Further vibration analysis like Fast Fourier
transform for finding natural frequencies have been carried out
through MATALB. The finite element method and the
experiment one results show best resemblance with the
theoretical natural frequencies which are 5.94 Hz, 37.24 Hz and
104.28 Hz for the chosen beam.
Keywords—Multi degree of freedom system, Vibration, Natural
frequency, FFT analysis, Beam
I. INTRODUCTION
Almost all machines and structures produce vibration in
running condition. Vibrations are undesirable in machines and
structures because they produce increased stresses, causes
added wear, increase bearing loads, induce fatigue and absorb
energy from the system [1]. Rotating machine parts need
careful balancing in order to prevent damage from vibrations.
To reduce these harmful effects of vibrations various
researchers have analyzed vibration behaviors in different ways
[2-5]. Most of the analyzed work is limited to single degree of
freedom system (SDOF) [2-4]. Experimental and theoretical
results of a SDOF cantilever beam and plates have been
presented in [6] and a good qualitative result is obtained
between the experimental and numerical data. Experimental
analysis of chaotic vibrations of mechanical systems has been
presented in [7]. Vibrations of an elastic beam with non-linear
boundary conditions are also presented in [8] with digital
simulation. Almost all real systems are continuous/multi degree
of freedom system (MDOF) [9]. A simple cantilever beam can
be considered as a MDOF system. The beam is one of the basic
element of the structures. It finds use in varied structural
applications. Moreover structures like aircraft wings, flexible
satellite, robotic arms, high building, bridges and subsystems of
complex structures can be modeled as a beam-like slender
member.
In this work a vibration analysis of a MDOF cantilever beam
has been presented. The first three natural frequencies of the
beam have been found theoretically and verified
experimentally through different experiments. Further vibration
analysis like Fast Fourier transform (FFT) for the specific
beam has been carried out in MATLAB software. Studying the
theoretical and experimental results of the simple MDOF
structures would help in understanding of complex structures.
II. MODELING
A MDOF cantilever beam of mild steel has been taken under
consideration, for which an open loop system has been
developed assuming air damping equal to zero to study the
behavior of the system. The beam has a length of 0.2921 meter
(m) with a width and height of 0.02594 m and 0.00062 m
respectively. The study includes natural frequencies (NFs);
NFs can be determined using theoretical calculations, finite
element method or experimental data. In this study Finite
Element Method (FEM) is employed to model MDOF
cantilever beam. In particular first three NFs are estimated.
Theoretical calculations have been carried out using the
standard theory for finding NFs of the cantilever beam.
First NF
(1)
Second NF
(2)
Third NF

(3)
Where E is Young‟s modulus (200 GPa), I is the second
moment of inertia in this case it is 5.15x10-13 m4 for rectangular
cross section of Cantilever beam. „ ‟ Defines the density of
steel material used in test beam. „A‟ is the cross sectional area
while „l‟ is the length of beam. The first three NFs of MDOF
cantilever beam; based on theoretical and finite element
methods are given in table 1.
experimental setup for the E1 is shown in Fig. 2(a). The mild
steel ruler has been taken as a beam and accelerometer MPU
5060 has been connected to the beam using double tape. The
data has been taken from the accelerometer in the Arduino
software and for the FFT analysis the same data has been
imported to the MATLAB. The same procedure has been
followed for E2 but the accelerometer used in E2 was MMAQ
7260 with the Adventech-PCI-1716L DAQ card. Experimental
setup for E2 is shown in Fig. 2(b).

TABLE I. NATURAL FREQUENCIES OF MDOF

CANTILEVER BEAM

Natural Theoretical Finite Element Method

Frequencies Results Results
(Hz) (Hz)

First NF 5.94 5.95

Second NF 37.24 38.01

Third NF 104.28 105.33

III. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

The experimental data has been acquired in two different ways
using different Data Acquisition (DAQ) Systems for
Experiment one (E1) and for Experiment two (E2). The general
block diagram of experimental setup for the proposed MDOF
cantilever beam is shown in the Fig. 1. An impact hammer is
used to excite the beam. The accelerometer MPU6050 and
Arduino has been used in the E1 and accelerometer MMAQ
7260 with the Advantech-PCI-1716L DAQ has been used in
E2. A variable DC power supply has been used to provide
power to the accelerometers. For data analysis a PC with the
Arduino and MATALB software‟s installed has been used for
E1 and E2 respectively.

Fig.2. (a) Experiment one setup (b) Experimental two setup

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig.1. Schematic diagram of experimental setup
The beam has been tested with the different data acquisition
system to verify the theoretical and finite element analysis. The
The cantilever beam has been tested under the excitation force
of impact hammer and the data has been acquired till the beam
come to its mean position. To reduce the noise in the FFT the
beam has been excited only once. The first three NFs have
been found through FFT analysis in MATLAB. Finally all the
data has been plotted in Microsoft excel. As the third NF is
104.2 Hz so in the graph the frequency sweep from 0 to 150 Hz
has been shown. Figure 3 shows the time domain data of E1.
The accelerometer has been calibrated at 1.0 g; so at the mean
position the acceleration of the beam is 1.0 g and after
disturbance the beam come to its mean position in 9 seconds
(Sec).
The same data has been imported to MATLAB for FFT
analysis .The FFT results obtained has been shown in the Fig.
4. The three NFs obtained in E1 are 6.25 Hz, 37.50 Hz and
104.68 Hz, which show good resemblance to the theoretical
frequencies.

Fig.5. Time domain data of experiment two (E2)

The same procedure has been followed for the FFT analysis of
E2 as of E1. The FFT graph for E2 has been shown in Fig. 6.
The three NFs obtained in E2 are 4.54 Hz, 40.34 Hz and
103.88 Hz which show different behavior than the previous
obtained data.

Fig.3. Time domain data of experiment one (E1)

Fig.6. FFT graph of experiment two (E2)

The NFs that have been found through different approaches are
being compared with each other in table 2. The FEM results
shows best match with the theoretical values while in the
experimental results the E1 shows likeness to the theoretical
values. E2 results show a some deviation from the theoretical
Fig.4. FFT graph of experiment one (E1)
values.

TABLE II. COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT NATURALS

Figure 5 shows the time domain data of E2. In this experiment FREQUENCIES
the beam come to its mean position quicker than E1, which is Theoretical FEM Experiment one Experiment two
due to the mass of accelerometer used in E2, as it heavy as (Hz) (Hz) (Hz) (Hz)
5.94 5.95 6.25 4.54
compared to the previous accelerometer used in E1. 37.24 38.01 37.5 40.34
104.28 105.33 104.68 103.88
 V. CONCLUSION
The vibration analysis of a MDOF cantilever beam has been
performed using different accelerometers and DAQ system.
The theoretical data has been compared with the FEM and
Experimental data. The order resemblance of experimental data
with the theoretical data is FEM, E1 and E2, which means that
FEM data has best match with the theoretical values. The
vibration analysis of simple MDOF system like cantilever
beam will help in understanding of complex MDOF structures.

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