TRIFILAR SUSPENSION

Group Members:
Zain Ali Bilal Tahir Ali Riaz
 • To determine the moment of
inertia of disc, cuboid and
Objective: irregular shaped object using
trifilar suspension
CAD MODEL
Analytical Model:

• We calculated theoretical values of moment of inertia for disc

and cuboid
• The following formulae were used in these calculations:
• Kth(disk)=r/√2

• Ith(disk)=mkth2

• Ith(cuboid)=m(l2+w2)/12
• The following tables shows result of some theoretical calculations:
For disk:

Radius of gyration Moment of inertia

Radius of Mass of
0.06965m 0.00097kg. m2
disk=0.086m disk=0.2kg

For Cuboid:

Length Width Moment of inertia

Mass of
0.135m 0.092m 0.0004kg.m 2
cuboid=0.2kg
Experimental Setup:

• Our system consist of a trifilar pendulum also called torsional

pendulum

• It consist of a base ,holder and a disk suspended by three strings

• All setup is made of wood and plywood

Experimental Analysis:
• The following tables show the time period calculations:
For disk:

Number of Vibrations Time (s) Time period(s)

5 4.45 0.89
10 8.95 0.895
15 13.34 0.889
20 17.37 0.8685
The mean value of time period=0.885625s
The following table shows the time period calculation for cuboid:
Number of vibrations Time (s) Time Period(s)
5 3.63 0.726
10 7.27 0.727
15 10.92 0.728
20 14.43 0.7215

The mean value of time period=0.725625s

The following table shows the time period calculation for irregular (complex
shape:
Number of vibrations Time (s) Time Period(s)
5 4.04 0.808
10 8.31 0.831
15 11.84 0.789
20 15.49 0.7745

The mean value of time period=0.800625

Formulae for Calculation:
For Raidus of gyration:

Kexp-=(T.a)/2π√l/g where T=time period, a=distance of suspension

l=length of suspension, g= gravitational acclerat

For Moment Of Inertia:

Iexp=mk2
The following table shows the experimental moment Of inertia for
disk, cuboid and irregular object:

Shape Radius of gyration Moment of Inertia

Disk 0.07372m 0.00108kg.m2

Cuboid 0.060397m 0.00038kg. m2

Irregular object 0.06664m 0.000030kg. m2

Results:

Shape Theoretical value of Practical value of

moment of inertia moment of inertia

Disk 0.00097kg. m2 0.00108kg.m2

Cuboid 0.0004kg.m2 0.00038kg. m2

Irregular object not know analytically 0.000030kg. m2

Conclusion

• Practical values approximately matches the theoretical values for

disk and cuboid

• As far as the irregular object is concerned the analytical value is

hard to calculate but by seeing the convincing results with other
shapes we can conclude that the true value moment of inertia for
irregular object is close to the experimental value
References:

• https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Engineering/Courses/En4/
Projects/Trifilar_pend

https://youtu.be/txM4Ce4Ogfg