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 Degrees of freedom:
Degrees of freedom can be defined as the minimum number of
independent coordinates that describe the motion of a system
completely. To specify the DOF for any system, you need to observe
the number of independent displacements for each mass.
DOF = Σ (Independent displacements of masses)
The systems shown in the following figure, represent single-degree-
of-freedom systems. For example, the motion of the simple pendulum
can be stated either in terms of the angle or in terms of the linear
coordinates. In this example, we find that the choice of θ as the
independent coordinate will be more convenient than the choice of x
or y .

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For the torsional system (long bar with a heavy disk at the end), the angular
coordinate can be also used to describe the motion. The mass-pulley system
motion can be represented by either the linear displacement of the mass or the
angular displacement of the pulley because the two coordinates are dependent
on each other through this equation (x = r θ) assuming no slip condition where r
is the radius of the pulley.

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Figures
show
examples
of two-DOF
and three-
DOF
systems
respectivel
y.

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Single Degree of
Freedom Systems

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1. Free vibration of undamped SDOF system:

The following figure shows a spring-mass system that represents the
simplest possible vibratory system. The motion is called free vibration
because there is no external force applied to the mass. Motion is
started by initial displacement and/or velocity at t = 0. The system is
undamped because there is no element that causes dissipation of
energy during the motion of the mass. Therefore, the amplitude of
motion remains constant with time. The governing equation of a
vibrating system is called the equation of motion (EOM) and it is a
second order ordinary differential equation whose solution gives the
displacement of the system at any instant of time. There are different
methods to determine the equation of motion of vibrating system. In
this course, we will focus on two methods; Newton’s law and energy
method.

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 Equation of motion using Newton’s second law of

motion:
Newton’s law states that:
“The rate of change of momentum of a mass is equal to the resultant
force acting on it.”

In other words: Resultant force on the mass = mass * acceleration.

- For rotational or torsional motion, Newton’s law becomes:

where M= resultant moment on the mass and J = mass moment of

inertia
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 The procedure of finding the EOM will be as follows:

1- Select a suitable coordinate (displacement) to describe the motion

of the mass in the system.
Linear motion ----------------> Linear coordinate (x, y, …)
Angular motion --------------> Angular coordinate (θ, φ, …)
2- Determine the static equilibrium position of the system.
3- Draw the free-body diagram of the mass if given initial conditions.
Indicate all the forces acting on the mass.
4- Apply Newton’s law to the mass.
5- Rearrange to get the EOM in the standard form.

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Applying Newton’s law to the mass shown in the spring-mass

system, we get:

Which represents the equation of motion of the system (EOM).

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 Now, we will consider the same system but in vertical position as

shown in Fig:

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Then we get:

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Equation of motion using Energy method (principle of

conservation of energy):
For a conservative system, the sum of the kinetic energy and potential
energy is a constant:
K.E. + P.E. = Constant

 The procedure of finding the EOM will be as follows:

1- Determine K.E. of the system.
2- Determine P.E. of the system.
3- Substitute with 1 and 2 in the previous equation
4- Rearrange to get the standard form of the equation of motion (EOM).

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Applying this method to the spring-mass system we get:

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2. Natural frequency:
Natural frequency of a given system can be defined as the frequency at
which a system vibrates naturally without external forces

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Example: A mass of 5 kg is dropped onto the end of a cantilever beam with a

velocity of 0.5 m/s, as shown in Figure. The impact causes vibrations of the
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mass, which sticks to the beam. The beam is made of steel (E 210 10 N/m ),
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is 2.1 m long, and has a moment of inertia I 3 *10 m . Neglect inertia of the
beam and determine the Natural Frequency.

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