ABSTRACT

The experimenttested two types of vibration system which are undamped free
vibration and damped free vibration. Free vibration system is a system where there is no
external forces subjected to the system after the initial force or disturbance is exerted which
causes the system to vibrate on its own.If no energy is lost or dissipated in friction or other
resistance during oscillation, the vibration is known as undamped vibration. If any energy is
lost in this way, however, it is called damped vibration. In many physical systems, the amount
of damping is so small that it can be disregarded for most engineering purpose. However,
consideration of damping becomes extremely important in analysing vibratory systems near
resonance.
The system set up for this experiment is the basic cantilever beam with a spring
attached on the top of the beam. For undamped free vibration system, the lengths of the lever
arm, for hanging the spring of the cantilever beam were set differently for total of 5 times and
3 different stiffness of the spring. The different in length and spring stiffness could result in
different behaviour of the vibration system. The experimental value of natural frequency
obtained will be different according to the changes of the set up.
As for damped free vibration system, the spring stiffness and lever arm length for
spring is constant.Three different length of lever arm length for damper was set differently.
With damper attached on the system, the energy of the system will is lost during the
oscillation differently according to the length. The damped frequency for the 3 tests of
damped free vibration system could be analysed and thus, it might help to illustrate the effect
of damping on the system. For the design engineer, it is very crucial for them to consider the
mechanical vibration of a structure to avoid from any catastrophic failures. This would
happen if the structure is excited at its resonance frequency; the damping is low and excessive
of vibrations.

OBJECTIVES
The objective of this experiment is to:

Compare the theoretical natural frequency for various constants and lever arms with
the values obtained by measurement.

Illustratetheeffectofdampingonthedecaybehavior.

THEORY

PROCEDURE

DATA COLLECTION
A

Free And Undamped Oscillation

Table: Geometric Dimension of the Beam

Length of Beam, L
(mm)
Weight of Beam,

700

700

700

720

720

1.68

1.68

1.68

1.68

1.68

m (kg)

Lever Arm, a
(mm)
Spring Constant, c
(N/mm)

650

500

500

300

300

0.84

0.84

1.44

1.44

3.09

Free And Damped Oscillation

Table: Geometric Dimension of the Beam

Length of Beam, L
(mm)
Weight of Beam,
m (kg)
Lever Arm, b
(mm)
Spring Constant, c
(N/mm)

1.68

1.68

1.68

100

300

550

0.84

0.84

0.84

RESULTS
A Free And Undamped Oscillation
Table : Data for Free & Damped Oscillation Analysis
1

Refer Graph in the appendix.

Spring Constant, c = 0.84 N/mm

Lever Arm, a = 650 mm
Theoretical Natural Frequency, f0 = 5.72 Hz
Calculated Natural Frequency, f = 5.00 Hz

Refer graph in the appendix

Refer graph in the appendix

Refer graph in the appendix

Refer graph in the appendix

Spring Constant, c = 0.84N/mm

Lever Arm, a = 500 mm
Theoretical Natural Frequency, f0 = 4.40 Hz
Calculated Natural Frequency, f = 5.00 Hz
Spring Constant, c = 1.44 N/mm
Lever Arm, a = 500 mm
Theoretical Natural Frequency, f0 = 5.76 Hz
Calculated Natural Frequency, f = 5.00 Hz
Spring Constant, c = 1.44 N/mm
Lever Arm, a = 300 mm
Theoretical Natural Frequency, f0 = 3.36 Hz
Calculated Natural Frequency, f = 3.33 Hz
Spring Constant, c = 3.09 N/mm
Lever Arm, a = 300 mm
Theoretical Natural Frequency, f0 = 4.93 Hz
Calculated Natural Frequency, f = 5.00 Hz

B FREE AND DAMPED OSCILLATION

Table 5: Data for Free & Damped Oscillation Analysis
1

Refer Graph in the appendix.

Refer graph in the appendix

Refer graph in the appendix

Lever arm, b = 100 mm

Degree of Damping, D =
Theoretical Damped Frequency,
Lever arm, b = 300 mm
Degree of Damping, D =
Theoretical Damped Frequency,
Lever arm, b = 550mm
Degree of Damping, D =
Theoretical Damped Frequency,

CALCULATIONS
A Free And Undamped Oscillation
Table : Percentage of Error of Undamped Frequency
Frequencies of Undamped Oscillation
Experiment
1
2

Experimental Data
Period, T (s)
Frequency, f (Hz)
0.2
5.00
0.2
5.00

Theoretical
Frequency, f (Hz)

Percentage of
Error (%)

5.72
4.40

12.58
13.64
4

3
4
5

0.2
0.3
0.2

5.00
3.33
5.00

5.76
3.36
4.93

13.19
0.89
1.42

SAMPLE CALCULATION (EXPERIMENT 4)

Theoretical Natural Frequency:
=

1 3 c a2
2 m L2

2
1 3 ( 1440 ) ( 0.3 )
=3.36 Hz
2 ( 1.68 ) [ ( 0.72 )2 ]

Calculated Natural Frequency:

f 0=

1
T

f 0=

1
=3.33 Hz
0.3

Percentage of Error:
Percentage error ( ) =

Percentage of error ( ) =

TheoreticalExperimental
Theoretical

3.363.33
100=0.89
3.36

B Free And Damped Oscillation

Table : Percentage of Error of Damped Frequency
Experiment
1
2
3

Experimental
Damped
d
Frequency,
(rad/s)
31.42
31.43
31.42

Theoretical
Damped
d
Frequency,

Percentage of
Error (%)

(rad/s)

T exp 1 =T exp 2=T exp 3=0.2 s

DISCUSSION
A Free And Undamped
For the Free and Force Vibration experiment there were three types of springs that had
been tested and no damper had been used. All the springs have different spring coefficient and
labelled as spring 1, 2 and 3. So, there were 5 tests that had been carried out by us in order to
investigate undamped phenomena. This means that the load on spring decreases when the
distance between spring and fixed mount increase or became longer. As a matter of fact, it

1 3 c a2

=
also can be known from the formula of natural frequency,
2 m L2

where the lever

arm, a increases the natural frequency also will increased.

Apart from that, from experiment 2 and 3 there were similarity in length of lever arm
but different in spring coefficient. From here it can be seen that when the stiffness of spring
increases, the natural frequency as like natural angular frequency also will increase. It can be
proven from the formula where the higher the stiffness of the spring, the higher the natural
frequency happened.
So for the calculation there was a percentage different between the theoretical
calculated values on natural frequency and experimental values. Here we can conclude that
our result of experiment had effected by some disturbance. As the instruments being so
sensitive with the vibration, the wind factor in the lab might be the one of the disturbance. The
little amount of the wind can affect the result. Moreover, the springs also not in good
condition due to overuse and this affect its constant so the result will be not so accurate. The
beam also might not place horizontally completely so that the spring will not completely in
vertical state. This will causes the imbalance condition and then effect the oscillation of the
cantilever beam.
B Free And Damped

Based on this experiment, the same springs and the damper had been used. So, the
spring coefficient was same in each experiment and the numbers of experiments were 3 in
total. Here, the position of damper on the lever arm was being manipulated. Then, the
varieties in position of damper on the lever arm affected the frequency of the oscillations. If
the viscous damper placed further from the fixed mount, then the period of oscillation will be
shorter as the result the less frequency happened. As the length of lever arm increases, the
degree of damping also increases.
The graph showed the behaviour of free vibration with viscous damper in cantilever
beam. From the graph, it shown that the shorter the length of lever arm the longer the period
for the system to reach stability state.. It can be concluded that the rate of losing or absorbing
energy is higher when the distance between viscous damper and fixed mount is farther.
In this experiment there were a few errors which are human error where the force from
student on the lever arm during experiments is not same in every experiment .Second is the
mass of viscous damper affecting the oscillations. And the third error is the wind factor. And
the last, the external vibration nearer to the experiment.All of this factor of course affected the
result of this experiment.

CONCLUSION
We successfully conducted the experiment by following the steps provided in the
manual aided by GA. In conclusion,free vibrations are oscillations where the total energy
stays the same over time. This means that the amplitude of the vibration stays the
same.Forced vibrations occur when the object is forced to vibrate at a particular frequency by
a periodic input of force. Objects which are free to vibrate will have one or more natural
frequency at which they vibrate. If an object is being forced to vibrate at its natural frequency,
resonance will occur and large amplitude vibrations will be observed.
The theoretical natural frequencies are compared to experimentally obtained data of
damped and undamped free vibrations. Percentages of error are shown. Also, the effect of
damping on the decay behaviour of the vibration is shown through the aid of graphs and
calculations.The results are recorded for further calculation. All the objectives of the
experiment are met.

APPENDIX