Damped Harmonic Oscillators

Adrian Down
September 27, 2005
1 Review
1.1 Phase Space
We considered a mass on a spring of spring constant k and position
x = x
0
+
where is small. The eective spring constant is
k
e
=

2
V
x
2
|
x
0
The total energy can be written
E =
1
2
m
2
+
1
2
k
2
_

E
_
2
=
__
m
2

_
2
+
_
_
k
2

_
2
This is the equation for a circle of radius

E. The possible states of the

oscillating system lie on a circle, with position on the horizontal axis and
momentum on the vertical axis. Phase space is usually graphed with the
position on the horizontal axis and momentum on the vertical axis.
In phase space, the state of the oscillator traverses the circle at uniform
velocity, exchanging kinetic and potential energy. Phase space is more elegant
and symmetric than conguration space.
1
1.2 Properties of simple harmonic oscillation
Equation of motion is linear
+
0
= 0
Solutions are exponential
n(t) = n(0)e
pt
, p C
Motion is invariant under translation in time
(t + a) = (0)e
p(t+a)
= (0)e
pa
e
pt
The motion is shifted by a phase, but the motion is the same.
2 Damping
We assume a linear damping force of the form
f = bv = b
Note. We assume the damping force is always in the opposite direction
of the motion.
Nonlinear damping of the form f bv
2
usually arise at higher v. We
do not consider these nonlinear situations.
With the damping force, the equation of motion becomes
m z = kz

bz
m z + b z + kz = 0
z +
b
m
z +
2
0
z = 0
Let 2 =
b
m
z + 2 z +
2
0
z = 0
2
This is a second order dierential equation with constant coecients, so
we assume exponential solutions as in the case of the undamped oscillator.
z(t) = e
pt
z = pe
pt
= pz
z = p
2
z
The equation of motion becomes
z(t)
_
p
2
+ 2p +
2
0
_
= 0
Use the quadratic formula to nd p,
p =
_

2
0
The motion of the system depends on the relative size of and
0
, which
reects the relative size of b and k. b represents the tendency of the system
to damp while k represents the tendency to oscillate.
2.1 >
0
, overdamping
Conceptually, in this regime the damping is more important than the restor-
ing force.

2
0
> 0

2
0
R
z(t) takes the form,
z(t) = c
1
e
(+

2
+
2
0
)t
+ c
2
e
(

2
0
)t
= e
t
_
c
1
e

2
+
2
0
t
+ c
2
e

2
0
t
_
The exponentials are real, so the motion of the oscillator decays exponen-
tially. There is no oscillation.
3
2.2 <
0
, underdamping
Conceptually, the damping force is now less important than the damping
force.

2
0
< 0

2
0
I
_

2
=
_

2
0

2
=
1
where
1
=
_

2
0

2
z(t) takes the form
z(t) = e
t
_
c
1
e

1
t
+ c
2
e
t
_
There is again a decaying exponential that determines the amplitude of the
motion. The terms in the parenthesis are oscillating complex exponentials.
Note.
1
<
0
, so the mass oscillates more slowly than it would in the absence
of the damping force.
We prefer to have a single constant in the expression for z(t). Expand
the exponential factors to rewrite z(t) in a more intuitive form,
z(t) = e
t
(d
1
cos
1
t + d
2
sin
1
t)
d
1
= c
1
+ c
2
d
2
= (c
1
c
2
)
The trig functions can be combined using a phase,
= tan
1
_
d
1
d
2
_
d
1
=
_
d
2
1
+ d
2
2
cos
_
tan
1
_
d
1
d
2
__
d
2
=
_
d
2
1
+ d
2
2
sin ()
z(t) = Ae
t
cos (
1
t + )
This is the equation of motion of an oscillator with a phase shift . The
decaying exponential factor determines the envelope of the oscillations.
The envelope is decaying because of the viscous force in the form of .
As the system dissipates energy, the envelope decays.
4
2.3 =
0
, critical damping
In this case,
z(t) = e
bt
_
c
1
e
0
+ c
2
e
0
_
= (c
1
+ c
2
)e
t
= c
3
e
t
The degeneracy in the solutions is a problem. To nd independent solu-
tions, take the limit of the underdamped solution.
z(t) = e
t
(d
1
cos
1
t + d
2
sin
1
t)
Use the boundary conditions at t = 0 to determine the constants.
z(t = 0) = z(0) = d
1
z(t) = e
t
(d
1
cos
1
t + d
2
sin
1
t)
+ e
t
(d
1

1
sin
1
t + d
2

1
cos
1
t)
z(t = 0) = z(0) = d
1
+ d
2

= z(0) + d
2

1
d
2
=
z(0) + z(0)

1
z(t) = e
t
_
z(0) cos
1
t +
z(0) + z(0)

1
sin
1
t
_
Take the limit as
1
0.
z(t) e
t
_
z(0) +
z(0) + z(0)

1
t
_
= e
t
_
z(0) +
_
z(0) + z(0)
_
t
_
= e
t
_
z(0)(1 + t) + z(0)t
_
2.4 Quality factor Q
Denition. The quality factor Q is dened as
Q =

0

=

0

5
The Q of an oscillator is a measure of the amount of energy dissipated
by the oscillator per cycle. has units of time
1
, so Q is a dimensionless
quantity. can be related to the Q factor and approximate damping time,

1

d
2.4.1 Example: Campanile Bells
An estimation of the quality factor for the Campanile bells,

0
500 sec
1

d
1 sec
Q 500
3 Forced damped SHO
3.1 Setup
The equation of motion is
m z + b z + kz = F(t)
z + 2 z +
2
0
z =
F(t)
m
where F(t) is a known force as a function of time.
Fact. If we have two solutions to a linear homogeneous dierential equation,
any linear combination of those solutions is also a solution.
In this case, solutions are no longer additive. We can add any solution
to the corresponding homogeneous equation, however. The most general
solution to the driven oscillator is the sum of the particular solution with
the driving force present and the homogeneous solution to the corresponding
free oscillator. We have just found the homogeneous solutions, so we only
have to nd a particular solution given a driving frequency.
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3.2 Harmonic force
_
d
2
dt
2
+ 2
d
dt
+
0
_
z(t) = c
0
e
t
Try a harmonic solution,
z(t) =

Ae
t
z(t) =

Ae
t
z(t) =
2

Ae
t
Note.

A can be complex.
Substitute in the assumed form of z(t) and cancel,
_

2
2 +
2
_

A = c
0
C
0

2
2 +
2
=

A
Any second order dierential equation has two free constants, but it ap-
pears that we have just specied all the constants. However, the two free
constants are present in the solution to the corresponding homogeneous so-
lution.
z
1
=

Ae
t
z
0
= homogeneous
z(t) = z
0
(t) + z
1
(t)
3.3 Fourier decomposition
By superimposing solutions to harmonically driven oscillators of many fre-
quencies, it is possible to decompose an arbitrary driving force,
_
d
2
dt
2
+ 2
d
dt
+
0
_
z(t) =

n
c
n
e
nt
This is a fourier decomposition. We take the Fourier transform of any
function and then nd solutions to each component frequency of the driving
force.
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3.4 Resonance

A, the coecient of the particular solution, can be rewritten without imagi-

naries in the denominator,

A =
F
0
m

2
0
2m
2
=
F
0
m
(
2
0

2
) 2
=
F
0
m
((
2

2
0
) + 2)
(
2
0

2
) + 4
2

2
We can see that as
0
, the denominator gets very small and thus
the amplitude gets very large. When the system is driven at resonance, it
stores much energy. The limit to the energy that can be stored comes from
the the term in the denominator, reecting the dissipative behavior of the
frictional force.
8