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School of Sciences and Engineering

Mechanical Engineering Department

MENG 4555-82
Applied Vibration Measurement, Analysis and
Control

Lab Report # 4
Finite Element Vibration Analysis

Submitted
To:
Prof. Mustafa H. Arafa
TA: Maged Michael

By:
Cherif Y. Chokeir 900140712

Due Date:
6/11/2017

Submission Date:
6/11/2017
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Introduction
The importance of study of Mechanical Vibrations could be explained by the fact that most of

human activities are related to vibration in different forms. To mention examples among many

others, the music instruments are based on oscillatory motion, the unbalance in engine

manufacturing causes vibration that could lead to catastrophic mechanical failure, the structures

used to support heavy centrifugal machines such as turbines or motors are subjected to

excitations from the base which might also lead to mechanical failures. Hence, the study of

vibration is essential to prevent these catastrophic accidents like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

failure in 1940 in the United States.[1]

Practically speaking, the vibration measurement is a necessary engineering practice for different

reasons [1] :

1. The increasing demand in a higher productivity of mechanical systems and machinery

had led to use of lightweight structures with higher range of operating speeds. This led to

increase in the possibility of resonance. Therefore, measurements of the vibration

characteristics of machines, like amplitude and their natural frequencies became a

necessity to prevent failure.

2. The determination of the natural frequency of a structure is necessary to avoid resonance

and will help determining the possible operational speed ranges.

3. Theoretically calculated vibration characteristics of a machine will probably differ from

actual values due to assumptions made in the analysis

4. Vibration Characteristics measurement is a basic step in the design of vibration isolation

systems
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5. Vibration characteristics measurement is a possible way of determining the mass,

stiffness and damping of a system

6. Vibration measurements are used in Earthquake studies, ocean waves, and road surface

roughness.

The finite element method is a numerical method widely used in engineering practice.

The Method is based on the division of the element to be studied into small elements and

the approximations of the equations and its solution over these elements

The objective of this experiment is to obtain the natural frequencies and mode shapes of

a clamped circular plate using Ansys software.

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Theoretical Background:
The frequency parameter of a clamped circular plate is given by the following equation obtained

from [5]

The first 4 values of natural frequency parameter is given in the following tables.

Property Value

E 200 GPa

h 1 mm

a=b 30 cm

v 0.3

7900 kg/m^3
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2 f (Hz)

1 10.2158 105.85

2 21.26 220.627

3 34.88 361.9694

4 39.8 413.857

5 51.04 529.6709
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Experimental Work:

Experimental Procedure

1. Open Ansys Workbench Using Modal analysis

2. Open Geometry > Design Modular

3. Specify Units in cm

4. Draw the circular plate specifying its diameter (30 cm) and its thickness (1 mm) by

extruding
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5. Generate the plate

6. Enter the Model view and specify the mesh size (fine mesh)
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7. Insert the support (clamped = support all around the circumference)

8. Open the solution panel and then use it to find the natural frequencies and mode shapes of
the plate
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Experimental Results

The first six natural frequencies of the system are obtained from Ansys as

Natural Frequency Value (Hz) Theoretical Value (Hz)

1 110.55 105.85

2 230.02 220.627

3 230.06 -----

4 377.33 361.9694

5 377.36 413.857

6 430.23 529.6709
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The following figures give the corresponding six mode shapes of the plate

Mode 1

Mode 2
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Mode 3

Mode 4

Mode 5
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Mode 6
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Discussion and Conclusion

The conclusions drawn from this experiment is a similarity between values found from vibration

of plates theory and the values obtained from finite element method. The difference between the

values is due to small number of elements, (i.e. not enough mesh)

To sum up, this experiment helped to compare numerical solution to theoretical solution and

show the importance of the finite element method in engineering practice.

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References:
[1] Rao, Singiresu S. Mechanical Vibrations 4th edition Prentice Hall. (2004)

[2] Arafa, Mustafa Lab 4 Vibration Measurements lab sheet.

[3]Matthews et al (2014) Retrieved from

https://www.acoustics.asn.au/conference_proceedings/INTERNOISE2014/papers/p237.pdf

[4] Reddy et al (2015), Retrieved from

https://www.irjet.net/archives/V2/i9/IRJET-V2I9229.pdf

[5] Roark and Young. Formula for Stress and Strain, Fifth Edition, McGraw-Hill Book Company