Modal analysis: Cantilever beam

Background
Free vibration describes the oscillation of a system due to forces inherent in the
system itself resulting from an initial disturbance. Under free vibration the system will
vibrate at one or more of its natural frequencies. The natural frequencies of the
system are affected by its mass and stiffness distribution.

Despite the fact that there is always damping present in a real-world physical
system, damping is not taken into account during the calculation of the natural
frequencies of the system. The fact that damping has little to no effect on the natural
frequencies of a system allows it to be ignored when evaluating natural frequencies.
Damping is however critical in limiting the amplitude of oscillations when the system
is vibrating at resonance.

The Eigen functions of a continuous system give the relative displacement

configuration for the various natural frequencies. Displacement at various points may
be equal to zero. These points are known as nodes. Generally a n-th mode of
vibration has n – 1 nodes.

Figure 1 Cantilever Beam

Figure1 shows a cantilever beam with a rectangular cross section.

Theoretical Analysis
Meirovitch (1967) shows that the equation of motion for a continuous cantilever
beam is given by:
 𝑑2 (𝑑 2 𝛿(𝑥))
[𝐸𝐼 (𝑥) ] = 𝜔2 𝜌𝐴(𝑥)𝛿(𝑥)
𝑑𝑥 2 𝑑𝑥 2

Where E is the Young’s Modulus of the Material, I is the moment of inertia of the
beam, δ is the deflection at a distance 𝑥, ρ is the density of the material and A is the
cross sectional area of the beam.

Fill in the required material properties for the beam in table 1 and the geometric
properties of the beam(s) in the table 2 below:
Table 1 Material properties of the beam

Material Density, ρ, (kg/m3) Young’s Modulus, E,

(N/m2)

Table 2 Geometric properties of the beam

Length, L, (m) Breadth, b, (m) Depth, d, (m)

The cross sectional area of the beam is calculated as follows:

𝐴=𝑏×𝑑

The moment of inertia for a rectangular beam section is given by:

𝑏𝑑 3
𝐼=
12
Fill in the required geometric properties of the beam in table 3 below:
Table 3 Calculated geometric properties of the beam

Area, A, (m²) Moment of Inertia, I, (m4)

Due to the fact that the fixed end at 𝑥 = 0 is clamped there can be no deflection at
the clamped end. In addition to this, the gradient of deflection at 𝑥 = 0 is also zero.
Thus the boundary conditions at 𝑥 = 0 are:

𝛿(0) = 0

and
 𝑑𝛿(0)
=0
𝑑𝑥
Neither shear force nor lateral force can exist at the free end of the beam, thus the
boundary conditions at 𝑥 = 𝐿 are:

𝑑 2 𝛿(𝐿)
=0
𝑑𝑥 2
and

𝑑 3 𝛿(𝐿)
=0
𝑑𝑥 3
Solving the equation of motion with the boundary conditions yields:

𝑑 4 𝛿(𝑥) 𝜔2 𝜌𝐴
− =0
𝑑𝑥 4 𝐸𝐼
𝜔2 𝜌𝐴
Let =β
𝐸𝐼

The mode shapes for the beam are then given by:

𝑓𝑛 (𝑥) = 𝐴𝑛 [(sin 𝛽𝑛 𝐿 − sinh 𝛽𝑛 𝐿)(sin 𝛽𝑛 𝑥 − sinh 𝛽𝑛 𝑥)

+ (cos 𝛽𝑛 𝐿 − cosh 𝛽𝑛 𝐿)(cos 𝛽𝑛 𝑥 − cosh 𝛽𝑛 𝑥)]

Where 𝑛 = 1,2,3 … ∞ and 𝛽𝑛 𝐿 = 𝑛𝜋

In order to determine the Eigen functions of the beam, the system is analysed using
the finite element method. The elemental beam stiffness matrix is given by:

12 6𝐿 −12 6𝐿
𝐸𝐼 6𝐿 4𝐿2 −6𝐿 2𝐿2
[𝐾] = 3 [ ]
𝐿 −12 −6𝐿 12 −6𝐿
6𝐿 2𝐿2 −6𝐿 4𝐿2

The degrees of freedom (1, 2, 3 and 4) in the [K] matrix are:

𝛿𝑖
𝜃𝑖
{𝑥} = 𝛿
𝑗
𝜃
{ 𝑗}

Where 𝑖 and 𝑗 are the first and second nodes respectively of the element.

Divide the beam into 3 elements defined by four nodes as shown in figure 3:
Figure 2 Three Element Cantilever Beam

Fill in the elemental stiffness matrices below:

[𝐾]1 = _________ ×

[𝐾]2 = _________ ×

[𝐾]3 = _________ ×
Assemble the global stiffness matrix below:

[𝐾] = _________ ×

aa aa aa aa 0 0 0 0
aa aa aa aa 0 0 0 0
aa aa aa aa bb bb 0 0
aa aa aa aa bb bb 0 0
0 0 bb bb bb bb cc cc
0 0 bb bb bb bb cc cc
0 0 0 0 cc cc cc cc
0 0 0 0 cc cc cc cc

The 1st order nodal force matrix is given by:

[𝐾]{𝑥} = {𝐹}

The units of the nodal force matrix are given by:

𝐹𝑖
𝑀𝑖
{𝐹} = 𝐹
𝑗
{𝑀𝑗 }

The elemental beam mass matrix is given by:

156 22𝐿 54 −13𝐿

𝜌𝐴𝐿 22𝐿 4𝐿2 13𝐿 −3𝐿2
[𝑚] = [ ]
420 54 13𝐿 156 −22𝐿
−13𝐿 −3𝐿2 −22𝐿 4𝐿2

The degrees of freedom (1, 2, 3 and 4) of the elemental beam mass matrix are given
by:

𝑥𝑖̈
𝜃𝑖̈
{𝑥̈ } = 𝑥̈
𝑗
̈
{𝜃𝑗 }
Fill in the elemental mass matrices below:

[𝑚]1 = _________ ×
[𝑚]2 = _________ ×

[𝑚]3 = _________ ×

The 2nd order nodal force matrix is given by:

[𝑚]{𝑥̈ } = {𝐹}

Assemble the global mass matrix below:

[𝑚] = __________ ×

aa aa aa aa 0 0 0 0
aa aa aa aa 0 0 0 0
aa aa aa aa bb bb 0 0
aa aa aa aa bb bb 0 0
0 0 bb bb bb bb cc cc
0 0 bb bb bb bb cc cc
0 0 0 0 cc cc cc cc
0 0 0 0 cc cc cc cc

For free vibration:

[𝐾]{𝑥} = 𝜔𝑛2 [𝑚]{𝑥}

Thus, for free vibration, the relative displacement configuration can be solved from:

𝜔𝑛2 {𝑥} = [𝐾][𝑚]−1 {𝑥}

Since the beam is constrained in both displacement and rotation at the point where x
= 0, an elimination method can be used to solve for the natural frequencies. The first
two rows and columns of the global mass and stiffness matrices are eliminated, fill in
the new global mass and stiffness matrices below:
[𝑚] = __________ ×

aa aa aa aa 0 0
aa aa aa aa 0 0
bb bb cc cc
bb bb cc cc
0 0 cc cc
0 0 cc cc

[𝐾] = _________ ×

aa aa aa 0 0
aa aa aa 0 0
bb bb cc cc
bb bb cc cc
0 0 cc cc cc
0 0 cc cc cc

The natural frequencies of the beam can be acquired by solving the eigen problem
above. This is easily achieved in SciLab/Matlab by entering the following code:

K=[....;....;....;....;....;....]

M=[....;....;....;....;....;....]

Where . . . . represent the values of each row of the global matrices separated by
spaces.

Assign a new variable to store the value of [𝐾][𝑚]−1 :

C = K * M^-1

Use SciLab/Matlab’s eigen solver to solve for the natural frequencies:

W2 = eig(C)

Note that the matrix yielded by the above is the square circular natural frequencies,
take the square root of these natural frequencies:

W = sqrt(W2)

Fill in the circular natural frequencies below:

ω (rad/s) =

aa
aa
The circular natural frequency can easily be converted to Hertz as shown below:
𝜔
𝑓=
2𝜋
To do this in SciLab/Matlab enter the following code:

F = W/(2*pi())

Enter the first three natural frequencies below:

F (Hz) =

aa

Experimental Analysis
Experiment setup

The experimental setup consists of a cantilever beam, an accelerometer, a data

acquisition system (FFT analyser for processing) and a computer system.

Figure 1.2 Experimental setup

Figure 1.2 illustrates the experimental setup of the cantilever beam. This includes a
beam with a specific geometry with a fixed end with an accelerometer mounted on
the free end to measure the free vibration response.

Provide a short description and the function of each of the following apparatus:

Accelerometer:
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Data acquisition system:

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FFT analyser:
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Experiment procedure
1. Connect the accelerometer to the FFT analyser (RT Pro Photon+) (use the cables
provided)
2. Connect the miniature impact hammer to the FFT analyser (use the cables provided)
3. Make sure that the impact hammer is on input one and accelerometer is on input two.
4. Attach the accelerometer to the cantilever beam. Bees’ wax should be used as a
source of adhesive to mount the accelerometer to the cantilever beam.
5. Connect the FFT analyser to the PC (use the cable provided)
 6. Launch the RT Pro Photon+ software on the PC.
7. Once the software is launched select the Modal Analysis icon.
8. A general setup needs to be conducted in the software before the experiment can
begin:
- Under “frames” (located on the right hand side of the window), select the drop
down arrow and change multiple to single.
- Under “window” change “hanning” to “none”
- Select the “channel” icon on the right hand side of the window
- Input the sensitivity values of the impact hammer and accelerometer as well as
the maximum output voltage
- Select OK once that is complete
- Select the “trigger” icon next to “channel”, this allows you to setup up the impact
time domain as well as sensitivity.
- Under the trigger window select “Analog input”, then select “auto arm every
frame” (under run mode). Under the slope option select positive (your choice
could be positive or negative, depending on your global coordinate system). Pre/
Post trigger time should be changed to -20ms, as this captures conditions 20ms
before impact.
- The graph (gn/ LBF VS Frequency) should be changed to the accelerometer
reading (output result), right click on the graph and select the LogMag option.
Select OK and then on the bottom left of the graph there is an icon that looks like
a graph, select it and change the output to the accelerometer reading.
- Now that the setup is complete the experiment can be conducted
9. Click on start and under activity you should see “ Waiting for trigger” this means that
the software is waiting for the impact. Lightly tap the cantilever beam and wait until
measuring is done.
10. Once that is complete click on “End Test”
11. Import your values to Modent.
12. Make sure the file extension is uff.
13. Make sure that the HardLock USB drive is plugged in before launching the Modent
software.
14. Once Modent is Launched select “Modal”
15. Select “single FRF” and “Go”
16. Search for the FRF file that has been saved from the RT Pro Photon+ software (the
uff. File)
17. Select “Peak Picking”

Select “Modal list” from the toolbar and compare your values to the theoretical values
obtained.

Enter the first 3 experimental natural frequencies below:

F (Hz) =

aa
Conclusion
Write a conclusion for this practical:
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