On the design, development and testing of a dynamic vibration absorber to

control vibration of a pump-motor assembly

Ashish Purohit1, Ashish K Darpe2 and S.P. Singh2

1
Mechanical Engineering Department, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India

Abstract

A framework to design a dynamic vibration absorber (tuned mass damper) for a multi degree
of freedom system is presented here. It has always been challenging to develop vibration
absorber for a MDOF system vibrating in coupled mode. This work is essentially focused on
design; development and testing of a passive vibration absorber to control unwanted vibration
of large machineries presented in the large naval structures i.e. ships etc. A systematic
methodology to design vibration absorber is proposed. The formulation involves optimization
of absorber parameters to get minimum response corresponding to each vibration mode of the
parent body. Initially, equation of motion of a rigid body of 6 DOF is derived using Euler’s
angle and corresponding transformation matrices and extended to a system of two bodies of
12DOF. Experimental validation is carried out on a test model of a vertical axis water pump
assembly mounted on a cantilevered platform. In the testing, a steel bar with a tip mass is
used to realize vibration absorber and based on the available mounting locations, different
locations are checked and an optimum configuration is implemented. The results obtained
indicated significant reduction in vibration of pump assembly after the attachment of
absorber. A maximum vibration reduction of 78, 56 and 50 percent respectively in the three
principal directions is observed. The work presented here is a proof of a concept which can
be employed for any similar kind of problem.

Keywords: Tuned mass damper, passive vibration absorber, multi DOF, optimization

Introduction:

Stealth of the large navel structures like submarines, ship etc. has always been an issue of
concern for the safety of the structure. Ships should not be traced by radar or detected by the
enemy’s submarine. However, to fulfill operational and design requirements, there are a

1
number of machine elements mounted in the ships. These elements generate vibration when
subjected to oscillating forces and eventually excites ship hull. The ship hull vibration
transmits perturbations into the surrounding water, which compromises the stealth of the ship.
Therefore, attenuation of this unwanted vibration is important to improve stealth performance
of large navel structures.

Over the years, different vibration control strategies are being developed and tested to
attenuate structural vibration. One of the oblivious ways is related to modification in the
source itself i.e. decreasing unbalance force in the machines by altering its design, speed etc.
However, in many cases it restricts serving purpose of the system and not feasible. Other
solution is associated to improving the structure strength e.g. strengthening hull of the ship.
An alternative engineering solution is the vibration control through transmission route. It
involves implementation of a vibration absorber (Tuned Mass Damper), which is an
additional system mounted over the main system to reduce transmission of vibration in
expense of increasing DOF of the system Owning simple structure and lesser cost, vibration
absorbers re commonly adopted in many engineering applications. Aligned to this, in the
present work, a problem of vibration control of a mechanical system of a large ship is
attempted by designing a vibration absorber. A systematic procedure to design a passive
vibration absorber is developed and validated through experimental investigations.

The vibration absorber can be developed either using passive or active vibration
control approach. The passive type absorber primarily works for a small range of frequency;
however the active type has capability to alter its operating frequency range based on the
parent system vibration frequency. The active absorber has complex structure comprised of
transducers, feedback system, actuator etc. Conversely to this, passive absorber is simple in
construction, require less effort to fabricate and less expensive and thus used in many
engineering applications [1]. Elias and Matsagar [2] have presented a detailed review of
development of different types of passive absorber (tuned mass damper, TMD). They
exclusively focused on vibration control of wind and earthquake excited civil structures.
They highlighted different categories as single tuned mass damper, multiple tuned mass
dampers and optimum multiple tuned mass damper. The effects of various parameters as
mass ratio, overall damping coefficient, etc. have also been discussed. Setareh et al. [3] have
analyzed the dynamic response of a coupled pendulum tuned mass damper (PTMD) to
control excessive vibrations of building floors and computed optimum design parameters of
the PTMD system using optimization algorithms. Liu et al. [4] have designed a semi-active

2
dynamic vibration absorber using magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) whose mechanical
property changes by applying variable magnetic field. They worked to improve stealth
performance of submarine by controlling longitudinal vibration generated by the pulsating
force in the propeller shaft. Aguirre et al. [5] have developed a self tuning semi-active tuned
mass damper for machine tool chatter suppression. A rotary element is used whose stiffness
changes with speed and rotational direction. The damping is provided using energy loss
through eddy current. Huang and Lin [6] have designed a novel periodic vibration absorber to
suppress periodic vibration of a mechanical system using an interconnected dual beam
structure. In addition to the aforementioned works, a number of researches have been carried
out in past to design different types of absorbers to control vibration in various applications
[7-10].

The existing works on the vibration absorber indicate that passive absorber is an effective
device to control vibration of large structures and has been extensively employed for a
number of mechanical and civil engineering applications. Along with the passive type
absorber, significant efforts have also been made to develop active and semi-active vibration
absorber. It is noted that in majority of the previous work, absorber is primarily designed to
control single mode vibration of the parent system at a time. Some active/semi-active
absorbers are also developed to control first few vibration modes of a vibrating system.. In
addition, a concept of multiple SDOF vibration absorbers to suppress multiple modes of the
parent system is also explored. Zuo and Nayfeh [1] explained that one translational and one
rotational motion of a tuned-mass damper relative to the primary system can be used to
attenuate single mode vibration of primary system, although this required precise tuning of
damper. Verdirame and Nayfeh [11] have presented a theoretical model of a MDOF absorber
to suppress multiple modes of parent system. It is observed that in case of implementation of
multiple SDOF absorbers, tuning with respect to different vibration modes is challenging and
getting minimum response in all the modes existing simultaneously is very unlike. Situation
arises where tuning a particular mode affects the attenuation corresponding to other mode.

Based on the review of the previous investigations, it is observed that attenuation of coupled
mode vibration is quite challenging. Despite of the ample researches, an inclusive study
related to suppression of multiple vibration modes of a MDOF body using TMD is studied in
the limited scope. In particular, work pertaining to design, development and implementation
of a TMD for MDOF vibrating body is rare and demanded. Therefore, in the present work, a
comprehensive study of design, development and experimental testing of a passive vibration

3
absorber for a MDOF system is carried out. A scheme is proposed to design vibration
absorber for machines used in various engineering applications. The focus of this work is
primarily to develop TMD to control the vibration of a pump-motor assembly mounted over a
cantilevered platform, however, the developed scheme is generalized and applicable for all
kind of MDOF system vibrating in single or coupled mode.

2. Methodology

A rigid body in space has both translational and rotational degrees of freedom and exhibits
mix mode vibration when subjected to oscillating or random forces. In the following sections,
governing equation of motion of a 6 DOF and 12 DOF systems are derived and validated.

2.1 Equation of motion of MDOF system:

Fig. 1 is showing motion of a rigid body in three dimensional space, where in the body is
moving from position 1 to 2 with respect to a fixed inertial frame XYZ. Local coordinate
system of the body is defined by x y and z. It is considered that the motion involves both
rotation and translation and indicated by the change in the orientation of the local frame xyz
w.r.t. its own orientation at position 1.

Figure 1 Combined translational and rotational motion of a rigid body in space

To make the derivation convenient, the complete motion of system is divided into two
separate motions as rotation about its own axis of rotation (body center) and linear motion of
its body center. The angular velocity of rotation is defined by considering Euler’s angles
which represent successive angular displacements with respect to previous frame of reference
and each rotation is represented by a transformation matrix [12]. Final transformation is
defined by the product of each transformation matrix. Fig. 2 shows three successive rotation
of the body frame with respect to its previous frame. First the frame xyz rotates by an angle γ

4
about z axis. The transformed frame defined by x¢y ¢z ¢ , which further rotates about axis y’ by
an angle β to gets new configuration z, y¢ and x¢¢ . Finally, the frame is rotated about x’’ and
transformed into uvw. Angle g , b anda are the Euler’s angles with respect to rotation about
z, y¢ and x¢¢ axis in the frame of rotation in successive manner.

Figure: 2 Three successive rotation about (a) Z, (b) Y’ and (c) X’’ to get final orientation uvw

The transformation matrices (Q) for individual rotation are given as [13]:

éCos g -Sin g 0ù éCos b 0 Sin b ù é1 0 0 ù

Qz = êêSin g Cos g ú ê
0 ú , Qy ¢ = ê0 1 0 ú ¢¢ ê
ú , Qx = ê0 Cos a -Sin a úú
êë0 0 1 úû êë -Sin b 0 Cos b úû êë0 Sin a Cos a úû

The final transformation matrix will be the product of three matrices as:

Q = Qz * Qy¢ * Qx¢¢ (1)

The angular velocities matrix about the body axis of rotation may be written as

éW32 - W23 ù
w = vect (W) = 1/ 2* êêW13 - W31 úú (2)
êëW21 - W12 úû
where, W = QQ ! T (3)

5
 éwx ù éa! cosb cosg - b! s in g ù
ê ú ê ú
w = êw y ú = êa! cos b sin g - b! cosg ú
êw ú êg! - a! sinb ú
ë zû ë û

The total kinetic energy of a rigid body in the space is defined as the sum of translational and
rotational kinetic energies.

E=KE T +KE R (4)

where KE R =1/2Iω2 , KE T = 1/ 2mv 2
w = wxi + w y j + wz k , v = v xi + v y j + v z k
E = 1/ 2( I xxw x2 + I yyw y2 + I zzw z2 ) + 1/ 2mv 2

where ω is the angular velocity about mass center, , m is mass of the body and v is velocity of
the mass center about the reference frame and I is the inertia tensor considering axis x y and z
are the principal axis with the center of mass. By using the Lagrange’s equation [14] as

d æ ¶E ö æ ¶E ö
ç ÷-ç ÷=0
dt è ¶q! ø è ¶q ø

following equations of motions are obtained.

m(v!x + vzw y - v ywz ) = Fx (5)

m(v! y + vxwz - vzwx ) = Fy (6)
m(v!z + v ywx - vxw y ) = Fz (7)
I xxw! x + ( I yy - I zz )w ywz = M x (8)
I yyw! y + ( I zz - I xx )wzw y = M y (9)
I zzw! z + ( I xx - I yy )w xw y = M z (10)

In the above equations, M and F represent resultant of all external couples and resultant of all
external forces about the mass centre respectively. The product of the linear y and angular
velocities in LHS expression of Eqs. (5-7) represents the Coriolis acceleration which occurs
due to individual coupling of rotational and translational degrees of motions. In Eqs. (8-10),
the product of the two angular velocities and difference of moment of inertia represents
gyroscopic couple.

6
 Eqs. (5-10) are used to write dynamic equation of motion of a rigid body in the space.
For a given mass m connected with springs and dampers, as shown in Fig. 2, the dynamic
equation of motion is written as,

.Figure 3: Schematic of a single mass of six DOF

m( !!x + z! b! - y!g! ) + cx x! + k x x = f x (11)

! ! + c a! + k a = M
I xxa!! + ( I yy - I zz ) bg (12)
a a x

y + x!g! - z!a! ) + c y y! + k y y = f y
m( !! (13)
I yy b!! + ( I zz - I xx )ga
! ! + cb b! + k b b = M y (14)
z + y!a! - x! b! ) + cz z! + k z z = f z
m( !! (16)
I g!! + ( I - I )ab
zz xx yy
! ! + c g! + k g = M
g g z (17)

dvx dv dv
x=
Where !! , !!y = y , !!z = z , x! = vx , y! = v y , z! = vz , a! = wx , b! = w y , g! = w y . kx,
dt dt dt
ky & kz and cx, cy & cz are stiffness and damping along x y and z directions respectively.
Similarly, kα, kβ & kγ and cα, cβ & cγ are the torsional stiffness and damping about x y and z
direction. fx, fy & fz and Mx, My & Mz are unbalance forces and moments corresponding to x y
and z directions respectively. These equations define motion of a body with 6 DOF. In the

7
similar fashion, governing equation for a system of 2 masses of 6 DOF each (Fig. 3) can be
written as

Figure: 4 Two mass system having 12 DOF (6 DOF for each mass)

m1 (v!x1 + vz1w y1 - v y1wz1 ) + k x1 x1 + k x 2 ( x1 - x2 ) + cx1 x!1 + cx 2 ( x!1 - x!2 ) = f x1 (17)

m2 (v!x 2 + vz 2w y 2 - v y 2wz 2 ) + k x 2 ( x2 - x1 ) + cx 2 ( x!2 - x!1 ) = f x 2 (18)
I xx1a!!1 + ( I yy1 - I zz1 ) b!1g!1 + ka 1a1 + ka 1 (a1 - a 2 ) + ca 1a!1 + ca 1 (a!1 - a! 2 ) = M x1 (19)
I xx 2a!!2 + ( I yy 2 - I zz 2 ) b!2g!2 + ka 2 (a 2 - a1 ) + ca 2 (a! 2 - a!1 ) = M x 2 (20)
m1 (v! y1 + vx1w z1 - vz1wx1 ) + k y1 y1 + k y 2 ( y1 - y2 ) + c y1 y1 + c y 2 ( y!1 - y! 2 ) = f y1 (21)
m2 (v! y 2 + vx 2w z 2 - vz 2wx 2 ) + k y 2 ( y2 - y1 ) + c y 2 ( y! 2 - y!1 ) = f x 2 (22)
I yy1b!!1 + ( I zz1 - I xx1 )g!1a!1 + k b 1a1 + k b 1 ( b1 - b 2 ) + c b 1a1 + cb 1 ( b!1 - b!2 ) = M y1 (23)
I yy 2 b!!2 + ( I zz 2 - I xx 2 )g!2a! 2 + k b 2 ( b 2 - b1 ) + cb 2 ( b!2 - b!1 ) = M y 2 (24)
m1 (v!z1 + v y1wx1 - vx1w y1 ) + k z1 z1 + k z 2 ( z1 - z2 ) + c z1 z1 + cz 2 ( z!1 - z!2 ) = f z1 (25)
m2 (v!z 2 + v y 2w x 2 - vx 2w y 2 ) + k z 2 ( z2 - z1 ) + cz 2 ( z!2 - z!1 ) = f z 2 (26)
I zz1g!!1 + ( I xx1 - I yy1 )a!1b!!1 + kg 1g 1 + kg 1 (g 1 - g 2 ) + cg 1g 1 + cg 1 (g!1 - g!2 ) = M z1 (27)
I zz 2g!!2 + ( I xx 2 - I yy 2 )a! 2 b!!2 + kg 2 (g 2 - g 1 ) + cg 2 (g!2 - g!1 ) = M z 2 (28)

The developed model is now validated by computing vibration response of a benchmark

problem. The problem involves coupled vibration of two masses connected by a rigid rod and
two springs, as shown in Fig. 5. Since the developed scheme uses single mass free to move
in multi dimensions, the given problem is modified to map into the present framework.
Hence, an equivalent mathematical model is defined by replacing the two masses into a

8
single mass and two springs into a torsional spring and a linear spring. The applied force F is
transferred to the center of mass of the system as an equivalent force couple system. Fig. 5
shows an equivalent mathematical model of the problem.

Figure 5: Equivalent model of two mass system

Following expressions are showing the equivalent mass, stiffness and couple applied on the
modified model.

M = M1 + M 2 ,
Kx = K x1 + K x 2 , K rz = a 2 K x1 + b 2 K x 2
I = M 1a 2 + M 2b 2 couple = F ´ a

The governing equations are solved numerically by employing Beta-Newmark technique in a

MATLAB code developed in house. Fig. 6 is showing the displacement and rotational
responses of the equivalent system. The measured steady state displacement (0.76 x 10-4 m)
and rotation (4 x 10-4 rad or 0.0243 degree) are found in a good match with the standard
problem given in the literature [15].

9
 Figure 6: Response of a single mass 2 DOF system

2.2 Designing of vibration absorber:

A passive vibration absorber is an additional system added to the primary system. In general,
to attenuate vibration of a single DOF system, a SDOF absorber having natural frequency
equivalent to oscillation frequency of the parent system is implemented. On the contrary, for
the coupled MDOF vibration of parent body, the vibration can be suppressed either by adding
multiple SDOF absorber corresponding to each mode of vibration or by applying a MDOF
vibration absorber. In the present paper, a method is devised to develop a tuned mass damper
to suppress vibration of a single mass vibrating in multi dimensions.

The design principle of passive vibration absorber indicates that its natural frequency
should be coincided with the oscillating frequency of the system under consideration. If the
parent system exhibits free vibration, absorber natural frequency matches with the natural
frequency of the parent system. In case of force vibration, absorber is designed against the
excitation frequency. In the case of coupled mode MDOF vibration, the absorber system
comprises variable stiffness and damping corresponding to different modes. The complete
design of absorber involves a number of steps ranging from the measurement of excitation
forces acting on the parent system to get optimum parameters corresponding to minimum
response of parent system. A flow chart of the various steps involved in the designing is
given in Fig. 7. The designing procedure may be understood by looking it in parts, first as
estimation of unbalance forces acting in the system, which are the input parameters to design
absorber, and second as investigation of absorber parameters by considering optimum
response of the parent system. It is considered that the mass (M), stiffness (K) and damping
(C) of the parent system are known and the excitation force is only unknown that is estimated
using dynamic model. To get excitation forces, Eq. (11-17) are written in following matrix
form,

D(w ) q(w ) = f (w ) (29)

D = - M w 2 + iwc + K

where q(ω) is displacement vector, f(ω) represents force vector and D(ω) is known as
dynamic stiffness matrix. Eq. (29) is written in frequency domain. For pump-motor system,
displacement is recorded by accelerometers and data acquisition system and then, the

10
frequency spectrum is computed by applying Fourier transform. After getting the
displacement as a function of frequency, excitation is calculated through Eq. (29).

Measurement of [q1(t)] as,

Getting response of combined system

Frequency spectrum of [q1(t)] to

get [q1(ω)]
Calculation of RMS value for main
mass

Evaluation of force vector [f1(ω)]

using Equation

, Yes
Is

M, K, and C are known a priori

Optimized
Consideration of a two mass system
Value
with some initial value of absorber No
parameters [M2] [K2] and [C2]

Change stiffness and damping for

Formulation of combined equation of absorber mass and recalculate
motion and Dynamic stiffness matrix modified [K2] and [C2]

Figure 7 Flow chart of designing procedure of vibration absorber

After computing excitation, a secondary system with an initial estimation of stiffness and
damping is considered and a new dynamic stiffness matrix of combined system is defined.
Eq. 17-28 are written in matrix form and rearranged to defined dynamic stiffness matrix of
the combined system.

11
Dtotal (w ) = - M totalw 2 + iwCtotal + K total (30)

In Eq. (30), Mtotal, Ctotal and Ktotal are showing global mass, damping and stiffness matrices
(size of all matrices are 12 x 12) of combined system respectively. Now, the previously
calculated excitation (from Eq. 29) is applied in the governing equation of combined system
as

é[q1 ] ù -1 é[ f ] ù
{q} = ê ú = [ Dtotal ] ê 1 ú (31)
ë[q2 ]û ë[ 0 ]û

Solving Eq. (31) provides displacement of both the masses, which are then used to get
optimum absorber parameters for minimum response of the parent system. Out of the three
parameters of absorber as mass, stiffness and damping, the mass is defined by assuming a
mass ratio as the ration of mass of main body to absorber body and an optimization tool
‘fminsearch’ is employed to evolve optimum values of stiffness and damping. The
optimization algorithm uses a simplex of n + 1 points for n-dimensional vectors x by taking
an initial guess x0 [ref]. For the optimization search, RMS value of displacement is used as
the objective function.

3. Estimation of TMD parameter for a water pump assembly

This section discusses the implementation of the proposed method to control vibration of a
water pump-motor system. Initially, a test rig of water pump mounted on a cantilever frame is
fabricated. Then, by measuring the vibration, a vibration absorber (TMD) is designed and
tested. It may be noted that the developed algorithm to design vibration absorber is able to
solve problem up to 6DOF or below. However, in the present study, due to unavailability of
measuring instruments to measure rotational degree of freedom, only translational degree of
freedom is considered, which reduces the 6 DOF of individual masses to 3 DOF masses.

3.1 Test model:

Fig. 8 (a-b) shows the schematic of placement of the pump over the base structure. Fig. 8 c
shows the photograph of the experimental test rig. The pump is fixed on a base plate attached
with four rubber mounts and mounted on a cantilevered platform. The rubber mounts act as
stiffness element as well as damping element. The specifications of the pump are as power 2
HP, 2280 rpm, 2.5” inlet and 2”outlet. The mass of the pump along with the base plate is

12
measured 65 kg. The stiffness and damping of values of the rubber mount are given in Table
1.

Figure 8 (a) Pump along with the mounting, (b) schematic model of pump mounted over the
cantilever frame, (c) actual test rig showing pump assembly, frame and water inlet and outlet
pipes.

Table 1 Rubber mount properties

13
 Stiffness Damping coefficient
kx= 4x105 N/m cx= 356 Ns/m
ky= 9.5x105 N/m cy= 725 Ns/m
kz= 9.5x105 N/m cz= 677 Ns/m

Figure 9: Model of frame and mounting points of accelerometers.

Table 2 Summary of rap test without pump assembly

S. Location of Direction of Hitting Observed dominant

No accelerometer measurement of Direction frequency in
(shown in Figure 8) vibration signal spectrum (in Hz)
1 Point 1 Y axis (vertical) Y axis (on plate) 14.8 , 70
2 Point 2 X axis Y axis (on plate) 23.2
3 Point 2 X axis X axis (on plate) 23.2 , 68.8
4 Point 2 X axis X axis (on pole) 23.1
5 Point 1 Y axis Z axis (on pole) 14.8 70
6 Point 4 Z axis Z axis (on pole) 15.2
7 Point 3 X axis X axis (on pole) 23.5

14
To know the dynamic characteristics of the frame, before mounting the pump over the base
frame, rap test is performed on the frame. For the measurement, accelerometers are mounted
at different locations and excitation is provided by hitting the frame in different directions at
different locations. The measured vibration signal is diagnosed by investigating frequency
spectrum. Fig. 9 shows schematic diagram of frame and measurement transducers located at
different locations. Table 2 shows summary of measurement that indicates that the first and
second natural frequencies of the base structure along vertical direction are 14.8 and 70 Hz
and first natural frequency along x direction is 23.5 Hz. It may also be noted that in the
calculation of absorber parameters discussed in the following sections, the frame is treated
rigid.

3.2 Estimation of excitation acting on the pump assembly

As discussed previously, unbalance forces are required to design absorber, in this section,
computation of unbalance forces by using vibration displacement of the pump-motor
assembly is systematically discussed. Due to limitation of measurement of rotational DOF,
only translational vibrations are measured and considered for absorber design. Figure 10
shows the schematic of pump assembly mounted over the frame and its equivalent 3DOF
mathematical model.

Figure 10: Equivalent 3DOF mathematical model of pump assembly

Figure 11 shows the time history and frequency spectrum of vibration displacement of pump
assembly measured along the three principal directions (x, y and z) respectively. The
frequency spectrum of vertical direction (along x axis) shows a dominant frequency
component of 0.6 x106 m amplitude at 47 Hz. In addition to this component, other frequency

15
components around 10 to 20 Hz are also noticed. Similarly, displacement along y and z
directions (in horizontal plane) indicates a dominant frequency component at 47 Hz and low
amplitude frequency components around 10 to 20 Hz frequency region. However, the
amplitude of low frequency components observed in the later measurement have relatively
lesser amplitude than observed along vertical direction. It is observed that the low frequency
component noted in all the spectrums is very unstable and may be arising due to the random
motion of fluid at the exit passage.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

16
 (e) (f)

Figure 11: Time history and frequency spectrum of displacement of pump-motor assembly (a,
b) along x direction, (c, d) along y (vertical) direction, (e, f) along z direction

After measuring the displacement, unbalanced forces are calculated using the support
stiffness and damping given in Table 1. The equations of motion of a mass of 3DOF is given
as

mx!! + cx x! + k x x = f x (32)
my!! + c y y! + k y y = f y (33)
mz!! + cz z! + k z z = f z (34)
In terms of dynamic stiffness matrix,

D(w )q(w ) = f (w ) (35)

where, D = - M w 2 + iwC + K
éx ù é m 0 0ù é cx 0 0 ù ékx 0 0 ù é fx ù
ê ú ê ú ê ú
q = êê y úú M = êê0 m 0 úú C = ê0 c y 0 ú K = ê0 k y 0 ú f = ê f y ú
êë z úû êë0 0 m úû ê0 0 c ú ê0 0 k ú êf ú
ë zû ë zû ë zû

17
 Figure 12: Unbalance forces along the three principal directions

Figure 12 (a-c) shows the frequency spectrum of excitation forces (unbalance force) acting on
the structure obtained by solving Eq. (35). The figures indicate that the dominant component
along each direction is at 47 Hz, which is also matching with the rotational speed of the
pump. Except from the force estimated along vertical direction, shown in Figure 12c, other
two directions have relatively less dominant components. The forces along z direction have
noticeable amplitude at higher frequency range. This high frequency component are seems to
as the harmonics of the speed of the pump, which is at 2280 RPM or 47 Hz. The maximum
amplitude of the forces (at 47 Hz) along x, y and z directions is 3N, 1.8N and 2N
respectively.

3.3 Estimation of absorber parameters:

18
The approach to estimate absorber parameters is illustrated in Fig. 7. For this, the unbalance
forces, calculated in Sec. 3.2, are used as input to calculate response of a two mass system
given in Fig. 4. The figure shows an equivalent mathematical model of two mass system,
where the top one is considered as absorber mass. The unbalance forces are applied on the
lower (parent) mass and response is calculated. Following equation is used find the forced
response of the two masses.

q1 (w ) = D1-1 (w ) f1 (w ) (36)

where the dynamic stiffness matrix D1 is defined as

D1 = - M 1w 2 + iwC1 + K1

é m1 0 0 0 0 0 ù
ê0 m2 0 0 0 0 úú
ê
ê0 0 m1 0 0 0 ú
M1 = ê ú
ê0 0 0 m2 0 0 ú
ê0 0 0 0 m1 0 ú
ê ú
ëê0 0 0 0 0 m2 ûú

é k1x + k2 x -k2 x 0 0 0 0 ù
ê -k k2 x 0 0 0 0 ú
ê 2x ú
ê0 0 k1 y + k2 y -k2 y 0 0 ú
K1 = ê ú
ê0 0 -k2 y k2 y 0 0 ú
ê ú
ê0 0 0 0 k1z + k2 z -k2 z ú
êë0 0 0 0 -k2 z k2 z úû
é c1x + c2 x -c 2 x 0 0 0 0 ù
ê -c c2 x 0 0 0 0 ú
ê 2x ú
ê0 0 c1 y + c2 y -c 2 y 0 0 ú
C1 = ê ú
ê0 0 -c 2 y c2 y 0 0 ú
ê ú
ê0 0 0 0 c1z + c2 z -c 2 z ú
êë 0 0 0 0 -c 2 z c2 z úû

19
 é x1 ù é fx ù
êx ú ê0 ú
ê ú 2 ê ú
ê y1 ú ê fy ú
q1 = ê ú , f1 = ê ú
ê y2 ú ê0 ú
êz ú êf ú
ê ú 1
ê zú
êë z2 úû êë0 úû

Where M1, K1 and C1 representing mass, stiffness and damping matrix respectively, and q1
and f1 are displacement and force vector respectively. It is considered that forces are acting
only on the pump mass and the absorber mass is under the influence of those forces which are
transmitting from the pump mass. Eq. (36) gives dynamic stiffness matrix D1 which is used to
get optimum absorber parameters for the minimum response of the pump mass assembly. It
may be noted that absorber system is assumed in terms of a mass ratio of parent mass to
absorber mass and optimization algorithm works to generate optimum stiffness and damping
values of the absorber. The optimization process initiated with an initial estimation is
stiffness and damping. Table 3 shows the resultant absorber parameters for a mass ratio
(mabsorber/Mpump assembly)=0.01.

Table 3 Calculated absorber parameters and input quantities

Input Quantities Absorber parameters

pump mass( M pump ) = 65 Kg absorber mass(m) = 0.65 Kg
k1x = 4e5 N / m c1x = 356.5 Ns / m k2 x = 5.8293e4 N / m c 2 x = 0.2 Ns / m
k1 y = 9.5e5 N / m c1 y = 725 Ns / m k2 y = 5.8724e4 N / m c 2 y = 0.2 Ns / m
k1z = 9.5e5 N / m c1z = 677 Ns / m k2 z = 5.8498e4 N / m c 2 z = 1 Ns / m
mass ratio(mabs / M pump ) = 0.01

4. Response of pump assembly with absorber

In this section, both theoretical and experimental responses of pump assembly along with the
absorber designed in Section 3.3 are estimated and analyzed.

20
4.1 Response using theoretical model

Once the optimum absorber parameters are designed, Eq. (36) is used to find response of the
pump and the absorber for the excitation calculated in Section 3.2. Fig. 13 shows frequency
spectrum of displacement of both the masses. Table 4 is showing displacement of parent
mass before and after the addition of absorber mass. It is observed that the implementation of
absorber significantly reduces the overall vibration of pump assembly.

Table 4. Maximum displacement of the main mass before and after addition of the absorber
mass)

S. Displacement Maximum Maximum displacement Percentage

displacement of single of main mass with the reduction in
No Direction
mass system absorber mass displacement

1 X axis 5.6e-7 m 2.6e-7 m 53%

2 Y axis 3.8e-7 m 2.1e-7 m 44%

3 Z axis 4.2e-7 m 2e-7 m 52%

21
 Pump mass displacement Absorber mass displacement

Figure 13 – Pump mass and absorber mass displacement, (a) & (b) along X direction, (c) &
(d) along Y direction, (e) & (f) along Z direction

22
4.2 Experimental measurement of displacement of pump with absorber

This Section includes development of a vibration absorber and its implementation on test rig
of water pump motor assembly.

Table 3 illustrates the optimized stiffness and damping of absorber along the three principal
directions. Based on the present system, the shape of the absorber should be in such a way
that it can be placed and there must be some space for the fine tuning of absorber during the
pump operation. In the calculation of optimum parameters, the mass ratio is decided as 0.01,
which indicates the absorber mass as 0.65 kg. For spring purpose, a simple cantilever type
spring of MS bar that can be attached with the parent system is considered. Since, the
required damping of the absorber is very low (Table 3), it is expected that the low structural
damping of steel bar is suitable for the present absorber. In Fig. 14, a steel bar of height d,
width b and length l has shown. The stiffness of a cantilever spring can be defined as

l = (3EI xx / k )
1/3
k = 3EI xx / l 3 Þ (37)

Where E is elastic constant (200 GPa), Ixx is second MOI of the bar section (bd3/12) about
neutral axis. If the cross section of the cantilever spring is assumed square (6mm x 6mm),
length of the spring can be obtained using Eq. (37). Table 6 shows geometrical parameters of
the cantilever bar calculated using absorber stiffness. A cylindrical metallic piece of mass
0.65 Kg is used for absorber mass and attached at one end of the bar by threaded joint.

Figure 14: MS bar used as cantilever spring for absorber

23
 Table 3 Geometrical data of the cantilever spring of absorber

Section Direction of spring Length (l) Width (b) Height (d)

stiffness

Square Along X 103.66mm 6 mm 6 mm

Square Along Y 103.3 mm 6 mm 6 mm

Square Along Z 103 mm 6 mm 6 mm

The placement of the absorber body with respect to the parent body is an important aspect for
the effective vibration control. When it is placed at the maximum displacement point, higher
reduction in the vibration is expected. In the present system, it is observed that the top surface
of the pump oscillates with maximum amplitude; however, due to unavailability of mounting
point at the top side of the pump, other configurations and positions are explored. For this
purpose, two different configurations are designed, fabricated and tested. Fig. 15 shows first
configuration of absorber and its fitment on the pump assembly. Axis of each bar is oriented
in such a way that it can attenuate vibration along a particular direction. Bar 1 is used to
absorb X (vertical) direction vibration and bars 2 and 3 are used to reduce vibration along Y
and Z direction respectively.

24
Figure 15: Configuration of vibration absorber and its fitment on the pump assembly

In the preliminary testing of the first configuration, appreciable reduction in vibration level is
observed , however due to interconnectivity of all the three absorber by metallic frame, a
problem of vibration transmission from one absorber to other is noted. It affected the
individual absorbers performance adversely. Therefore, to avoid it, a modified configuration
is considered, where in the same bars are now placed directly on the pump through drilled
hole. The modified arrangement of the bars is shown in Fig. 16.

25
 Figure 16 Modified configuration of vibration absorber

In the second configuration, due to the independent connectivity of each absorber, the mutual
transmission of vibration is omitted. It is observed that the direct mounted absorber give
better results with respect to the single frame absorber; hence finalized for the testing.

5. Results and discussion

Figure 17 shows the time history of vibration displacement along x, y and z direction of the
pump assembly before and after implementation of the absorber. The vibrations are
measured using a tri-axial accelerometer places on the base plate. From the figure, it is
observed that in time domain signal does not give a clear indication of level of vibration
reduction, which may be due to the presence of low frequency component arising due to the
random motion of fluid. Hence, to get a clear picture of effect of implementation of vibration
absorber, frequency spectrum of the measured vibration signals are analyzed.

26
 Without Absorber With absorber

Figure 17 Time history of displacement of pump assembly before and after addition of the
vibration absorber

27
From Fig. 17, it is observed that the reduction of vibration in the low frequency region (5 Hz
to 20 Hz) is lower than observed along 47 Hz. It is noted that the two frequency components
are very far from the designed range of the absorber which is around 47 Hz, therefore, it is
believed that the reduction in the low frequency component is comparatively very low. To
check the effectiveness of the absorber within the range of operating speed, above measured
data are filtered through third ordered band pass BUTTERWORTH filter for a range of 25 to
55 Hz. Fig. 18 shows the superimposed image of frequency illustrates a reduction of 78 (y
direction) percent along the vertical direction and 50 and 65 percent along the two horizontal
(x and z) directions.

Figure 18: Superimposed frequency spectrum of displacement measured before and after
attachment of vibration absorber.

28
6. Conclusions

A methodology is proposed to design a dynamic vibration absorber (tuned mass damper,

TMD) for a MDOF system vibrating in coupled modes. A mathematical model of a rigid
mass considering six DOF in space is derived. The model is further extended for a system of
two masses of total 12 DOF. A systematic algorithm is developed, which involved
measurement of vibration of parent system, calculation of excitation forces from the
measured displacement and eventually, estimation of optimized vibration absorber parameter.
The methodology is verified through experimental study of vibration control of a water pump
mounted on a cantilever platform. The theoretical model is developed considering three
rotational and three translational DOF, however, due to unavailability of rotational vibration
measurement transducers; experimental investigations are performed considering
translational DOF alone.

A test rig is fabricated using water pump (2 HP), a cantilever frame structure, rubber mounts
etc. and vibration is measured using accelerometer & data acquisition system. The
measurement of pump vibration indicated a dominating unbalance force at 47 Hz which is
due to the rotation of the pump impeller at 2280 RPM approximately. In addition, other
highly unstable frequency components around 10-20Hz are also noted. It is analyzed that the
unstable frequency is strongly related to the flow of the liquid through the suction &
discharge pumps and could be occurring due to the uses of hose pipe instead of the fix circuit
of the steel pipe. The Measured signal is used to find optimum absorber parameters.

The designed vibration absorber is realized using steel bars with tip mass and tested. The
results obtained indicate significant absorption of the parent system vibration. It may be noted
that the absorber is primarily designed to suppress vibration corresponding to dominating
running frequency (47 Hz), and significant reduction for the same is achieved. However,
reduction at the low frequency region is negligible, which is due to large gap between the two
dominating frequencies (47 Hz and 10-20 Hz). It is evaluated that reduction of vibration
corresponding both the frequencies require two separate vibration absorber, which can be
mounted on the parent system and would work simultaneously.

Nevertheless, a maximum reduction of 78, 50 and 65 percent corresponding to rotational

speed along the three principle directions is noted. The work presented here is a proof of a
concept which can be employed for any similar kind of problem.

29
References

1. L. Zuo and S. A. Nayfeh, 2006, The multi-degree-of-freedom tuned mass damper for suppression
of single mode vibration under random and harmonic excitation, Journal of Vibration and
Acoustics,128, 56-65.
2. S. Elias and V. Matsagar, 2017, Research developments in vibration control of structures using
passive tuned mass dampers, Annual Reviews in Control 44 129–143.
3. M. Setareh, J. K. Ritchey, A. Baxter, T. M. Murray,2006, Pendulum tuned mass dampers for floor
vibration control, Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities 20(1):64-73.
4. Liu et al., 2017 Development of a semi-active dynamic vibration absorber for longitudinal
vibration of propulsion shaft system based on magnetorheological elastomer, Smart Materials and
Structures, 26 075009.
5. G. Aguirre, M. Gorostiaga, T. Porchez, J. Munoa, Self-tuning semi-active tuned-mass damper for
machine tool chatter suppression, 2012, International Conference on Noise & Vibration Engineering
ISMA, Leuven, Belgium.
6. S. C. Huang and K . A. Lin , 2014, A new design of vibration absorber for periodic excitation,
Shock And Vibration, 571421: 1-11 (doi/10.1155/2014/571421).
7. Nurkan Yagiz, 2001, Sliding mode control of a multi-degree-of-freedom structural system with
active tuned mass damper, Turkish Journal of Engineering and Environmental Sciences 25 651-657.
8. A Mohtat, E Dehghan-Niri, 2011, Generalized framework for robust design of tuned mass damper
systems, Journal of Sound and Vibration 330 902–922.
9. Jose L. Almazan, G Espinoza, Juan J. Aguirre, 2012, Torsional balance of asymmetric structures
by means of tuned mass dampers, Engineering Structures 42:308–328 DOI:
10.1016/j.engstruct.2012.04.034.
10. O Akyureuk, N Suksawang and T. H. Go, 2019, Vibration control for torsionally irregular
buildings by integrated control system, Engineering Structures 201C:109775 DOI:
10.1016/j.engstruct.2019.109775.
11. J Verdirame, S. Nayfeh, 2003, Design of multi-degree-of-freedom tuned-mass dampers base on
eigenvalue perturbation. In 44th Structures, structural dynamics and materials conference, Norfolk,
VA AIAA 2003–1686.
12. J. L. Meriam and L. G. Kraige. 2012, Engineering mechanics: dynamics. Vol. 2. John Wiley &
Sons.
13 S. K. Saha, 2014, Introduction to Robotics, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, India
14. J. S. Rao, and K. Gupta, 2006, Theory and Practice of Mechanical Vibration, Revised 2nd Edition,
New Age International Publication, India.
15. S. S. Rao, 2004, Mechanical Vibration, Forth Edition, Pearson Education, India,

30