FREE VIBRATION

Mohamed wael shaat

191383

The term free vibration is used to indicate that there is no external force causing
the motion, and that the motion is primarily the result of initial conditions, such
as an initial displacement of the mass element of the system from an equilibrium
position and/or an initial velocity. The free vibration is said to be undamped

free vibration if there is no loss of energy throughout the motion of the system.
This is the case of the simplest vibratory system, which consists of an inertia
element and an elastic member which produces a restoring force which tends to
restore the inertia element to its equilibrium position. Dissipation of energy may
be caused by friction or if the system contains elements such as dampers which

remove energy from the system. In such cases, the oscillation is said to be free
damped vibration. The mathematical models that govern the free vibration of single
degree of freedom systems can be described in terms of homogeneous second-order
ordinary differential equations that contain displacement, velocity, and acceleration

terms. The displacement coefficients describe the stiffness of the elastic members
or the restoring forces. The velocity coefficients define the damping constants and
determine the amount of energy dissipated, and the acceleration coefficients define
the inertia of the system.

3.1 Free Undamped Vibration

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In this section, the standard form of the differential equation that governs the linear
free undamped vibration of single degree of freedom systems is derived, and the
solution of this equation is obtained and is used to introduce several basic definitions
that will be frequently used in this text. For this purpose, a single degree of freedom
mass–spring system is first used, and it is shown that the linear free undamped

vibration of other single degree of freedom systems is governed by a mathematical

model that resembles the model obtained for the mass–spring system.

Static Equilibrium Configuration Figure 3.1(a) shows an elastic element represented by a

spring, which has undeformed length denoted as l0. If the mass m is

attached to this spring, there will be an elongation in the spring due to the weight
of the mass as a static load, as shown in Fig. 3.1(b). In this configuration, the mass
is in a position called the static equilibrium position. The free body diagram shown
in Fig. 3.1(c) reveals that the spring force must be equal in magnitude and opposite
in direction to the weight of the mass, that is,

k = mg, or
k − mg = 0 (3.1)
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where k is the spring stiffness, is the static deflection, and g is the gravitational

constant. Equation 3.1 is called the static equilibrium condition.

Natural Frequency Suppose now that the system is set in motion from the static
equilibrium position due to initial displacement and/or initial velocity. In order to
derive the differential equation of motion that governs the free vibration of this
system, we consider the mass at an arbitrary position x from the static equilibrium

position. The extension in the spring at this position will be the displacement x plus
the static deflection . The spring force denoted as Fs can then be written as
Fs = −k( + x) (3.2)
The negative sign indicates that the spring force is a restoring force which is in an
opposite direction to the direction of motion. Applying Newton’s second law and

using the free body diagram shown in Fig. 3.2, one has
mx¨ = mg − k(x + ), or
mx¨ = mg − kx − k (3.3)
Using the static equilibrium condition given by Eq. 3.1, Eq. 3.3 can be written as
mx¨ = −kx, or
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mx¨ + kx = 0 (3.4)

This is the standard form of the equation of motion that governs the linear free vibration of
single degree of freedom systems. Equation 3.4 can be rewritten as
x¨ + (k/m)x = 0, or
x¨ + ω2x = 0 (3.5)
where ω is a constant that depends on the inertia and stiffness characteristics of the
system and is defined as

ω = km (3.6)
The constant ω is called the circular or the natural frequency of the system. That
is, the natural frequency ω is defined to be the square root of the coefficient of x
divided by the coefficient of x¨. The unit of the natural frequency ω is radians/second
or simply rad/s.

Harmonic Motion As discussed in the preceding chapter, the complete solution of

Eq. 3.5 can be assumed in the following form
x = Aept (3.7)
Substituting this solution into the differential equation (Eq. 3.5) leads to (p2 +
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ω2)Aept = 0. The characteristic equation of the system is then defined as

(p2 + ω2) = 0 which has the roots p1 = iω, and p2 = −iω. These roots are
complex and conjugate, and as a consequence the solution can be assumed in the
following form
x = A cos ωt + B sin ωt (3.8)
where A and B are arbitrary constants which can be determined by using the initial

conditions. Equation 3.8 can be expressed in another form as

x = X sin(ωt + φ) (3.9)
where The constants X and φ which are called, respectively, the amplitude of vibration and
the phase angle, can be determined if the constants A and B are known. Equation 3.9
represents a harmonic oscillation, and the maximum or minimum displacement x

occurs when
|sin(ωt + φ)| = 1. That is, ωt + φ = (2n + 1)π/2, n = 0, 1, 2,...,
which implies that the solution has an infinite number of peaks, and the time at
which these peaks occur depends on the phase angle φ.
Applications Equation 3.4 or 3.5 and its oscillatory solution as defined by Eq. 3.8

or 3.9 describe the vibration of many single degree of freedom systems, and their
use is not only restricted to the simple mass–spring system. In order to illustrate
this, we consider the pulley system shown in Fig. 3.3, where the spring has a
stiffness coefficient k and the pulley, which is assumed to have a frictionless surface,

has a negligible mass. In this system, the displacement of the mass is twice the
displacement of the spring. Using the static equilibrium configuration, one has
mg = Fr = 1
2Fs (3.11)
where the spring force Fs = k, is the static deflection of the spring, and Fr is

the tension in the rope. The static equilibrium condition then can be written as
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If the mass oscillates as the result of an initial displacement or an initial velocity,

the equation of motion of the mass is given by

mx¨ = mg − Fr = mg – 1 (3.13)

where x is the displacement of the mass from the static equilibrium position. The
preceding equation, upon the use of the static equilibrium condition, leads to the

equation of motion of the system which defines the natural frequency of the system a
ω = √k/4m.
As another example, we consider the U-tube manometer, shown in Fig. 3.4,
which can be used in pressure measurements. The liquid mercury in the tube has
length l and mass density ρ, and the cross section of the tube is A and it is assumed

to be uniform. The total mass of the mercury in the tube is m = ρAl, and the
pressure on the cross section that acts in a direction opposite to the direction of the
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acceleration is pu = −2ρAxg. Using Newton’s second law, one has mx¨ = pu,

which leads to the linear second-order ordinary differential equation

ρAlx¨ = −2ρAgx (3.15)
which defines the natural frequency of oscillation as ω = √2g/l.
Natural Period of Oscillation The natural period of oscillation is denoted as τ and
defined from the equation ωτ = 2π that is,

The system natural frequency can be expressed as the number of cycles per second
as
The frequency of the system can also be written in terms of the static deflection .
To this end, Eq. 3.1 is rewritten in the following form (k/m) = (g/). Substituting
this equation into Eq. 3.18 yields

which implies that the natural frequency of this particular single degree of freedom
system can be obtained once the static deflection is known. The unit used for the
frequency f is Hertz or simply Hz.
Conservation of Energy Two forms of energy exist as the result of the free
vibration of the undamped single degree of freedom system shown in Fig. 3.2. The

first form is the kinetic energy T as the result of the motion of the mass, while the
second form is the strain energy U resulting from the deformation of the spring
from the static equilibrium position. The kinetic energy T and the strain energy U
are given, for the single degree of freedom mass–spring system discussed in this

section at an arbitrary position x, by

T=1
2mx˙2, U = 1
2 kx2 (3.20)
The system total energy E is defined as the sum of the kinetic and strain energies,

that is,
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E=1

2mx˙2 + 1
2 kx2 (3.21)
Using the definition of x given by Eq. 3.9, the total energy E can be written as
E=1
2mω2X2 cos2(ωt + φ) + 1

2 kX2 sin2(ωt + φ) (3.22)

Since k = ω2m (Eq. 3.6), the preceding equation reduces to E = (1/2) kX2[cos2
(ωt + φ) + sin2(ωt + φ)]. By using the trigonometric identity cos2(ωt + φ) +
sin2(ωt + φ) = 1, one can show that the total energy of the system at any arbitrary
position x remains constant and reduces to

E=1
2 kX2 = 1
2ω2mX2 (3.23)
Therefore, the total energy of the single degree of freedom system at any instant in
time is constant. One may observe that the total energy E given by the preceding

equation is equal to the strain energy, as the result of the deformation of the spring
when the displacement is maximum. At this position the velocity is equal to zero.
Since the total energy is equal to the sum of the kinetic and strain energies, one may
expect that the total energy at any instant in time is also equal to the kinetic energy

when the strain energy is equal to zero or, equivalently, when the deformation of
the spring is equal to zero. This is indeed the case, as demonstrated in the preceding
equation using the fact that k = ω2m. Therefore, the total energy of the system
at any instant in time is equal to the maximum kinetic energy. This implies that in
the free vibration of the system under consideration, the maximum kinetic energy is

equal to the maximum strain energy which is equal to the total energy. Between the
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points at which the displacement is zero (maximum kinetic energy) and the points at

which the velocity is zero (maximum strain energy), both forms of energy (kinetic
and strain) exist and the total energy E is the sum of both and remains constant.
In this case, the energy is conserved and the undamped single degree of freedom
system is said to be a conservative system.