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Spring Mass System

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47 views

Spring Mass System

Uploaded by

bilawalkhan292002
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Experiment (1)

Introduction to Vibrations (1): (Spring-Mass System)


Introduction
In this experiment, basic and simple introduction to mechanical vibrations will be
introduced. The simplest vibration model, spring- mass system, will be studied in free
vibration mode. Then its response will be studied and analyzed to calculate the natural
frequency of the system.

Objectives
1. Estimate the stiffness k of the spring using static test.
2. Estimate the stiffness k of the spring using dynamic test.
3. Estimate the stiffness k of the spring using the formula derived from strength of
materials (for the coil spring).
4. Estimate the effective mass of the spring.
Theory
Figure (1) shows a spring-mass system that will be studied in free vibration mode. The
system consists of:

1- Spring: a mechanical element that stores potential elastic energy. There are three
types of springs:
a) Linear: modeled by Hooke’s law .
b) Softening.
c) Hardening.
2- Mass: stores the kinetic energy.

In the case of undamped free vibrations, total mechanical energy is conserved and
alternating between the two forms, elastic in the spring and kinetic in the mass, infinitely.

Figure 1: Spring-mass system

If a free-body-diagram is drawn for the mass, then the governing equation of motion is
easily derived as:

(1)

1|Page Lab. Supervisor: Eng. Walaa Araydah


Divide equation (1) by m 

Where: rad/sec

Equation (2) is a 2nd order linear differential equation which can be solved
mathematically in several ways.
The solution is well known mathematically and proved experimentally to be:

Where: A and are the amplitude and phase shift of the vibration response, respectively.
They are determined by applying the initial condition.

Figure 2: Free undamped vibration response

Figure (2) shows a typical free vibration response which is basically a sinusoidal signal
where kinetic energy stored in the mass is alternating with the elastic potential energy
stored in the spring. Theoretically for a perfect undamped system this signal will last
forever.

Experimental Procedures

Part 1: Static test


1- Prepare the spring-mass experimental setup.
2- Estimate the un-stretched length of the spring
3- Load the system with loads gradually and record the deflection for each trial
according to table (1).
4- Draw the raw data points of the load vs. deflection and find the best line fit.
5- Find the stiffness of the spring from the slope of the best line fit.
6-

2|Page Lab. Supervisor: Eng. Walaa Araydah


Table 1: Static test data
Mass [kg] L [cm] Extension ( ) [cm]
0.350
0.475
0.710
0.825
1.535

Part 2: Dynamic test


1- Add a load to the spring and oscillate it (give the mass any initial condition).
 Show and prove experimentally that the natural period is not affected by
the type of the initial condition.
 Record the time required for n cycles, record the number of cycles (n) and
the time in table (2).
 Draw the data points of the square of the periodic time (natural period)
versus the total mass of the system.
 Use the slope of the best line fit to estimate the spring stiffness k.
 Use the intersection of the best line fit with the mass axis to estimate the
effective mass of the spring.
Note: The spring stiffness can be calculated using:

Where: G: Modulus of rigidity (G = 77 GPa)

d: diameter of the spring wire (d = 1.5 mm)


D: diameter of the spring coil (D = 3.7 cm)
N: number of turns (N = 5)

 Calculate the mass of this spring by knowing d, D, N, and density of the


spring material. (The spring is made of steel; density = 7850 kg/m3 and
G=77 GPa).

3|Page Lab. Supervisor: Eng. Walaa Araydah


Table 2: Dynamic test data
Mass (kg) No. of cycles (n) Time required for n cycles [s] [s] [ ]
0.350
0.475
0.710
0.825
1.535

Discussion and Conclusions


According to the mass-spring dynamic test, answer the questions from 1 to 3:
1) Prove that the natural period is not affected by the type of the initial condition.
2) Compare the experimental value of the effective mass of the spring with the
theoretical one which is one third of the spring mass ( ,
where ).
3) Use equation (4) to find the spring stiffness k and compare the resulting value
with that calculated using the previous methods -the slope of the best line fit-.

4|Page Lab. Supervisor: Eng. Walaa Araydah

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