DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROPAR

RUPNAGAR-140001, INDIA
IIT Ropar

DESIGN LABORATORY - II (ME306) REPORT

For

Experiment - 1

Free Vibration of Single Degree of Freedom System

Submitted by
Sadineni Venkata Vasista (2021MEB1315)
Saket Samota (2021MEB1316)
Sakshi Bhagadikar (2021MEB1317)
Sakshi Prakash Burud (2021MEB1318)
Sanskar Mittal (2021MEB1320)

Supervised by
Dr. Jitendra Prasad

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Aim:
Our aim in this experiment is to explore the behaviour of a one-degree-of-freedom system
subjected to free vibrations (specifically, a vertical spring-mass system). We intend to investigate
how variations in spring stiffness and the damping medium impact the system's response,
utilising actual data obtained through a Data Acquisition System (DAQ).

● Study the response of a single degree of freedom vertical spring mass system subjected to
changing masses, spring stiffness and damping medium using actual data through DAQ.
● We plan to measure the logarithmic decrement of a single-degree-of-freedom spring-mass
damper system. This measurement will be conducted across various damping mediums,
including air and various oils with different viscosities.
● Plot a voltage vs time graph to get the values of damping constant

Introduction :
A body which is moving in one direction only is called the single degree of freedom system. The
single degree of freedom system is allowed to oscillate or vibrate without any external forces
acting upon it. The governing equation for the free vibration of an SDOF system is often
represented by a second-order linear differential equation. We will be having a vertical
spring-mass system in which we will observe its nature by varying the springs' stiffness constant
and damping medium. Accelerometer will be used to record the motion then the filter is used to
remove the noise present in the signal after that the data can be shared to excel. During this we
will evaluate the logarithmic decrement of this system in different combinations of springs and
damping mediums.

Theory
We know that a single mass which is connected to a spring, this mass is allowed to travel along
the spring length during its elongation and compression, this setup can be considered as a single
degree of freedom system.

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 Fig1 : Single degrees of freedom system

In the damped oscillatory motion the mass which is oscillating that mass oscillations fade away
with time. The system related to it can be divided into three parts that are under-damped,
critically-damped and over-damped. This classification depends on the damping factor, that is
derived as follows:
The equation for this motion is mx¨ + cx˙ + kx = F(t)
Here we are dealing with free vibration so we will make force equal to zero then
mx¨ + cx˙ + kx = 0
To solve this we take x = Aeα1t+ Beα2t

By solving with these values we get the values of α1,2 from this we will get the values of
damping ratio or damping factor which is ζ = c/2√km

To classify the system in under-damped, critically-damped and over-damped it can be shown as

ζ < 1, under-damped
ζ = 1, critical damping
ζ > 1, over-damped
If the system is underdamped then the frequency changes
Damped frequency = natural frequency ╳ √(1-ζ2)

Example of Amplitude vs time plot

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To find the Logarithmic Decrement(δ) formula can be used
δ = ln(xn/xn+1) = 2𝜋ζ /(√(1-ζ2)

Apparatus :
1. Three different springs with varying stiffness
2. Various mediums with different viscosities (air,oils: 5W30, 15W40)
3. A weighting scale
4. A length measuring scale
5. Wires for connecting the Accelerometer to the filter and PC
6. A PC equipped with a Data Acquisition System
7.A pendulum bob to be treated as mass

Procedure:
1. Three springs of different mass, length and stiffness were used in the experiment.
2. The weight of the spring and the dead load were measured using the weighing machine.
and the length of the springs were then measured using a scale.
3. The mass was hung in the spring.
4. The accelerometer was attached to the spring mass system. The accelerometer was then
attached to the Vibration Fundamental Trainer (VFT) using a wire to help filter out the
signals from the accelerometer and send it to the DAQ. It was connected to channel 2 of
VFT.
5. A PC with DAQ installed was used in further steps.
6. The PC system was switched on. The InstaCal software was opened and it checked
whether the Board was recognized or not which was attached to the fundamental trainer.
7. Now in the measurement settings option, multiplot was selected and the channel settings
and transducer settings.

8. A manual impulse was given to induce motion in the spring-mass system (only in vertical
direction: 1-DOF).

9. After manual initiation of the spring-mass system, the start button was clicked in the data
acquisition option. Data acquisition progress was started and a plot of a decaying curve
was generated.

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 10. Now the spring-mass system was dipped in different damping media one by one and the
above steps were repeated for different damping media (Air, 5W30 engine oil, and
15W40 engine oil).
11. The curve was observed for each damping media and logarithmic decrement, spring
stiffness, natural frequency of the spring, damping factor, and damping coefficient were
evaluated.

Observations and Calculations:

Lengths of springs:
Spring 1 : 13.8 cm
Spring 2 : 12.8 cm
Spring 3 : 10.8 cm
Mass of the system (including all components):
Reading 1 : 374.4 g
Reading 2 : 372.4 g
Reading 3 : 376 g
Mean mass : 374.27 g
Graphs:
Spring 1 in 5w30 medium

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Spring1 in 15w40 medium

Spring 1 in air

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Spring 2 in 5w30 medium

Spring 2 in 15w40 medium

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Spring 2 in air

Spring 3 in 5w30 medium

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Spring 3 in 15w40 medium

Spring 3 in air

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MATLAB Code for the Calculations:

% loading the data from the csv files as a matrix

file = "C:\Users\pedag\Downloads\patch tested3.xls - patch tested3.xls.csv";
data = readmatrix(file);
% separating the x and y values from the data and plotting them to obtain
% the time domain plot
x = data(:,1);
y = data(:,2);
%figure;
plot(x,y);
title("Time domain plot of the given sample data");
xlabel("Time(s)");
ylabel("Voltage Amplitude(V)");
% finding out the difference between the consecutive timestamps
time_diff = diff(x);
% Finding the peaks corresponding to the time stamps in the region of damped
% behaviour
[peaks,peak_i] = findpeaks(y);
peak_t = x(peak_i);
% Calculating the settling time, which is the time required for the
% amplitude to reduce by 90%, or to reach to 10% of the maximum amplitude
V_max = max(peaks);
t1 = find(peaks==V_max);
t_max = peak_t(t1);
V_set = 0.1*V_max;

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% find the first element where the amplitude drops to the minimum amplitude
approximately, moving ahead in time
t2 = find(peaks<=V_set,1,'first');
t_set = peak_t(t2);
settling_time = t_set - t_max;
% Calculating the damping factor using the log decrement method
% We will consider the drop in amplitude by 90% as above
% Here we will find the damping coefficient by directly substituting in the
% log decrement method equation.
% First we will find 'n', the number of time periods by taking the average
% difference in the timestamps as the time period of oscillation
t_avg = mean(time_diff);
n = settling_time/t_avg;
c = log(V_max/V_set); % logarithmic decrement
zeta = sqrt((c^2)/(((2*n*pi)^2)+(c^2)));
disp(zeta);

Discussion & Conclusion:

1. We performed a single degree of freedom system for 3 springs. By Following the

experimental procedure, we got the values of time period, logarithmic decrement,
damped frequency, natural frequency, spring constant, and damping coefficient etc.
2. The damping coefficient also can be ordered as C air < C 5w30 < C 15w40
3. From the data we can observe that the system was underdamped as ζ < 1.
4. From logarithmic decrement we can find the damping ratio of the system.
-Sakshi Burud

1. We calculated the values of logarithmic decrement, natural frequency, damped frequency,

spring constant, damping coefficient and time period etc. using the single degree of
freedom system.
2. We observed how the respective values changed with respect to the change in spring
constant and damping medium.
3. The system was observed to be underdamped.
-Sanskar Mittal

1. We observed a Damped free vibration for a single degree of freedom system got voltage
vs t as output from the DAQ and we used that to calculate damping coefficient for air and
two different engine oils.
2. Those three different springs systems had different natural frequency as their stiffness is
different
3. The system was observed to be under Damped

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4. We observed a pulse on v vs t graphs at t =0 neighbourhood as a result of disturbance
provided by us in order to induce the vibration
5. The damping coefficients of the media are as follows
Air<5w30<15w40

-s.v.vasista

1. The experiment demonstrated damped free vibrations for a single degree of freedom
system in different damping media (air, 5w30 engine oil and 15w40), using springs of
different lengths, and hence, different spring constants.
2. The system, in each case,tends to oscillate about a mean value of 3V, a deviation from the
theoretical zero mean because of the initial displacement given to the system and more
importantly, the electronic connection settings that drive the system. The values were still
filtered before importing in the LabView software.
3. The time period of these oscillations is greater than the time period of a similar
undamped system.
4. As can be clearly observed from the plots, the oscillations of each of the springs die down
with time, showing the trend of an exponential decay above the mean. The decay,
however, depends on the damping medium.
5. With air as the damping medium, the oscillations do not die down completely, as it has
the lowest damping factor among all the media. They immediately die down for 15w40
engine oil and take longer for 5w30. Hence the damping factors are of the order
air<5w30<15w40.
6. All of these are underdamped oscillations, as indicated by the calculated values of the
damping factor (<1 in all cases).
-Sakshi Bhagdikar

1. By doing this experiment we learnt about the theory related to the oscillatory motion of a
single degree of freedom system in free vibration, along with this we used devices such
as accelerometer which is a sensor that helps to plot the graph of mass displacement.

2. In this experiment we had basically used three different springs and three different
mediums that are air, 15w40 (oil), 5w30 (oil) which have different viscosities. From the
software we found that when the more viscous medium is used then the damping effect
also increased. From the experiment we can say that our system is in an underdamped
situation, the air medium has a longer oscillation time as compared to the oil medium and

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 the oscillation stopped in the oils more rapidly. From this we can say that the 15w40 oil
has the maximum damping effect, after that 5w30 oil and then least is in air.

3. By doing the logarithmic decrement of the system we obtained how the amplitude of the
free vibration decreases. Its main function is to find the damping factor which is then
used to find the damping coefficient.From the logarithmic decrement graph obtained, we
can clearly see that the vibration in air has a low damping ratio and the oil medium has a
higher damping ratio. It shows that if the viscosity is increased then it also increases the
damping. The softer spring showed a high value of frequency and this matched the
relation based on the theoretical formula.Therefore, in the experiment, the damping
medium, the spring constant and the mass of the system influenced the oscillation
frequency and the decay of the amplitudes.
-Saket Samota

Precautions:

1. Ensure that the system starts from a known and reproducible initial condition. This may
involve carefully setting the initial displacement, velocity, or both.

2. Minimise external disturbances by conducting the experiment in a controlled environment

with minimal air currents, vibrations, and temperature fluctuations.

3. Ensure that the experimental setup is stable and well-supported. Any vibrations or instability
in the setup can affect the accuracy of the measurements.

4. Record sufficient data points and use appropriate analysis techniques to extract meaningful
information from the collected data.

—Thankyou—

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