15

Forced Vibrations
Arthur W. Leissa
Ohio State University

15.1 Single-Degree-of-Freedom Systems 15.2 Multiple-Degree-of-Freedom Systems

Consider a mechanical system that is subjected to external forces (or moments) that are periodic in time. The forces may arise in various ways. For example, forces may be applied directly to the system (mechanical connections, uid pressure, electromechanical), or indirectly through a foundation (which may be represented by springs and dampers). Such exciting forces always occur in rotating bodies (e.g., electric motors, internal combustion engines, gas turbines), but can also have other sources (e.g., earthquake motions, wind gusts, acoustic excitations). The frequency (W) of an exciting force is typically different from the natural frequencies (w1, w2, w3,) of the system. However, if W is close to any of the natural frequencies, the amplitude of the resulting motion may be very large. If W equals one of the wi, resonance exists. In this situation, if no damping were present, the amplitude would grow with time until the system failed due to excessive motion or stress. All physical systems have at least some damping, but the damping may be very small. In this situation, the amplitude of motion at resonance would remain nite, but could become very large even excessive. When a system is excited, the responsive displacements are a combination (superposition) of all the mode shapes of free vibration. However, if W is close to one of the wi, the response is dominated by the mode shape corresponding to the wi. The most important reason to know the natural frequencies of free vibration is to avoid resonant situations. One seeks to change the mass or stiffness of the system to shift the natural frequencies away from the exciting frequencies. In typical situations, the largest resonant amplitudes occur at the lowest natural frequencies. Therefore, it is particularly important to know the smallest wi. Free vibration mode shapes are also important because they enable one to determine how the system vibrates at or near resonance.

15.1 Single-Degree-of-Freedom Systems

Take the spring-mass system shown in Figure 14.2(a) of Chapter 14 and add a horizontal exciting force Fo sinWt to the mass, where W is the exciting frequency. From the free-body diagram of Figure 14.3(a), the equation of motion is + kx = Fo sin Wt mx (15.1)

The solution of Equation (15.1) consists of the sum of two parts. One part is the complementary solution obtained by setting Fo = 0. This is the free, undamped vibration discussed in Chapter 14. The second part is the particular solution, due to Fo sinWt. This is

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x=

Fo /k sin Wt 1 - (W /w)2

(15.2)

where w = k /m is the natural frequency. Observing the amplitude of this motion in Equation (15.2), one sees that if excitation begins with a small frequency (W /w << 1) and increases, the amplitude grows until, at W / w = 1, it becomes (theoretically) innite. This is resonance. As W /w increases further, the amplitude diminishes. For large W/w, it becomes very small. If viscous damping is present, as represented in Figure 14.2(b) of Chapter 14, the equation of motion is + cx + kx = Fo sin Wt mx (15.3)

Again the solution has two parts, one part being the free, damped vibration, and the other part being the forced motion. The free vibration part is given by Equation (14.9) of Chapter 14. It decays with increasing time and eventually vanishes (i.e., it is transient). The forced vibration part is x = A sin Wt - B cos Wt = C sin(Wt - f) C = A2 + B2 , f = tan -1(B / A) (15.4a)

(15.4b)

C=

Fo /k [1 - (W /w)2 ]2 + [2z(W /w)]2

(15.4c)

where z = c/cc, c c = 2 mk as in Chapter 14. This forced vibration is called the steady state vibration because it remains indenitely, even after the transient free vibration vanishes. A graph of steady state amplitude versus forcing frequency is shown in Figure 15.1. This graph is worthy of considerable study because it shows clearly what vibratory amplitudes exist at different forcing frequencies. The nondimensional amplitude C/dst is used, where dst = Fo/k is the static deection that the mass would have if Fo were applied. For small W /w, Figure 15.1 shows that C/dst = 1, regardless of the damping. The case discussed earlier with no damping (z = 0) is shown, although C/dst is plotted positive for W /w > 1. It is positive for all nonzero z (and for all W /w), no matter how small. For no damping, the innite amplitude at resonance is implied in Figure 15.1. For small damping (e.g., z = 0.1), the peak amplitude is several times the static deection. If z were only 0.01, the peak amplitude would be 50 times the static deection. Figure 15.1 also shows the phase angle, f; that is, the angle by which the motion lags the exciting force. For small W /w, it is seen that the motion is essentially in-phase (f is nearly zero), whereas, for W / w >> 1, the motion is essentially out-of-phase (f is nearly 180). In the vicinity of resonance (W/w = 1), f changes rapidly as W is varied, especially if the damping is small. Suppose that, instead of applying an exciting force Fo sinWt directly to the mass in Figure 14.2(b) of Chapter 14, the wall (or foundation) on the left side is given the vibratory displacement dw sinWt. This motion causes forces to be transmitted through the spring and damper to the mass. One nds that the equation of motion is again Equation (15.3), with Fo replaced by kd. Thus, Figure 15.1 again describes the steady state vibratory amplitude of the mass, except that dst is replaced by dw. Now consider the relative displacement xR = x - dw sinWt between the mass and the wall. A free-body diagram yields the equation of motion: R + cx R + kx R = mW 2 d w sin Wt mx (15.5)

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6 =

c =0 cc 180

5 0.1 4

=0 0.02 0.1 (deg) 90 0.2 0.3 0.5 1.0

C st 3

0.2

0.3 0.5

0 0 1

1 1.0 0 0 1

0.707

FIGURE 15.1 Displacement amplitude and phase angle resulting from an applied force versus exciting frequency for various amounts of damping (one DOF).

which has a steady state solution in the form of Equation (15.4a). The amplitude of the relative motion is found to be: d w (W /w)2 [1 - (W /w)2 ]2 + [2z(W /w)]2

CR =

(15.6)

A graph of the ratio of the amplitudes of relative displacement and wall displacement (CR/ dw) is shown in Figure 15.2. The phase angle lag is the same as in Figure 15.1. In Figure 15.2, it is seen that at small excitation frequencies (W/w almost zero), the relative displacement is nearly zero. But, at resonance (W/w = 1), large relative motion may occur, especially for small damping (small z). For W / w >> 1, CR/ dw is nearly unity, and the relative motion is 180 out of phase. This means that although the wall is shaking at a high frequency, the mass barely moves at all. This behavior is important in design when isolation from ground vibration is desired. Other types of damping will exist in a typical mechanical system. These include: 1. Dry friction (e.g., the mass slides on a oor against opposing frictional forces) 2. Structural (or material) damping (e.g., the spring material is not perfectly elastic, but dissipates energy during each cycle of vibratory motion) 3. Aerodynamic damping (e.g., the mass vibrates in air, instead of in a vacuum as the previously described models do) These other forms of damping may be approximated by an equivalent viscous damping with reasonable accuracy for many of the vibratory characteristics.

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6 = c =0 cc 5

4 0.1 CR st 3

2 0.2 0.5 1 =1 0 0 1 2 3

FIGURE 15.2 Relative displacement resulting from foundation excitation (one DOF).

15.2 Multiple-Degree-of-Freedom Systems

The characteristics described above (vibratory displacement and phase angle) behave similarly for systems having two or more degrees of freedom (DOF). That is, with small damping in the vicinity of a resonant frequency, the steady state displacement amplitude is large and the phase angle changes rapidly with changing W. The primary difference is that, instead of having a single region of resonance, there are as many regions as there are DOF. A continuous system (e.g., string, rod, beam, membrane, plate, shell) has innite DOF, with an innite number of free vibration frequencies. Thus, with small damping, large amplitudes can occur in many ranges of exciting frequency for a given exciting force or moment. Fortunately, practical applications show that, typically, only the excitations near the lowest few natural frequencies are signicant (although exceptions to this can be shown). A two-DOF system is depicted in Figure 15.3. The two equal masses are separated by equal springs (stiffnesses k) and equal viscous dampers (damping coefcients c). A force Fo sinWt is applied to one of the masses only. From free-body diagrams of each mass, one may obtain two differential equations of motion in the displacements x1 and x2. The equations are coupled because of the spring and mass in the middle. Their steady state solution is found to be sinusoidal in time, with a common frequency W, but
x1 c Fo sin t k m k c x2 c

m k

FIGURE 15.3 Two-DOF mechanical system.

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3 =0

C1 st

=0 0.3 1 = 0.1

2/3

0.5

2 1

FIGURE 15.4 Displacement amplitude versus exciting frequency (two DOF).

different phase angles for each of the masses. A plot of the amplitude (C1) for the vibratory displacement (x1) of the mass to which the force is applied is seen in Figure 15.4 for damping ratios z = c/ 2 mk = 0, 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5. With no damping, the amplitude is seen to become innite at the two resonances (W/ w1 = 1 and 3 = 1.732 , where w 1 = k / m is the smallest natural frequency of the system). Interestingly, for z = 0 and W/w1 = 2 = 1.414, there is no motion of the mass to which the force is applied (although the other mass vibrates). This is an example of vibration isolation. By adding a second mass to a singleDOF system, the vibratory motion of the rst mass may be eliminated at a certain exciting frequency. The added mass need not be equal. With small damping (z = 0.1), a large amplitude is observed in Figure 15.4 at the rst resonance, but a smaller one at the second resonance. For larger damping (z = 0.3), the second resonant peak essentially vanishes. As an example of a continuous system, consider a string (or wire) of length l stretched with a tensile force (T) between two rigid walls. It has uniform thickness and mass density (r, mass/length), and negligible bending stiffness. Let the string be subjected to a uniformly distributed loading ( p, force/ length) which varies sinusoidally in time ( p = po sinWt), as shown in Figure 15.5. Considering only small amplitude transverse vibrations, the equation of motion is found to be a linear, second-order, partial

po sin t

FIGURE 15.5 A string stretched between two walls (continuous system).

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6 0.0 5 c = 0.1 cc

Wc 3 st 0.2 2 0.3 1 1.5 1.0 0 0 1 2 3 1 4 5 6

FIGURE 15.6 Displacement amplitude versus exciting frequency for the vibrating string.

differential equation. This may be solved exactly either in closed form or by taking the innite sum of the displacement responses of the free vibration modes of the system (eigenfunction superposition). The amplitude of the transverse vibration of the center of the string (Wc) is observed in Figure 15.6. It is plotted in the nondimensional form W c/dst, where dst would be the displacement if the pressure were static (dst = pol2/ 8T). The abscissa is the frequency ratio (W / w1, where w1 is the rst natural frequency of the system). If there is no damping (c = 0), then innite amplitudes (resonances) occur at the rst, third, fth, seventh, and so on natural frequencies. The natural frequencies are wm = mp/l, where m = 1,2,3,. The free vibration mode shapes are symmetric with respect to the center of the string for m = 1,3,5,, and these are the modes that are excited by the symmetric loading. The antisymmetric modes (m = 2,4,6,) are not excited by it. In the vicinity of each resonance, the mode shape (a sine function along the length) for that natural frequency dominates. Away from resonances (e.g., W /w1 = 2), all symmetric modes are present. The width of each region of resonance decreases as the order of natural frequencies increases. Thus, for example, if Wc/dst is to be less than 3, the range of unacceptable operating frequencies (W /w1 ) is seen to be much smaller at the second resonance than at the rst, and smaller yet at the third resonance. For small, uniformly distributed, viscous damping (e.g., c/cc = 0.1, where c c = 2p Tr /l 2 is the critical damping coefcient for the rst mode), the amplitudes at the rst three resonances are found to be Wc/dst = 5.18, 0.59, and 0.21.

Dening Terms
Continuous system A system with continuously varying physical parameters (e.g., mass, stiffness, damping), having innite degrees of freedom; as opposed to a discrete system, which has discontinuous parameters and nite degrees of freedom. Equivalent viscous damping Viscous damping which would yield a forced vibratory response the same as another form of damping.

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In-phase Vibratory displacement which follows in time an exciting force (or displacement). Out-of-phase Vibratory displacement which is opposite to the direction of excitation. Phase angle The angle in a cycle of motion by which a displacement lags behind the exciting force (or displacement). Resonance Large amplitude motion that occurs when a forcing frequency is in the vicinity of a natural frequency of a system. Static deection The limiting case of a forced vibratory displacement, when the exciting frequency is very small, so that dynamic (inertia) effects are negligible. Steady state The vibratory motion that persists after the transient effects die away or are neglected.

References
Den Hartog, J. P. 1956. Mechanical Vibrations, 4th ed. McGraw-Hill, New York. Leissa, A. W. 1978. On a direct method for analyzing the forced vibrations of continuous systems having damping. J. Sound Vib. 56(3):313324. Leissa, A. W. 1989. Closed form exact solutions for the vibrations of continuous systems subjected to distributed exciting forces. J. Sound Vib. 134(3):435454. Leissa, A. W. and Chern, Y. T. 1992. Approximate analysis of the forced vibrations of plates. J. Vib. Acoustics 114:106111. Ruzicka, J. E. and Derby, T. F. 1971. Inuence of Damping in Vibration Isolation. Shock and Vibration Information Center, Washington, D.C. Snowdon, J. C. 1968. Vibration and Shock in Damped Mechanical Systems. John Wiley & Sons, New York. Thomson, W. T. 1988. Theory of Vibration with Applications. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Timoshenko, S. P., Young, D. H., and Weaver, W., Jr. 1974. Vibration Problems in Engineering, 4th ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Further Information
Discussion of forced vibrations of one-DOF systems, including nonsinusoidal exciting forces, may be found in the excellent textbooks by Den Hartog; Timoshenko, Young, and Weaver; and Thomson. For further information on equivalent viscous damping and its representation of other forms of damping, see the textbook by Thomson. Extensive graphs of amplitude versus frequency ratio for various types of damping are in the monograph by Ruzicka and Derby. Vibration isolation in a two-DOF system is discussed very well in the textbook by Den Hartog. Forced vibrations of rods and beams with material damping are thoroughly discussed in the monograph by Snowdon. Closed-form exact solutions for continuous systems [Leissa, 1989] and two useful approximate methods [Leissa, 1978; Leissa and Chern, 1992] are available in individual papers.

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