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CHAPTER 7
EXPERIMENTATION USING CONVENTIONAL SPRINGS

7.1 Introduction
In this chapter, the conventional springs are used to demonstrate the Dynamic
Vibration Absorber (DVA) theory. The stiffness of the spring mass system is designed such
that to match the target excitation frequency and the vibration for that particular frequency is
reduced.
7.2 Design of cantilever beam and absorber mass
The following equation gives the condition in which the mass of the main system
causes two natural frequencies of the combined system.[21]

( /
a
)
4
- ( /
a
)
2
(2+)+1 = 0

where is the target frequency and
a
is the range with in which the vibration must be
arrested using the stiffness changing property of the SMA springs.


a
= ( 20% )
= 150.72 rad/s for f = 24 Hz
= 0.205 or 0.164

The higher value is taken and hence = 0.205.The dimensions of the aluminium cantilever
beam used is

Length of the cantilever beam - 400 mm
Breadth of the cantilever beam - 38 mm
Thickness of the cantilever beam - 4.5 mm
Density of aluminium - 2700 kg/m
3


Therefore the mass of the cantilever beam (m) is

m = (0.4*0.038*0.0045)*2700
= 0.184 kg

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An end mass of 300 g at the free end to the beam. Therefore the mass of the entire
primary system (m
1
) is 0.484 Kg. Now the value of absorber mass is found out. From [6], the
ratio () of the absorber mass (m
2
) to the system mass (m
1
) is given by

= m
2
/m
1

Using m
1
and (6), m
2
is found to be 0.102 kg. The value of the absorber mass which
has been found is now checked for the assumed target frequency of 24 Hz by finding the
stiffness of the primary system (k)

= (k/m
2
)
1/2
where,

= 2*3.14*f
f = target frequency (Hz)
k = stiffness of the primary system (N/m)
m
2

= absorber mass (kg)
The stiffness of the primary system (k) is found to be 2271.65 N/m or 2.27 N/mm
using (3).

7.2 Stiffness of the conventional spring
The specification of the conventional spring used in the experment is given below:

Material - Spring steel
Wire radius - 0.85 mm
Mean radius - 5 mm
Number of coils - 40
Youngs Modulus - 2.2E11 Pa

N 4R
G r
k
3
4
2



where k
2
is the stiffness of the spring (N/m)
r is the radius of wire (m)
G is the Modulus of Rigidity (N/m
2
)
R is the radius of Coil (m)
N is the number of active coils
40

) 2(1
E
G

Where G is the modulus of Rigidity (N/m
2
)
is Poissons ratio
E is the Youngs Modulus (N/m
2
)
= 2.2E11 Pa
Pa 10 0.846
0.3) 2(1
10 2.2
G
11
11

The stiffness (k
2
) is found using (3)

40 5 4
10 ) 10 0.846 (0.85
k
3
3 11 4
2



k
2
= 2265.76 N/m = 2.27 N/mm


7.3 Experimental results


Fig 7.1 Experimentation using conventional spring
From 7.2 and 7.3, it is found that the frequency of the primary system and the
frequency of the spring absorber are the same. Hence the DVA theory is satisfied and the
experiments are carried out for the targeted frequency of 24 Hz. The primary system
consists of an aluminium cantilever beam with a mass of 300g at its free end. An
End mass
Accelerometer
SMA springs
Absorber
Shaker
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accelerometer of sensitivity 100.5 mV/g is attached to the beam which is used to find the
amplitude of vibration. The accelerometer is interfaced with the computer by using LabVIEW
software and PXI-1031 Data Acquisition (DAQ) card from National Instruments. A shaker is
used to produce the necessary vibrations. The input to the shaker is also given through PXI-
1031. The secondary system consists of spring or springs connected to an absorber mass.
The spring mass system is shown in figure 7.1. They are attached to the free end of the
beam. The amplitude of displacement at 24 Hz without absorber and with absorber are
shown in figure 7.2 and 7.3 respectively.

Figure 7.2 Amplitude of displacement without absorber at 24 Hz




Figure 7.3 Amplitude of displacement without absorber at 24 Hz
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7.4 Need for SMA springs
By using conventional springs, the vibration can be controlled for a particular
frequency using DVA theory. The amplitude of displacements for the frequency range of
22-26 hz are tabulated in table 7.1. When SMA springs are used, the stiffness value can be
changed depending on its property and DVA theory can be applied to control vibration for a
range of frequencies i.e. active vibration control.

Table 7.1 Amplitude of vibration in primary system using conventional absorber
Frequency (Hz) Without absorber (mm) With absorber (mm)
22 0.32 0.32
23 0.40 0.38
24 0.58 0.15
25 0.46 0.46
26 0.28 0.28