10/2/2016

DifferenceBetweenDampedandUndampedVibration

DifferenceBetweenDampedandUndampedVibration
October28,2015byNipun5minread

MainDifferenceDampedvs.UndampedVibration
Damped and undamped vibration refer to two different types of vibrations.
The main difference between damped and undamped vibration is that undamped
vibration refer to vibrations where energy of the vibrating object does not get
dissipated to surroundings over time, whereas damped vibration refers to
vibrationswherethevibratingobjectlosesitsenergytothesurroundings.

WhatisUndampedVibration
In undamped vibrations, no resistive force acts on the vibrating object. As the
objectoscillates,theenergyintheobjectiscontinuouslytransformedfrom kinetic
energy to potential energy and back again, and the sum of kinetic and potential
energy remains a constant value. In practice, its extremely difficult to find
undamped vibrations. For instance, even an object vibrating in air would lose
energyovertimeduetoairresistance.
Let us consider an object undergoing simple harmonic motion. Here, the objet
experiences a restoring force towards the equillibrium point, and the size of this
forceisproportionaltodisplacement.Ifthedisplacementoftheobjectisgivenby
,thenforanobjectwithmass

insimpleharmonicmotion,wecanwrite:

Thisisadifferentialequation.Asolutiontothisequationcanbewritteninthe
form:

Here,
Ifvibrationisundamped,theobjectcontinuestooscillatesinusoidally.

WhatisDampedVibration
In damped vibrations, external resistive forces act on the vibrating object. The
object loses energy due to resistance and as a result, the amplitude of vibrations
decreasesexponentially.
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DifferenceBetweenDampedandUndampedVibration

We can model the damping force to be directly proportional to the speed of the
object at the time. If the constant of proportionality for the damping force is ,
thenwecanwrite:

Thesolutiontothisdifferentialequationcanbegivenintheform:
.
Here,the

Wecanwritethisas:

Writingtheequationinthisformisusefulbecausethequantity

canbeused

to determine the nature of a particular oscillation. Often, this quantity is called

thedampingcoefficient, ,i.e.
If

, then we have critical damping. Under this condition, the oscillating

object returns to its equilibrium position as soon as possible without completing

any more oscillations. When

, we have underdamping. In this case, the

objectcontinuestooscillate,butwithaneverreducingamplitude.For

the

resistiveforcesareverystrong.Theobjectwouldnotoscillateagain,buttheobject
is slowed down so much, that it goes towards the equilibrium much more slowly
comparedtoanobjectthatiscriticallydamped. Overdamping is the name given
to this type of scenario. When

, there is no resistive force and the object

is undamped. Theoretically, the object continues to carry out simple harmonic

motionwithoutanyreductioninamplitude.
Thegraphbelowillustrateshowthedisplacementoftheobjectchangesunderthese
threedifferentconditions:

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DifferenceBetweenDampedandUndampedVibration

Dampingunderresistiveforceswithdifferentdampingconstants
We can make use of damping in situations where we do not want something to
vibrate. Cars consist of dampers that prevent the car from bobbing up and down
repeatedlyeverytimeitfallsintoapothole.Dampersarealsofoundonbridgesto
prevent them from swaying due to wind. Tall buildings also sometimes have
dampers to ensure that the building does not sway too much and topple during
earthquakes. On power lines, Stockbridge dampers are used to ensure that the
cablesdonotundergolargevibrations.

Stockbridgedampersonapowerline

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DifferenceBetweenDampedandUndampedVibration

DifferenceBetweenDampedandUndamped
Vibration
PresenceofResistiveForces
Inundampedvibrations,theobjectoscillatesfreelywithoutanyresistiveforce
actingagainstitsmotion.
Indampedvibrations,theobjectexperiencesresistiveforces.

EnergyLoss
Inundampedvibrations,thesumofkineticandpotentialenergiesalwaysgives
thetotalenergyoftheoscillatingobject,andthevalueofitstotalenergydoesnot
change.
Indampedvibrations,thetotalenergyoftheoscillatingobjectdecreasesover
time.Thisenergyisdissipatedastheobjectdoesworkagainsttheresistiveforces.

ValueoftheDampingCoefficient
Forundampedvibrations,
Fordampedvibrations,

.
.

ImageCourtesy:
Stockbridgedampersona400KVlinenearCastleCombe,England.byAdrian
Pingstone(Ownwork)[PublicDomain],viaWikimediaCommons(Modified)

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