Objective

The purpose of my talk today is

To equip you with background knowledge and
expertise needed to conduct a successful
vibration test.

Dr. S.P. Singh

Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
IIT, Hauz Khas New Delhi-110016
• Fundamentals of Vibrations

•Planning and Conducting a Vibration Test

•Interpreting the Vibration Test Results

 FUNDAMENTALS OF
VIBRATION

• Harmonic wave
• Single Degree of Freedom System
• Damped System
Vibration
Oscillatory motion of a mechanical component
due to interplay of kinetic and potential
energies.
Harmonic Wave
x(t) = X sin (t)

X t x(t)
 Harmonic wave
• x = X sin  t
• xo =  X cos  t
• xoo = -  2 X sin  t
Condition for Harmonic Motion
xoo = -  2 x
 A simple vibration System

..
m x  inertial force

kx  spring force
m
x

Equation of motion
..
m x  kx
..
m x  k x 0
Substituting x = X sin  t
we get
k

m

 is the natural frequency in radians/s

cyclic frequency in Hz f =  / (2*)
Time Period T = 1/f = 2 *  / 
Tacoma Narrows Bridge
 Response to a Harmonic Excitation

;;
mx  kx  f (t ) F cos (t )

x(t ) X cos ( t   )
where
X
F
X 
k  m 2


Damper
.
Fd damping force c x

..
m
x
Fm inetia force m x

K C
Fk  spring force kx

Equation of motion
.. .
mx  cx  kx  0
Damping Ratio

 damping ratio  c / cc

where c  damping coefficien t

cc  critical damping coefficien t  2 km

At (c>cc) critical damping, system does not oscillate

 Critical Damping
Over Damping
Amplitude

Time

Less than Critical Damping

 Response of damped system to a Harmonic
Excitation

;; .
mx  kx  c x  f (t ) F cos (t )

x(t ) X cos ( t   )
where
X
F
X 
(k  m 2 ) 2  (c 2 )


 Response to a Harmonic Excitation

X 1

F /k (1  ( /  n ) 2 ) 2  ( 2 /  n ) 2

due to a constant force F

F / k  static deflection of the system
Damped Natural Frequency

Relationship between frequency and damping ratio

2
Damped natural frequency =  d  n 1 
Resonance frequency =  r  n 1 2 2
 Multiple Degree of Freedom Systems

Continuous systems-systems having distributed

mass and elasticity

infinite number of degrees of freedom

Equation of Motion for a Multi-Degree of
Freedom System

Matrix eigen- value problem:

..
M x  Kx 0
Where M and K are Mass and
Stiffness matrices
 Solution Methods for continuous systems
Classical method
-partial differential equations
for defined shapes
Rayleigh-Ritz method
- approximate solution based
on conservation of energy
Matrix method
-Finite element method
the continuous system is idealized
finite number of mass points
by springs at NODES
has maximum of six of freedom
Sample Structure on which analysis is carried out for
layer damping treatment
Normal mode of Structure

Mode 2
 Vibration Testing : Planning and Conduct

• Vibration Sensors
• Vibration Exciters
• Fixture Design
• Sine Test
• Sine Sweep Test
• Random Vibration Test
 Vibration Measurement

• Unit of Vibration
• Displacement (amplitude=X) mm
– Mostly peak-peak

• Velocity V = 2**f*X
– Amplitude (V) mm/sec or m/s

• Acceleration A = 4* 2*f2*X
– Measured as peak value m/s2 or ‘g’
(=9.81m/s2)
 Vibration Sensors

• Accelerometer

• Velocity Probe

• Laser Doppler Vibrometer

• Other Transducers such as Strain Guage,

LVDT etc.
Accelerometers

Measure Acceleration

Good for Medium High

Frequency

Velocity, Displacement
obtained by integration

Low Mass, to be attached to

structure
 Velocity Probes

• Comparatively Heavy
• Good Velocity Response in Medium
frequency range (20-100 Hz)
• Common in Power Plant monitoring
• Relatively Cheaper electronics and hence
lower overall cost
 30

25

20
Sensitivity (mV/mm/sec)

15

10

0
10 100 1000
Frequency (Hz)
 Laser Doppler Vibrometer

• Non-contact Measurement
• Very Good Frequency response up-to 100
MHz (only limited by electronics )
• Costly
• Currently becoming popular for Automated
Measurements and Scanning
 Power
Signal Supply
conditi X(t)
oner
Laser Beam

Doppler Effect
Vibration Exciter- Various Types
• Mechanical Exciter
• Electro-dynamic
• Electro-Hydraulic
• Non-Contact Type (Electro-Magnetic)

Electrodynamic exciter is the most popular

and versatile
Mechanical Exciter- Inertia Excitation
Mechanical Exciter- Spring Excitation
 Electrodynamic Exciter-
Important Specifications
• Frequency Range
• Dynamic Force Rating
• Maximum Pay load
• Natural Frequency
• Moving Mass
 A
•Crossovers on the excitation range V
•D-V crossover (1.2/0.025) D
•V-A crossover (70*9.81/1.2)
•Crossovers are specified many times even in the test specifications
A TYPICAL TEST SETUP FOR ESTIMATION OF
MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Oscillator

Filters

Charge Amplifiers
Fixture with
VEM sample

Exciter
TOP VIEW OF FIXTURE
SHOWING VEM SPECIMEN

USE OF IMPEDANCE
HEAD
 Vibration Tests

• Free Vibration Test

• Forced Vibration Test
– Structural Mass vs Exciter Moving mass
– Deciding the frequency range
– Vibration Levels
• Resonance Testing
–Locating the resonance
• Random Vibration Testing
 computer

Controller

Power
Amplifier

Slip table
exciter
Logarithmic sweep

- The logarithmic sweep is better in the sense lower

frequencies are adequately covered. In case more accuracy
is required at higher frequency ranges a, decreasing rate
sloping or an increasing-decreasing rate may also be
chosen

- The logarithmic sweep avoids over testing

at high frequencies
2 Oct/min e.g. 5-10 Hz-60 sec
10-20 Hz-60 sec
20-40 Hz-60 sec
40-80 Hz-60 sec
Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Normal mode of Structure

Mode 2
Interpreting the Test Results

• Finding Natural Frequencies

• Finding Damping
• Locating the Resonance
• Importance of Modes
• Meaning and Interpretation of FFT
• FFT Analyzers
• FRF Plotting
 Free Vibration Decay

X0/X1 = X1/X2 = X2/X3 = e -2

 = 1/2 * log (X0/X1 )
Identifying Multiple Vibration Sources
Frequency Response Function

• FRF is a transfer function between the

response of structure measured at some
point I and force applied at some point J

 ij= FFT of (x(t) at point I) / FFT of f(t) at

point J
• FRF gives accurate picture of
resonances of the structure
 Frequency Response Function
• Frequency response function when found
at different point can be combined to get
the different mode shapes of the structure
and their corresponding modal properties
• This very important procedure in vibration
testing is called MODAL TESTING
 Use Modal Exciter
• Cross stiffness to be
very low for
determining the FRF
structure
• Moving mass should
be minimum
• fs=fe - M xoo
• Use a stringer. Thin
rod which is much
less stiff in cross
direction
Some Test Cases
A TYPICAL TEST SETUP FOR ESTIMATION OF
MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Oscillator

Filters

Charge Amplifiers
Fixture with
VEM sample

Exciter
Virtual Instrumentation and
Vibration Measurement

The goal of this lecture is to introduce

virtual instrumentation and expose you
to the power and flexibility of using it in
Vibration Measurement
Historical Perspective
Introduction to Virtual
Instrumentation
Capabilities and functionalities
Case studies
Rotordynamic DAQ system using VI’s
 COMPUTERS IN INTRUMENTATION

Early days: Process monitoring and control – limited to large

plants
Computer Hardware: Computing power, Bus-based
computers
 Advancements in Hardware:

Mainframes  Miniframes  Personal Computer (desktop)

Bus based computer architecture
PC and AT buses like VESA & EISA
In 1993, Intel came up with a standard called
Peripheral Components Interconnect (PCI)
most commonly used even today
PCs came with Interrupt (IRQ) and Direct Memory Access (DMA)
structure permitting fast data transfers with peripherals
Development of Buses allowed easy interfacing

Buses are shared data highways on which data, commands,

etc., move and are shared by various components, making it
possible to add additional modules in a simple and systematic
manner.
Buses: Internal to computer (UNIBUS, PCI, ISA,etc.)
or External (e.g., GPIB, USB, Firewire, etc).

Earlier each interface problem was unique; i.e., to connect 12

instruments to 5 different computers required 12x5=60 unique
ways.
 SOFTWARE
Earliest operating systems such as VAX-VMS dominated the control
applications
UNIX and its variants HPUX – control applications
Microsoft:
DOS: Integration of device drivers in OS – big
Advantage
Windows: S/W for additional user hardware
integrated into the overall system
through drivers developed for specific devices.
GUI based OS: 1990.
 INTERFACES

Different types of devices require interfaces of different

capabilities
Led to development of various buses and interfaces for
different purposes coexisting in the same system
In computer interfacing – Internal computer buses and
interface standard play a role
Internal bus: used to integrate add-on h/w into PC and act as
platform for standardized h/w.

3 Buses are extended to cater to instrumentation

VME  extended to VXI (VEM extension for instrumentation)
PCI  extended to PXI (PCI extension for instrumentation)
SCSI bus for peripherals  SCXI standard
 INTERFACE STANDARDS
To connect external devices to the computer
Serial Connection: Sequential transfer of data
Recommend Standard No. 232 (RS232C),
Universal Serial Bus (USB), Firewire, etc.
GPIB Connection: separate line for each bit,
transfer is fast
 CRUX OF THE VI
Progressively moving the intelligence of the instrument
into software
H/w reduced to
actual sensors (thermocouples, accelerometers, etc.) and
actuators (switches, motors, valves, etc)

All signal handling, analysis and control done through s/w

 LabView: G programming language

Program Window Panel Window

Available Facilities : Control Elements

Function Elements
Using G Program, one can
 Build the panel, Controls and Displays
 Assign signal manipulation and signal analysis
tasks
 Wire the control functions and the displays
 Make connectivity with the A/D card I/O channels
 Execute the commands in Real Time on the signal
 A VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT PERFORMS THE SAME JOB
AS REAL INSTRUMENT

Virtual Data Logger Virtual Signal Generator

Virtual CRO Virtual Multimeter
Virtual FFT Analyser Virtual Frequency Meter

But, additionally, it gives more

Flexibility User defined Controls
Removes Ambiguities Low Cost
Actual numerical values are available anytime for import/export
Add on Software for control and specific requirements
Avoid redundancy Reusability Reconfigurability
SOME TYPICAL TASKS THAT CAN BE PERFORMED ON
THE SIGNAL
Measurement:
AC, DC Amplitude and frequency estimate
Amplitude and phase spectrum
Harmonic Analyser
Transfer Function
Signal Generation:
Arbitrary Wave
Amplitude and Phase Spectrum
White Noise
Impulse, Ramp and chirp pattern