Design of Pendulum Absorbers for Transverse Vibration Attenuation of Rotating Beams

This paper considers the placement, sizing and tuning of centrifugal pendulum vibration absorbers for the reduction of transverse vibrations in rotating beams. A simplified model describing the linearized dynamics of a rotating beam with external excitation and attached absorbers is used for the analysis. A design strategy is offered wherein individual absorbers are designed to reduce vibration amplitudes and stress levels caused by troublesome resonances. It is shown that this procedure offers significant reduction in vibratory stresses, even in the case of excitations composed of multiple harmonics.

A Mechanical Filter Concept to Suppress Crane Load Oscillations

In this article, preliminary results obtained in the exploration of a mechanical filter concept for suppressing crane-load oscillations on a ship vessel are presented. The pivot point about which the load oscillates is constrained to follow a circular track in the considered filter. The governing dynamical systems for the cases with and without the filter are presented, and the nonlinear dynamics of these systems is studied with respect to quasi-static variation of different scalar control parameters. It is shown that the presence of the filter helps in eliminating some of the sub-critical bifurcations that may arise in the crane-load response during periodic ship-roll excitations.

In-Plane Vibration Modes of Arbitrarily Thick Disks

The three-dimensional vibration of an arbitrarily thick annular disk is investigated for two classes of boundary conditions: all surfaces traction-free, and all free except for the clamped inner radius. These two models represent limiting cases of such common engineering components as automotive and aircraft disk brakes, for which existing models focus on out-of-plane bending vibration. For a disk of significant thickness, vibration modes in which motion occurs within the disk’s equilibrium plane can play a substantial role in setting its dynamic response. Laboratory experiments demonstrate that in-plane modes exist at frequencies comparable to those of out-of-plane bending even for thickness-to-diameter ratios as small as 10−1. The equations for three-dimensional motion are discretized through the Ritz technique, yielding natural frequencies and mode shapes for coupled axial, radial, and circumferential deformations. This treatment is applicable to “disks” of arbitrary dimension, and encompasses classical models for plates, bars, cylinders, rings, and shells. The solutions so obtained converge in the limiting cases to the values expected from the classical theories, and to ones that account for shear deformation and rotary inertia. The three-dimensional model demonstrates that for geometries within the technologically-important range, the natural frequencies of certain in- and out-of-plane modes can be close to one another, or even identically repeated.

Identification of Fault Signals in Rotating Machinery Using Higher Order Time Frequency Analysis

Impulsive acoustic and vibration signals within rotating machinery are often induced by irregular impacting. Thus the detection of these impulses can be useful for fault diagnosis. Recently there is an increasing trend towards the use of higher order statistics for fault detection within mechanical systems based on the observation that impulsive signals tend to increase the kurtosis values. We show that the fourth order Wigner Moment Spectrum, called the Wigner Trispectrum, has superior detection performance to second order Wigner distribution for typical impulsive signals found in a condition monitoring application. These methods are also applied to data sets measured within a car engine and industrial gearbox.

Lateral Vibration of a Consistent Continuous Beam With a Crack

A continuous cracked beam vibration theory is developed for the lateral vibration of cracked Euler-Bernoulli beams with single-edge or double-edge cracks. The Hu-Washizu-Barr variational formulation was used to develop the differential equation and the boundary conditions of the cracked beam as an one-dimensional continuum. The displacement field about the crack was used to modify the stress and displacement field throughout the bar. The crack was modelled as a continuous flexibility using the displacement field in the vicinity of the crack, found with fracture mechanics methods. The results of three independent evaluations of the lowest natural frequency of lateral vibrations for beams with a single-edge crack are presented: the continuous cracked beam vibration theory developed here, the lumped crack beam vibration analysis, and an asymptotic solution. Experimental results from aluminum beams with fatigue cracks are very close to the values predicted. A steel beam with a double-edge crack was also investigated with the above mentioned methods, and results compared well with experimental data.

Dynamics of Rotor/Bearing System With Flexible Rotor and Flexible Bearing Support

The paper analyzes, theoretically and experimentally, the lowest four lateral modes of an isotropic rotor/fluid-lubricated bearing system with flexible rotor and flexible bearing support. The parameters of the analytical model of the system are identified using sweep-frequency modal testing of the rotor rig. A nonsynchronous, circular-rotating-force excitation was applied sequentially at the rotor and at the fluid-lubricated bearing casing, in order to generate the response data. The approach used in this study emphasizes the dynamic features of the system which are invariant to the choice of coordinate system. The system is described using Dynamic Stiffness matrix. This provides an advantage of simplicity, allowing a comprehensive stability study for various system parameters.

Spatial Modulation of Repeated Vibration Modes in Rotationally Periodic Structures

When a structure deviates from axisymmetry because of circumferentially varying model features, significant changes can occur to its natural frequencies and modes, particularly for the doublet modes that have non-zero nodal diameters and repeated natural frequencies in the limit of axisymmetry. Of technical interest are configurations in which inertia, dissipation, stiffness, or domain features are evenly distributed around the structure. Aside from the well-studied phenomenon of eigenvalue splitting, whereby the natural frequencies of certain doublets split into distinct values, modes of the axisymmetric structure that are precisely harmonic become contaminated by certain additional wavenumbers in the presence of periodically spaced model features. From analytical, numerical, and experimental perspectives, this paper investigates spatial modulation of the doublet modes, particularly those retaining repeated natural frequencies for which modulation is most acute. In some cases, modulation can be sufficiently severe that a mode shape will beat spatially as harmonics with commensurate wavenumbers combine, just as the superposition of time records having nearly equal frequencies leads to classic temporal beating. A straightforward algebraic relation and a graphical checkerboard diagram are discussed with a view towards predicting the wavenumbers present in modulated eigenfunctions given the number of nodal diameters in the base mode and the number of equally spaced model features.

Observations on the Performance of Vibration-Isolated Railway Track

Vibration generated by underground railways is difficult to control because of the very limited space available in a tunnel. A popular approach is to use ‘floating slab track’ whereby the rails are fixed to a large concrete foundation separated from the tunnel wall by a resilient material. This paper investigates some of the vibration characteristics of floating slab track from measurements made in situ. These measurements are compared with the theoretical response of an infinite beam on an elastic foundation taking into account the torsional response of the beam. The transmission of vibration through the tunnel wall and into the surrounding medium is discussed with reference to the relative speed of travelling waves and the coincidence frequencies.

Self-Excited Vibration Model of Dragonfly’s Wing Based on the Concept of Bionic Design for Small- or Micro-Sized Actuators

This paper describes a self-excited vibration model of dragonfly’s wing based on the concept of bionic design, which is expected as a technological hint to solve the scale effect problems in developing the small- or micro-sized actuators. From a morphological consideration of flight muscle of dragonfly, the nonlinear equation of motion for the wing considering the air drag force due to flapping of wing is formulated. In the model, the dry friction-type and Van der Pol-type driving forces are employed to power the flight muscles and to generate the stable self-excited wing vibration. Two typical Japanese dragonflies, “Anotogaster sieboldii Selys” and “Sympetrum frequens Selys”, are selected as examples, and the self-excited vibration analyses for these dragonfly’s wings are demonstrated. The linearized solutions for the nonlinear equation of motion are compared with the nonlinear solutions, and the vibration system parameters to generate the stable limit cycle of self-excited wing vibration are determined.

Effects of Noise on Measured Ritz Vectors

Ritz vectors offer many advantages over the traditional mode shapes in the areas of model reduction and structural dynamic simulation. Building upon the recent development of an experimental method to extract Ritz vectors from measured dynamic response data, these vectors were also demonstrated to offer great potential in the areas of finite element model correlation and structural damage detection. In this paper, a Monte Carlo simulation is performed to study the accuracy and stability of Ritz vectors extracted from this new procedure using noise corrupted response data. The statistical variation of Ritz parameters and modal parameters extracted from the same data is made to assess the sensitivity of Ritz vector extraction to measured noise.