NAME: JOSIM AKHTAR

DEPARTMENT: ME
SEM.: 1st

Damped Free Vibrations

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 Single Degree of Freedom Systems
Introduction:
Damping – dissipation of energy.
For a system to vibrate, it requires energy. During vibration of the system, there will be
continuous transformation of energy. Energy will be transformed from potential/strain to
kinetic and vice versa.
In case of undamped vibrations, there will not be any dissipation of energy and the
system vibrates at constant amplitude. Ie, once excited, the system vibrates at constant
amplitude for infinite period of time. But this is a purely hypothetical case. But in an
actual vibrating system, energy gets dissipated from the system in different forms and
hence the amplitude of vibration gradually dies down. Fig.1 shows typical response
curves of undamped and damped free vibrations.

Types o damping:
(i) Viscous damping
In this type of damping, the damping resistance is proportional to the relative velocity
between the vibrating system and the surroundings. For this type of damping, the
differential equation of the system becomes linear and hence the analysis becomes easier.
A schematic representation of viscous damper is shown in Fig.2.

Here, F α x& or F  cx& , where, F is damping resistance, x& is relative velocity and c is the
damping coefficient.

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(ii) Dry friction or Coulomb damping
In this type of damping, the damping resistance is independent of rubbing velocity and is
practically constant.

(iii) Structural damping

This type of damping is due to the internal friction within the structure of the material,
when it is deformed.

Spring-mass-damper system:

Fig.3 shows the schematic of a simple spring-mass-damper system, where, m is the mass
of the system, k is the stiffness of the system and c is the damping coefficient.
If x is the displacement of the system, from Newton’s second law of motion, it can be
written
m&x&  cx&  kx
Ie m&x  cx&  kx  0 (1)
&
This is a linear differential equation of the second order and its solution can be written as
x  est (2)
dx
Differentiating (2),  x&  se st

dt
d 2x
2  &x&  s e
2 st
dt
Substituting in (1), ms 2est  csest  kest  0
ms 2  cs  k est  0
Or ms 2  cs  k  0 (3)
Equation (3) is called the characteristic equation of the system, which is quadratic in s.
The two values of s are given by
2
 
c
  c  k
s1,2  (4)  
2m  2m  m

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 The general solution for (1) may be written as
x  C1e s1t  C 2e s2t (5)
Where, C1 and C2 are arbitrary constants, which can be determined from the initial
conditions.
 c 2
In equation (4), the values of s = s , when  k
1 2   
  2m  m
  c 
Or,    k  n (6)
 2m  m
Or c  2mn , which is the property of the system and is called critical
damping coefficient and is represented by cc.
Ie, critical damping coefficient = cc  2mn
The ratio of actual damping coefficient c and critical damping coefficient cc is called
damping factor or damping ratio and is represented by ζ.
c
Ie,   (7)
cc
c c c cc
In equation (4), can be written as   2m   . n
2m 2m cc

Therefore, s1,2   .n   . n    2 n      2  1 n
2
 (8)

The system can be analyzed for three conditions.

(i) ζ > 1, ie, c > cc, which is called over damped system.
(ii) ζ = 1. ie, c = cc, which is called critically damped system.
(iii) ζ < 1, ie, c < cc, which is called under damped system.

Depending upon the value of ζ, value of s in equation (8), will be real and unequal, real
and equal and complex conjugate respectively.

(i) Analysis of over-damped system (ζ > 1).

In this case, values of s are real and are given by

   

s1      2  1 n and s 2      2  1 n
Then, the solution of the differential equation becomes
 
    2 1 t  2 1nt
  n 
x  C 1e   C2 e 
(9)
This is the final solution for an over damped system and the constants C 1 and C2 are
obtained by applying initial conditions. Typical response curve of an over damped system
is shown in fig.4. The amplitude decreases exponentially with time and becomes zero at t
= ∞.