Vibration (from Latin vibrāre 'to shake') is a mechanical phenomenon whereby

oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. Vibration may be deterministic if

the oscillations can be characterised precisely (e.g. the periodic motion of a
pendulum), or random if the oscillations can only be analysed statistically (e.g.
the movement of a tire on a gravel road).

Vibration can be desirable: for example, the motion of a tuning fork, the reed in a
woodwind instrument or harmonica, a mobile phone, or the cone of a loudspeaker.

In many cases, however, vibration is undesirable, wasting energy and creating

unwanted sound. For example, the vibrational motions of engines, electric motors,
or any mechanical device in operation are typically unwanted. Such vibrations could
be caused by imbalances in the rotating parts, uneven friction, or the meshing of
gear teeth. Careful designs usually minimize unwanted vibrations.

The studies of sound and vibration are closely related (both fall under acoustics).
Sound, or pressure waves, are generated by vibrating structures (e.g. vocal cords);
these pressure waves can also induce the vibration of structures (e.g. ear drum).
Hence, attempts to reduce noise are often related to issues of vibration.[1]

Machining vibrations are common in the process of subtractive manufacturing.

Types
Free vibration or natural vibration occurs when a mechanical system is set in
motion with an initial input and allowed to vibrate freely. Examples of this type
of vibration are pulling a child back on a swing and letting it go, or hitting a
tuning fork and letting it ring. The mechanical system vibrates at one or more of
its natural frequencies and damps down to motionlessness.

Forced vibration is when a time-varying disturbance (load, displacement, velocity,

or acceleration) is applied to a mechanical system. The disturbance can be a
periodic and steady-state input, a transient input, or a random input. The periodic
input can be a harmonic or a non-harmonic disturbance. Examples of these types of
vibration include a washing machine shaking due to an imbalance, transportation
vibration caused by an engine or uneven road, or the vibration of a building during
an earthquake. For linear systems, the frequency of the steady-state vibration
response resulting from the application of a periodic, harmonic input is equal to
the frequency of the applied force or motion, with the response magnitude being
dependent on the actual mechanical system.

Damped vibration: When the energy of a vibrating system is gradually dissipated by

friction and other resistances, the vibrations are said to be damped. The
vibrations gradually reduce or change in frequency or intensity or cease and the
system rests in its equilibrium position. An example of this type of vibration is
the vehicular suspension dampened by the shock absorber.

Isolation
This section is an excerpt from Vibration isolation.[edit]
Vibration isolation is the prevention of transmission of vibration from one
component of a system to others parts of the same system, as in buildings or
mechanical systems.[2] Vibration is undesirable in many domains, primarily
engineered systems and habitable spaces, and methods have been developed to prevent
the transfer of vibration to such systems. Vibrations propagate via mechanical
waves and certain mechanical linkages conduct vibrations more efficiently than
others. Passive vibration isolation makes use of materials and mechanical linkages
that absorb and damp these mechanical waves. Active vibration isolation involves
sensors and actuators that produce disruptive interference that cancels-out
incoming vibration.
Testing
Vibration testing is accomplished by introducing a forcing function into a
structure, usually with some type of shaker. Alternately, a DUT (device under test)
is attached to the "table" of a shaker. Vibration testing is performed to examine
the response of a device under test (DUT) to a defined vibration environment. The
measured response may be ability to function in the vibration environment, fatigue
life, resonant frequencies or squeak and rattle sound output (NVH). Squeak and
rattle testing is performed with a special type of quiet shaker that produces very
low sound levels while under operation.

For relatively low frequency forcing (typically less than 100 Hz), servohydraulic
(electrohydraulic) shakers are used. For higher frequencies (typically 5 Hz to 2000
Hz), electrodynamic shakers are used. Generally, one or more "input" or "control"
points located on the DUT-side of a vibration fixture is kept at a specified
acceleration.[1] Other "response" points may experience higher vibration levels
(resonance) or lower vibration level (anti-resonance or damping) than the control
point(s). It is often desirable to achieve anti-resonance to keep a system from
becoming too noisy, or to reduce strain on certain parts due to vibration modes
caused by specific vibration frequencies.[3]

The most common types of vibration testing services conducted by vibration test
labs are sinusoidal and random. Sine (one-frequency-at-a-time) tests are performed
to survey the structural response of the device under test (DUT). During the early
history of vibration testing, vibration machine controllers were limited only to
controlling sine motion so only sine testing was performed. Later, more
sophisticated analog and then digital controllers were able to provide random
control (all frequencies at once). A random (all frequencies at once) test is
generally considered to more closely replicate a real world environment, such as
road inputs to a moving automobile.

Most vibration testing is conducted in a 'single DUT axis' at a time, even though
most real-world vibration occurs in various axes simultaneously. MIL-STD-810G,
released in late 2008, Test Method 527, calls for multiple exciter testing. The
vibration test fixture[4] used to attach the DUT to the shaker table must be
designed for the frequency range of the vibration test spectrum. It is difficult to
design a vibration test fixture which duplicates the dynamic response (mechanical
impedance)[5] of the actual in-use mounting. For this reason, to ensure
repeatability between vibration tests, vibration fixtures are designed to be
resonance free[5] within the test frequency range. Generally for smaller fixtures
and lower frequency ranges, the designer can target a fixture design that is free
of resonances in the test frequency range. This becomes more difficult as the DUT
gets larger and as the test frequency increases. In these cases multi-point control
strategies[6] can mitigate some of the resonances that may be present in the
future.

Some vibration test methods limit the amount of crosstalk (movement of a response
point in a mutually perpendicular direction to the axis under test) permitted to be
exhibited by the vibration test fixture. Devices specifically designed to trace or
record vibrations are called vibroscopes.

Analysis
Vibration analysis (VA), applied in an industrial or maintenance environment aims
to reduce maintenance costs and equipment downtime by detecting equipment faults.
[7][8] VA is a key component of a condition monitoring (CM) program, and is often
referred to as predictive maintenance (PdM).[9] Most commonly VA is used to detect
faults in rotating equipment (Fans, Motors, Pumps, and Gearboxes etc.) such as
imbalance, misalignment, rolling element bearing faults and resonance conditions.
[10]

VA can use the units of Displacement, Velocity and Acceleration displayed as a time
waveform (TWF), but most commonly the spectrum is used, derived from a fast Fourier
transform of the TWF. The vibration spectrum provides important frequency
information that can pinpoint the faulty component.

The fundamentals of vibration analysis can be understood by studying the simple

Mass-spring-damper model. Indeed, even a complex structure such as an automobile
body can be modeled as a "summation" of simple mass–spring–damper models. The mass–
spring–damper model is an example of a simple harmonic oscillator. The mathematics
used to describe its behavior is identical to other simple harmonic oscillators
such as the RLC circuit.

Note: This article does not include the step-by-step mathematical derivations, but
focuses on major vibration analysis equations and concepts. Please refer to the
references at the end of the article for detailed derivations.

Free vibration without damping

Simple mass spring model

To start the investigation of the mass–spring–damper assume the damping is
negligible and that there is no external force applied to the mass (i.e. free
vibration). The force applied to the mass by the spring is proportional to the
amount the spring is stretched "x" (assuming the spring is already compressed due
to the weight of the mass). The proportionality constant, k, is the stiffness of
the spring and has units of force/distance (e.g. lbf/in or N/m). The negative sign
indicates that the force is always opposing the motion of the mass attached to it:

frequency. The corresponding mode shape is called the rigid-body mode.