Mechanical Oscillations

Oscillatory processes are widespread in nature and technology. In astronomy, planets revolve around the sun, variable stars, such as Cepheids, periodically change their brightness, motion of the moon causes the tides. In geophysics, periodic processes occur in climate change, in the behavior of ocean currents, and in the dynamics of cyclones and anticyclones. Within living organisms, there are dozens of different periodic processes with periods from fractions of a second up to a year, etc. We begin by considering the simplest oscillating system - a harmonic oscillator.
Free Harmonic Oscillations

An e ample of such a simple system is the mass m, attached to a spring of stiffness k !"igure #$. In the ideal case !neglecting air resistance and friction$, such a system will perform undamped harmonic oscillations, in which the displacement x is described by the cosine or sine function%

In these formulas, A means the amplitude of oscillation, t + & is the phase of oscillation, & is the initial phase at time t = &. 'he variable is called the circular or cyclic frequency of oscillation. It is related to the period of oscillation T by the formula

Fig.1

Fig.2

If the displacement x!t$ is (nown, then se)uentially differentiating, we can find the velocity and acceleration of the body%

'his shows that the displacement x!t$ and acceleration x''!t$ satisfy the differential e)uation

which is called the equation of harmonic oscillations. 'he solution of this e)uation are mentioned above cosine or sine functions. In the case of a mass on a spring, the restoring force for small oscillations obeys Hooke's law%

where k is the stiffness of the spring. *ere the coordinate x = & corresponds to the point of e)uilibrium, in which the force of gravity is balanced by the initial tension of the spring. 'hen, according to +ewton,s second law, the movement of the mass will be described by the differential e)uation

'hus, the mass on the spring will perform undamped harmonic oscillations with the circular fre)uency

'he period of oscillation, respectively, will be e)ual to

A similar analysis of other oscillatory system - a simple (mathematical pendulum - leads to the following formula for the oscillation period%

where ! is the length of the pendulum, " is the acceleration of gravity. In the case of a compound or physical pendulum, the period of oscillation is given by

where # is the moment of inertia of the pendulum about the pivot point, m is the mass of the pendulum, a is the distance between the pivot point and the center of mass of the pendulum.
Damped Oscillations

In real systems, there is always a resistance or friction, which leads to a gradual damping of the oscillations. In many cases, the resistance force !denoted $c$ is proportional to the velocity of the body, i.e.

'hen, ta(ing into account the force of resistance, the differential e)uation for the -mass-springsystem is written as

We denote% c.m / 0%, k.m = &0. *ere & is the natural fre)uency of the undamped oscillator !previously, we denoted it as $, % is the dampin" coefficient. In the new notation, the differential e)uation loo(s li(e this%

We see( the solution of this e)uation as a function

1erivatives respectively are e)ual to

2ubstituting this into the differential e)uation, we obtain an algebraic characteristic equation%

'his e)uation has the following roots%

It is seen that, depending on the sign of the radicand %0 3 &0 there may be three different types of solutions.
Case 1. Overdamping: > 0

In this case !the case of strong damping$, the radicand is positive% %0 4 &0. 'he roots of the characteristic e)uation are real and negative. 'he general solution of the differential e)uation has the form

where the coefficients &#, &0, as usual, depend on the initial conditions. It follows from this e pression that there are no oscillations and the system returns to e)uilibrium e ponentially, i.e. aperiodically !"igure 5$.

Fig.3 Case 2. Critical Damping: = 0

Fig.4

In the limiting case when % / &, the roots of the characteristic e)uation are real and coincide%

*ere the solution is given by the formula

In this mode, the value of x!t$ may even increase at the beginning of the process because of the linear factor &#t 6 &0. 7ut in the end the deflection x!t$ decreases rapidly due to the e ponential decay with a characteristic time ' = 0(.&. +ote that in this critical mode the rela ation occurs faster than in the case of the aperiodic damping !Case #$. Indeed, in this mode, the rela ation time will be determined by the smaller !in absolute value$ root )#, and will be given by the formula

'he function *!%.&$ included in this e pression is monotonically increasing. It is always greater than or e)ual to #, as shown in "igure 8. In the critical case !Case 0$ the ratio %.& is #, and %.& 4 # in the case of the aperiodic damping !Case #$. 'herefore, for the aperiodic damping mode, we can write

'hus, the critical damping mode provides the fastest possible return of the system to e)uilibrium. 'his is often used, for e ample, in door closing mechanisms.
Case 3. nderdamping: ! 0

*ere the roots of the characteristic e)uation are comple con9ugate%

'he general solution of the differential e)uation is oscillatory in nature and can be written as

where the oscillation fre)uency # is e)ual to

'he resulting formula can be written in a somewhat different form%

where & is the initial phase of the oscillations and Acos& is the initial amplitude of the oscillations. We see that classical damped oscillations occur in this mode. *ere the oscillation

fre)uency # is less than the harmonic fre)uency &, and the oscillation amplitude decreases e ponentially with e p!+ %t$.
Forced Oscillations. "esonance

2uppose that an e ternal force, which varies with time according to a harmonic law with fre)uency , acts on the oscillatory system%

In the case of an undamped oscillator, the following differential e)uation can be written based on +ewton,s second law%

According to the general theory, the solution of this e)uation is the sum of the "eneral solution of the homo"eneous equation and a particular solution of the nonhomo"eneous equation. 'he general solution of the homogeneous e)uation has been obtained above. It is written as

where the amplitude A and phase & are determined by initial conditions. :et us find a particular solution of the nonhomogeneous differential e)uation. We see( it in the form

'he derivatives of this function are

2ubstituting into the differential e)uation, we get

*ence the general solution of the nonhomogeneous e)uation can be written as

We see from this e pression that the second term showing the effect of the e ternal force increases dramatically when , &. 'his phenomenon is called resonance. In this simple model, the amplitude x!t$ becomes e)ual to infinity, if the fre)uency of the e ternal force is e)ual

to the fre)uency of free oscillations of the system. 'he physical model of the forced oscillations will be more realistic if we consider the damping of oscillations. 'hen, +ewton,s second law yields the following differential e)uation%

'he solution of this e)uation is also represented as the sum of the "eneral solution of the homo"eneous equation and a particular solution of the nonhomo"eneous equation. 'he solution of the homogeneous e)uation, as shown above, includes three possible scenarios !aperiodic damping mode, critical damping and the oscillatory solution in the case of underdamping$. "ind a particular solution of the nonhomogeneous e)uation. It is more convenient to use the comple form of the differential e)uation, which can be written as

We see( a particular solution in the form

that is, suppose that the oscillations in the system will occur with the fre)uency of the e ternal force, and perhaps with some phase shift . As a result, we have

2ubstituting this into the differential e)uation, we obtain

by de ;oivre,s formula

'herefore, we can write%

<)uating separately the real and imaginary parts, we obtain

"rom this system we find the coefficient - and the angle . 2)uaring both sides and adding, we get%

We find the angle by dividing the second e)uation by the first one%

'hus, a particular solution of the nonhomogeneous e)uation in the comple form is given by

where the shift angle shift is calculated by the formula obtained above. Accordingly, the real part of the solution can be written as

'he final answer is the sum of two terms%

where xh!t$ is the general solution of the homogeneous e)uation, which describes the damped oscillator without e ternal force. +ote that due to the decay, the solution of the homogeneous e)uation xh!t$ will tend to zero. 'herefore, in steady state the oscillations will depend only on the e ternal force, that is to be determined by the second component of the general solution%

where

, % is the damping coefficient.

'his formula also describes the phenomenon of resonance, and the ma imum amplitude of the steady-state oscillations at resonance will be finite and e)ual to

'he dependence of the amplitude xmax of steady oscillations on the fre)uency of the e ternal force near resonance for different damping coefficients % is shown below in "igure =. 'hese curves are called resonance cur.es. >esonance properties of an oscillatory system can be evaluated using the quality factor !/ factor$. 'he ? factor indicates how many times the amplitude of the forced oscillations at resonance e ceeds the amplitude far from resonance. As the fre)uency of the e ternal force approaches zero, the amplitude of oscillations

approaches

'herefore, the ? factor of a mechanical oscillatory system is e)ual to

where % is the damping coefficient. 'he ? factor is a very useful feature. "rom the energy point of view, it shows the ratio of energy stored in an oscillatory system to the energy that the system loses for a single oscillation period.

'he energy losses are also characterized by the lo"arithmic decrement 0. 'he relation between the )uality factor / and the logarithmic decrement 0 !for small 0$ is e pressed by a simple formula%

Fig.5 Example 1

Fig.6

A ring of radius 1 performs small oscillations around the pivot point 2 !"igure @$. 1etermine the period of oscillation.
Solution.

'he ring, suspended at the point 2, is a physical pendulum. 'he period of oscillation is determined by the formula

where # is the moment of inertia of the ring about its center, m is the mass of the ring, a is the distance from the pivot point to the centre of the ring. 'he moment of inertia of a ring of mass m is e)ual to #& / m10. 2ince the distance from the centre of the ring to the pivot point is e)ual to 1, then using the parallel a is theorem !a(a *uygens2teiner theorem$, we find the total moment of inertia of the pendulum%

Aiven that a = 1, we obtain the following e pression for the oscillation period%

Example 2

A mass is suspended on two springs connected in series. 'he stiffness of one spring is twice more than of the other% k0 / 0k#. *ow does the period of oscillation change, if the springs are connected in parallel !"igure B$C

Fig.7

Solution.

Calculate the e)uivalent stiffness in the case of serial and parallel connection of springs. In the case of series connection, the elastic force in each spring is e)ual to the force of gravity !without ta(ing into account the weight of the springs$. 'he total e tension is the sum of the e tensions of each spring%

'hen the e)uivalent stiffness is given by

When connected in parallel, the e tension of both springs is the same, and the total elastic force will be e)ual to the sum of the forces in each spring%

*ence, the e)uivalent stiffness of the springs connected in parallel is given by

'he period of oscillation of the springs connected in series is

and in the case of parallel connection%

+ow we can find how the period of oscillation changes when transitioning from series to parallel connection of the springs%

Aiven that the stiffness of one spring is twice more than the other, we obtain%

Example 3

"ind the ? factor of an oscillator, if after =& oscillations the amplitude of the displacement has decreased by 0 times.
Solution.

We first calculate the lo"arithmic decrement 0. 7y definition, the logarithmic decrement is proportional to the natural logarithm of the ratio of the amplitudes x& and x+ of two oscillations, separated by 3 periods%

In our case it is e)ual to

'hen the /4factor of the system is