14 SOUND AND VIBRATION/MAY 2001

This tutorial article tells how to make a calculated change

in a resonance frequency of a structure by changing its effec-
tive mass. The article includes two documented case histories
that illustrate the technique.
Resonant frequency probl ems are often encountered i n me-
chani cal systems. When thi s occurs, the l evel of vi brati on i s
general l y qui te hi gh, and thi s i n turn often causes premature
fai l ure of machi ne components. Often, attempts are made to
address the probl em by reduci ng the forci ng functi on. Such
courses of acti on i ncl ude dynami c bal anci ng of rotati ng el e-
ments and al i gni ng coupl ed components. It i s very i mportant
to mai ntai n good bal ance and al i gnment. However, i n the case
of a resonant condi ti on, the pri mary probl em i s general l y not
the magni tude of the forci ng functi on. The probl em i s that a
forci ng functi on, whi ch may be of modest magni tude, matches
a system resonance or natural frequency. In such a case, the
ampl i fi cati on factor of the vi brati on can be many fol d. The
ampl i fi cati on factor i s the rati o of the peak dynami c di spl ace-
ment i mparted on a system by an osci l l ati ng force wi th a gi ven
peak magni tude compared wi th the di spl acement i mparted by
a stati c force of the same magni tude. Fi gure 1 i s a pl ot of the
amplification factor versus resonant frequency ratio for several
systems each wi th a di fferent l evel of dampi ng. The resonant
frequency ratio is the ratio of the forcing frequency to the reso-
nant frequency. A val ue of one i ndi cates that the system i s at
resonance.
The si mpl e equati on for resonant frequency i s:
Where:

n
= resonant frequency i n radi ans per second
K = effecti ve spri ng constant
M = effecti ve mass.
As stated above, thi s i s a si mpl i fi ed equati on. It l oses accu-
racy with very large displacements, and it does not account for
the effect of dampi ng. However, for most resonant probl ems
i nvol vi ng machi nery where the di spl acement of even severe
vi brati on i s sti l l measured i n mi l s, and dampi ng i s general l y
qui te l ow, thi s equati on works fi ne.
The subject of thi s arti cl e i s how to i mpl ement a cal cul ated
change i n the resonant frequency by changi ng the effecti ve
mass. We have the equati on for resonance. And, i t i s assumed
that a resonance at the fugi ti ve frequency has been confi rmed.
However, there are still two unknown parameters and only one
equati on. In si mpl e systems, the effecti ve mass can be deter-
mi ned di rectl y by wei ghi ng the system. In smal l machi nes,
where an enti re pump or motor i s the vi brati ng mass, an often
useful approxi mati on i s 90% of the total mass. However, i n
compl i cated machi nery where the system mi ght be a canti l e-
vered beari ng pedestal on the si de of a l arge pump or a bear-
i ng fl ange around the i nput shaft of a gearbox, i t i s general l y
not practi cal to determi ne the effecti ve mass di rectl y.
Thi s shortcomi ng can, however, general l y be overcome. The
reason for thi s i s that i t i s usual l y possi bl e to determi ne the
system spri ng constant. The si mpl est way to do thi s i s to push
on the system i n the ori entati on of i nterest unti l a measurabl e
defl ecti on i s observed. One si mpl e exampl e woul d be to pul l
on the system wi th a come-al ong and a crane scal e, and mea-
sure the resul ti ng defl ecti on wi th a di al i ndi cator.
Motor Resonance
It has been determi ned that a two pol e el ectri c motor shown
in Figure 2 has a resonance at 7100 CPM, twice running speed,
i n the hori zontal ori entati on. It was determi ned that a force of
1100 l bs wi l l cause a di spl acement of 1 mi l . The motor wei ght
i s 860 l bs. Determi ne the effecti ve mass of the system.
Sol uti on:

n
=(7100 cycles/min)(1 min/60 sec)(2 radians/cycle) =744
radi ans/sec
K =1100 l bs/[(1 mi l )(1 i n./1000 mi l s)] =1,100,000 l bs/i n.
M =K/
n
2
=(1,100,000 l bs/i n.)/(744/sec)
2
=1.99 l b sec
2
/in.
The wei ght of thi s mass can be determi ned by mul ti pl yi ng
the mass by gravi tati onal accel erati on, 386 i n./sec
2
=(1.99 lb
sec
2
/i n.)(386 i n./sec
2
) =767 l bs. If the approxi mati on that the
effecti ve mass i s 90% of the total mass had been used, the de-
termi ned wei ght =(0.9)(860 l bs) =774 l bs; whi ch for al l prac-
ti cal matters i s i denti cal to that determi ned from the spri ng
constant.
Changing the Effective Mass
to Control Resonance Problems
Richard Smith, RL Smith Engineering, Newmarket, New Hampshire

n
K M /
Figure 1. Amplification factor versus resonant frequency ratio for sev-
eral critical damping factors.
Figure 2. Electric motor that had a resonance at 2 running speed ~7100
CPM. The entire motor vibrates as a single mass.
Figure 3. Gearbox that had structural resonances at approximately
36,000 and 44,000 CPM. The resonance was localized to the area of
the input shaft bearing housing. The resonance was almost exclusively
in the axial orientation relative to the input shaft.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0.00 1 2 3
Critical Damping Ratio = 0.00
0.05
0.30
1.0
1.414
A
m
p
l
i
f
i
c
a
t
i
o
n

F
a
c
t
o
r
Resonant Frequency Ratio
0.10
0.20
Output Shaft
(350 RPM)
Gear
(101 Teeth)
Pinion
(20 Teeth)
Input Shaft
(1780 RPM)

n
= 35,500 CPM
15 SOUND AND VIBRATION/MAY 2001
Gearbox Resonance
Thi ngs do get consi derabl y more compl i cated when onl y a
part of a machi ne i s i nvol ved i n a resonant system. For ex-
ampl e, a gearbox devel oped a resonance probl em at the gear
meshi ng frequency. The i nput shaft speed i s 1780 RPM and
there are 20 teeth on the i nput pi ni on as shown by the sche-
mati c i n Fi gure 3.
In the area of the input shaft bearing, there is a very high level
of vi brati on at the gear meshi ng frequenci es shown i n Fi gure
4. The existence of a resonance at approximately the gear mesh-
i ng frequency was confi rmed by a bump test as shown i n Fi g-
ure 5. In thi s case, onl y a part of the machi ne i s i nvol ved i n
the resonance, and the system i s much too compl i cated to try
to deri ve any sort of an esti mate of the effecti ve mass. In such
machi nes, i t i s possi bl e to deri ve a val ue for the spri ng con-
stant by measuri ng the defl ecti on i mparted by a known force.
From the spring constant, the effective mass can be determined.
In thi s case, however, i t was not feasi bl e to i mpart a stati c
force on the system. In order to overcome thi s shortcomi ng,
data from the bump test were empl oyed. Thi s was done i n two
steps. Fi rst, system compl i ance, mi l s/l b, woul d have to be de-
termi ned from exi sti ng data. The second step woul d i nvol ve
determi ni ng the system ampl i fi cati on factor, the rati o of the
dynamic to static displacement. From these values, the system
spri ng constant and subsequentl y the effecti ve mass can be
determi ned.
It i s possi bl e to perform a bump test wi th uni ts of compl i -
ance directly. In this case, however, data were recorded in units
of mobi l i ty, i n./sec/l b (IPS/l b). Uni ts of vel oci ty i n IPS can be
converted to uni ts of di spl acement by the fol l owi ng equati on:
where:
v =vel oci ty, IPS.
=0.00182 IPS/l b (from the upper trace i n Fi gure 5)
f =frequency, Hz
D =di spl acement, i n. peak to peak
=(0.3183)(0.00182)/(36,011/60)
=9.65 10
7
i n./l b
=9.65 10
4
mi l s/l b
Thi s equati on i s general l y used to convert vi brati on from
uni ts of vel oci ty to di spl acement. However, there i s no reason
that i t cannot be used to convert a transfer functi on from uni ts
of vel oci ty per uni t of appl i ed force to uni ts of di spl acement
per uni t of appl i ed force.
Thus, the dynami c compl i ance wi l l be 9.65 10
4
mi l s/l b
or 9.65 10
7
i n./l b. By i nverti ng thi s val ue, the dynami c sti ff-
ness K
d
can be determi ned:
The next step i s to determi ne the ampl i fi cati on factor usi ng
the fol l owi ng equati on:
where:
X =dynami c defl ecti on
K =spri ng constant
F
0
=peak dynami c force
=forci ng frequency

n
=natural or resonant frequency
=cri ti cal dampi ng rati o
XK/F
0
=ampl i fi cati on factor.
Everythi ng on the ri ght si de of thi s equati on i s known ex-
cept the cri ti cal dampi ng rati o. The cri ti cal dampi ng rati o i s
the rati o of actual system dampi ng to that of cri ti cal dampi ng.
Cri ti cal dampi ng i s the mi ni mal amount of dampi ng requi red
to prevent vi brati on when a system i s di spl aced and rel eased.
The critical damping ratio can be determined from the trans-
fer functi on. Two methods wi l l be empl oyed to determi ne the
cri ti cal dampi ng rati o. The fi rst i s the hal f power method. In
determi ni ng the dampi ng of a system, the parameter Q i s often
empl oyed. Thi s parameter i s a measure of the sharpness of the
resonance and i s defi ned as:
In usi ng the hal f power method, the total transfer functi on i s
empl oyed. The top trace i n Fi gure 5 i s the total transfer func-
tion.
The total transfer functi on wi l l generate a roughl y symmet-
ric peak the center of which will be the resonant frequency. The
steepness of the peak i s a measure of the amount of dampi ng
i n the system. In the hal f power method, the frequency of the
resonant val ue i s compared wi th the frequency at whi ch the
hal f power val ues on ei ther si de of the resonance occurs. The
hal f power val ue i s 0.707 mul ti pl i ed by the peak val ue. The Q
val ue i s:
where:

n
=resonant frequency, i n thi s case 36,011 CPM

2
=frequency at whi ch the upper hal f power ampl i tude oc-
curs, approxi matel y 37,400 CPM

1
=frequency at whi ch the l ower hal f power ampl i tude oc-
curs, approxi matel y 33,800 CPM
Thus:
and
The second method empl oys the sl oped reacti ve porti on of
the transfer functi on. For transfer functi ons i n whi ch ampl i -
tude i s measured i n uni ts of vel oci ty, the sl oped reacti ve com-
ponent i s the i magi nary porti on. For transfer functi ons that
measure amplitude in units of either displacement or accelera-
tion, the sloped reactive component would be the real portion.
The lower trace in Figure 5 is the imaginary portion of the trans-
fer functi on. From such a functi on, the approxi mate val ue of
the Q parameter i s:
where:

a
=the frequency val ue above resonance at the top of the
sl ope, approxi matel y 35,000 CPM i n thi s case

b
=frequency val ue bel ow resonance at the bottom of the
sl ope, approxi matel y 37,100 CPM
K
d

1
965 10
10
7
6
. in./lb
1.04 lb/in.
Q
Q

1
2
1
2
or
Q

36 011
37 400 33800
,
, ,
10.1

1
2
0049
Q
.
D v f v f / . / 03183
Q
a
b
a
b

_
,

_
,

2
2
1
1
Q
n

2 1
Figure 4. Vibration spectrum of the input bearing in the axial orienta-
tion. Note the very high level of vibration at approximately 36,000 CPM.
This frequency corresponds to the gear meshing frequency.
P
e
a
k

V
e
l
o
c
i
t
y
,

i
n
.
/
s
e
c
0
2
1
0 20 40 60
Frequency, kCPM
XK
F
n n
0 2
2
2
1
1 2

( )

1
]
+ ( )

1
]
/ /
16 SOUND AND VIBRATION/MAY 2001
Thi s i s a good exampl e of how a rel ati vel y smal l part of the
total system can be i nvol ved i n the resonance. In thi s case, the
gearbox wei ghs approxi matel y 8000 l bs, but the effecti ve mass
of the resonant system i s onl y 360 l bs.
Now, all of the parameters of the resonant system are known.
So, what do we want to do about i t? If we refer back to Fi gure
5, the frequency range from approxi matel y 38,000 to 42,000
CPM has a rel ati vel y smal l ampl i fi cati on factor, and there ap-
pears to be an anti -resonance at a frequency of approxi matel y
41,500 CPM. If the system can be retuned so that thi s curve i s
shi fted to the l eft such that the gear meshi ng frequency fal l s
i nto the trough between 38,000 and 42,000 CPM, the l evel of
vibration should go down significantly. Care must be taken not
to l ower the resonance too much, or we coul d move the reso-
nance that currentl y resi des at 44,000 down i nto the range of
the gear meshi ng frequency.
We wi l l try to move the anti -resonance, currentl y at 41,500
CPM, down to the gear meshi ng frequency, 36,000 CPM. In
order to do thi s, the resonance wi l l be l owered approxi matel y
41,500 36,000 or 5500 CPM. Thi s can be done by i ncreasi ng
the effecti ve mass of the system. The new resonant frequency
for whi ch the system wi l l be tuned wi l l be:
or 3180 radians/sec. Going back to the resonant frequency equa-
tion:
Thi s i s the wei ght of the new effecti ve mass of the system.
In order to i mpl ement a change i n the effecti ve mass, a con-
centrated i nerti al mass the wei ght of whi ch was equal to the
new, target effecti ve mass mi nus the wei ght of the current ef-
fecti ve mass shoul d be bol ted to the i nput shaft fl ange:
The i nerti al mass was fabri cated and i nstal l ed, and another
bump test was performed. The transfer functi on i ndi cated that
the resonance had i ndeed been shi fted to approxi matel y the
target frequency and out of the frequency range where the gears
woul d exci te a resonant frequency as shown i n Fi gure 6.
A vibration survey taken immediately after the inertial mass
had been installed revealed that the level of vibration had been
reduced by approxi matel y a factor of four. Another survey
taken after the gearbox had been i n servi ce for approxi matel y
one week showed an even more dramatic reduction in the level
of vi brati on as shown i n Fi gure7.
Thus,
and:
The two methods gave somewhat di fferent val ues; however,
i t i s often di ffi cul t to obtai n a preci se val ue for dampi ng. In
order to reduce the magni tude of error that coul d resul t from
rel yi ng on a si ngl e test, the two deri ved val ues wi l l be aver-
aged:
Now that a val ue has been obtai ned for the cri ti cal dampi ng
rati o the dynami c ampl i fi cati on factor can be determi ned:
From the dynami c ampl i fi cati on factor and the dynami c
spri ng constant, the stati c spri ng constant can be determi ned:
By rearranging terms in the resonant frequency equation, the
effecti ve mass can be determi ned:
where
n
i s the resonant frequency:
and:
Thi s mass can be converted to a wei ght by mul ti pl yi ng by
gravi tati onal accel erati on, 386 i n./sec
2
:
Figure 6. Bump test after an inertial mass had been added to the input
flange. Note that the resonance has been shifted downward to approxi-
mately 29,000 CPM and that at the gear meshing frequency, approxi-
mately 36,000 CPM, the amplification factor is minimal.
Concentrated Weight =508 lb 360 148
36 000 5500 30500 , , CPM
M
K
n


( )

2
7
2
2
133 10
132
. .
.
sec lb/in
3180/sec
lb
in.
or Weight =5508 lb
20 30 40 50
Frequency, kCPM
T
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

F
u
n
c
t
i
o
n
,

i
n
.
/
s
e
c
/
l
b
R
e
a
l
1 10
3
1 10
3
0
1.5 10
3
T
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

F
u
n
c
t
i
o
n
,

i
n
.
/
s
e
c
/
l
b
I
m
a
g
i
n
a
r
y
0 10
Gear Mesh
Gear Mesh
K ( . )( . ) . 128 104 10 133 10
6 7
lb/in.
M K
n
/
2

n
36 000 2
1
60
3770 ,
min
sec
/ s
cycles
min
radians
cycle
radians e ec
M

( )

133 10
0933
7
2
.
.
lb/in.
3770/sec
lb sec
in.
2
Weight =0.933
lb
in
in.
sec
lb
2

sec
.
2
386 360
Figure 5. Bump test of the gearbox in the area of the input shaft bear-
ing cap in the axial orientation. The top trace is the total transfer func-
ti on, and the l ower trace i s the i magi nary porti on. Note the two
resonances at approximately 36,000 and 44,000 CPM. Also, note that
there appears to be an anti-resonance at approximately 41,500 CPM.
In the top trace, the resonance around gear mesh, lower half power and
higher half power frequencies are 36,011, 33,800, and 37,400 CPM, re-
spectively. In the lower trace, the top and bottom frequencies of the
slope around gear meshing frequency are 35,000 and 37,100 CPM re-
spectively.
20 30 40 50
Frequency, kCPM
T
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

F
u
n
c
t
i
o
n
,

i
n
.
/
s
e
c
/
l
b
R
e
a
l
1.5 10
3
1.5 10
3
0
2 10
3
T
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

F
u
n
c
t
i
o
n
,

i
n
.
/
s
e
c
/
l
b
I
m
a
g
i
n
a
r
y
Gear Mesh
Gear Mesh

Avg
0039 .
Q

_
,

_
,

37100
35000
1
37100
35000
1
171
2
2
,
,
,
,
.

( )

1
2 171
0029
.
.
XK
F
n n
0 2
2
2
2 2
1
1 2
1
1 1 2 0039 1

( )

1
]
+ ( )

1
]

1
]
+ [ ]

/ /
.
1128 .
17 SOUND AND VIBRATION/MAY 2001
Figure 7. Vibration spectrum of the gearbox after installing the inertial
mass and running for approximately one week. Compare the ampli-
tude of vibration at the fugitive frequency in this spectra with that in
Figure 4. The amplitude scales in both Figures 4 and 7 are the same,
and both surveys were conducted under similar operating conditions.
In thi s case hi story, i t was possi bl e to real i ze a very si gni fi -
cant reduction in the level of vibration with a relatively simple
fi x. The cost of fabri cati ng and i nstal l i ng the i nerti al mass was
mi nuscul e compared to the cost of the gearbox.
Conclusions
Because the resonant frequency i s a functi on of the square
root of both the effective mass and stiffness, it is often not prac-
ti cal to cause a si gni fi cant change i n the resonance by chang-
i ng ei ther of these parameters when the enti re structure i s part
of the vibration system. Such was the case with the motor men-
ti oned earl i er. In such a case, i t woul d be necessary to add a
much l arger mass rel ati ve to the mass of the pri mary system.
In the case of the motor, it was not practical to change the reso-
nance by addi ng mass to the system, and other methods were
empl oyed to control the vi brati on. However, i n the case of the
gearbox, the effecti ve mass of the vi brati ng system was a rel a-
ti vel y smal l part of the enti re system, and addi ng an i nerti al
mass was very effecti ve i n control l i ng the vi brati on.
P
e
a
k

V
e
l
o
c
i
t
y
,

i
n
.
/
s
e
c
0
1
0 20 40 60
Frequency, kCPM
Gear Mesh