Project Report on

EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL MODAL ANALYSIS OF A

HOLLOW CYLINDDER WITH FREE-FREE BOUNDARY CONDITION
Undergone at

Machine Design Section,

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
Chennai 600 036, India
From 5-6-2014to 24-7-2014
Under the guidance of

Dr.P.Chandramouli

Submitted by
Anu Krishnan

VI SEM B.Tech (Mechanical)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

National Institute of Technology Calicut

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project entitled EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL MODAL
ANALYSIS OF A HOLLOW CYLINDDER WITH FREE-FREE BOUNDARY
CONDITION is a bonafide work carried out by Anu Krishnan, student of Third year B.Tech
(Mechanical), Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut,
during the Summer term of the academic year 2013 2014. It is submitted to the Department in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Summer Research Fellowship -2014. I
certify that he has carried out the work in his own capacity and has successfully completed the
work assigned to him.

Place: IIT Madras

Date:

Dr.Chandramouli P.
Professor, Machine Design Section,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
Chennai - 600-036, India.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 4

1. Introduction5-6

2. Numerical Analysis using Ansys7-11

3. Experimental Validation.12-17

4. Conclusion18

5. References.19

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Chandramouli P., Professor, Machine Design section,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras for giving me an opportunity to work as a summer
research fellow under his esteemed guidance.

My sincere gratitude to Mr.Surya C., research scholar, Machine Design section,

Indian Institute of Technology Madras for his immense help and guidance throughout the
project.
Special thanks to members of "Vibration and Acoustics Laboratory", Mechanical department
for their immense help and allowing me to use the facilities for experimental validation.
I also thank Department of Mechanical Engineering, IITM for awarding me with their Summer
Research Fellowship.

Lastly I thank Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Calicut for providing me an

opportunity to undertake this fellowship.

1. INTRODUCTION

In the past two decades, modal analysis has become a major technology in the quest for
determining, improving and optimizing dynamic characteristics of engineering structures. Not
only has it been recognized in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, but modal analysis has
also discovered profound applications for civil and building structures, biomechanical problems,
space structures, acoustical instruments, transportation and nuclear plants.

Modal analysis is the process of determining the inherent dynamic characteristics of a system in
forms of natural frequencies, damping factors and mode shapes. Modal analysis has always
served as the starting point of any vibration analysis and is an important area of research. These
natural frequencies and mode shapes occur in all structures that we design. Basically, they are
characteristics that depend on the weight and stiffness of any structure which determine the
natural frequencies and how the mode shapes will exist. As a design engineer, the need is to
identify these frequencies and know how they might affect the response of the structure when a
force excites it. Understanding the mode shape and how the structure will vibrate when excited
helps one to design better structures.

Natural Frequency: All models have a natural frequency. If a model is subjected to dynamic
load that is close to its natural frequency, the model oscillates to a large extent than in normal
condition.
Modes: Modes measure the vibration of an object at a particular frequency. Each mode is
assigned a number. The lowest speed at which a structure vibrates after all external loads are
removed is assigned to mode 1.
Mode shape: In the study of vibration in engineering, the expected curvature (or displacement) of
a surface at a particular mode due to vibration is the mode shape.

The objective of this project is to perform modal analysis on a hollow cylinder, both
experimentally and numerically. First four flexible modes are considered and corresponding
mode shapes are also plotted, both experimentally and using numerical methods.
5

Description of Test Specimen

X
Z

Fig.1: Test Specimen

Table 1: Geometrical properties of the cylinder

Cylinder

Uniform

Inside Diameter(mm)

Outside Diameter(mm) Length(mm)

106.8

114

154

Table 2: Material Properties of the cylinder

Material

Density

Youngs Modulus

Poissons ratio

Structural Steel

7717kg/m3

190 GPa

.33

2. NUMERICAL ANALYSIS USING ANSYS

Due to relatively simple geometry and boundary conditions, ANSYS proved to be the best
commercial software for numerical analysis. As the cylinder is solid, element SOLID 186 is
chosen. It is a higher order 3-D 20-node solid element. The element is defined by 20
nodes (Fig. 2) and has three degrees of freedom per node (i.e. translation in X, Y and Z
direction). Material properties are entered as per tabulated in Table 2 in the preprocessor
window. Free-free end condition was used. Out of numerous meshing options tetrahedral
free meshing with smart sizing on was adopted, as the geometries to be meshed was simple and
didn't need very fine meshing. Block Lanczos method was used as the mode extraction method

Fig.2: 20 node SOLID 186 element.

First 10 modes were extracted. Since the boundary condition was free-free, first six modes were
rigid body modes and their frequencies were close to 0. The remaining 4 flexible modes form
part of the study.

First four flexible modes were basically breathing modes. In this, first and second modes have
same circumferential nodal pattern (n=2) and different axial nodal patterns (m=1 and 2
respectively). Same is the case for third and fourth modes, where n=3 and m=1 & 2 respectively.

First four flexible modes and corresponding modal shape

First Mode

Fig.3.1: 1st Mode, n=2, m=1

Second Mode

Fig.3.2: 2nd Mode, n=2, m=2

Third Mode

Fig.3.3: 3rd Mode, n=3, m=1

10

Fourth Mode

Fig 3.4: 4th Mode, n=3, m=2

11

3. EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION

Experimental modal analysis is carried out to validate the natural frequencies obtained using
numerical methods.
Usually measurements are observed in the frequency domain as Frequency Response Functions
(FRFs), H (), which is the ratio between output and input as a function of frequency. See
Fig. 4.The FRFs can be described by the modal parameters and the modal parameters can
therefore be extracted from the FRFs.

Fig.4: Frequency Response Function (FRF)

Here the input is impulse excitation and output is acceleration. Both are measured
simultaneously using transducers. The measurement is acquired using data acquisition
system. The analog signals from the transducers are filtered first to ensure that there is no
aliasing. The next step is to digitize the analog signal to form a digital representation of the
actual signal. All these are inbuilt in the DAQ used (i.e. NI 9234). The input impulse is given
from DYTRAN 5800B1 S/N 5551 impulse hammer (Fig. 5). The sensitivity of the impulse
hammer is 10 mV/ lbf. The response is measured by a triaxial accelerometer from DYTRAN
whose sensitivity is 10 mV/g. The frequency response function was carried on using the

12

commercial analyzing software m+p Smart Office analyzer.

Fig.5: Dytran Impulse Hammer

Both FRF and mode shapes were obtained experimentally.
Sample FRFs
1.) CylinderNode1_ExcitationY_ReferenceX

Frequency

Amplitude

742.7

10.2

884.9

12.29

2095.7

2.0736

13

2.) CylinderNode1_ExcitationY_ReferenceY

Frequency

Amplitude

884.9

75.39

2092.4

2.037

2320.7

14.26

EXPERIMENTAL MODE SHAPES

First Mode

Fig.6.1: 1st Mode

14

Second Mode

Fig.6.2: 2nd Mode

Third Mode

Fig.6.3: 3rd Mode

15

Fourth Mode

Fig6.4: 4th Mode

OBSERVATIONS

Along the axis of the cylinder (Z) no significant peaks are observed in the FRF.

In the vertical reference axis (Y) direction second and fourth modes are excited predominantly.
The peak corresponding to third mode is small. The contribution of first mode is insignificant.

In the X axis direction all the four modes are excited. The contributions of first two modes are
predominant when compared to other two.

From the FRF data it can be inferred that second mode is having the maximum peak followed by
first mode.

16

Table 3: Comparison of Numerical and Experimental Values

Mode

Natural Frequency using

Natural Frequency using

numerical methods

experimental methods

752.852

742.7

897.869

884.9

2125.98

2095.7

2340.81

2320.7

17

4. CONCLUSION

The free-free vibration of hollow cylinder has been studied both numerically and experimentally.
It is observed that first four flexible modes are breathing modes. In this first two have same
circumferential nodal pattern (n=2) and different axial nodal pattern (m=1&2 respectively).
Same is the case for third and fourth modes (with n=3 and m=1&2 respectively). The value of
natural frequencies obtained by experimental and numerical methods matches and is within the
allowable error limit.

18

5. REFERENCES

1. ANSYS SP 13.0. (2013). Ansys structural analysis guide.

2. Rao, S. S. (2004). Mechanical vibrations. Pearson Prentice Hall
3. User manual, Smart Office
4. Modal Analysis, Jimin He and Zhi-Fang Fu
5. Vibration and Acoustics, C.Sujatha

19