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Oscillations-3

The document discusses damped simple harmonic motion, explaining how energy dissipation from air drag and friction leads to damped oscillations in systems like pendulums. It also covers forced oscillations and resonance, highlighting how applying periodic force can maintain and increase oscillation amplitude, particularly when the driving frequency matches the system's natural frequency. Real-life examples of resonance effects, such as the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the behavior of structures during earthquakes, illustrate the importance of understanding these concepts in engineering and safety.

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6 views2 pages

Oscillations-3

The document discusses damped simple harmonic motion, explaining how energy dissipation from air drag and friction leads to damped oscillations in systems like pendulums. It also covers forced oscillations and resonance, highlighting how applying periodic force can maintain and increase oscillation amplitude, particularly when the driving frequency matches the system's natural frequency. Real-life examples of resonance effects, such as the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the behavior of structures during earthquakes, illustrate the importance of understanding these concepts in engineering and safety.

Uploaded by

pragyaagarwal890
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Oscillations -3

DAMPED SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION

We have seen the motion of a simple pendulum, swinging in air, dies out eventually. This is because the air
drag and the friction at the support oppose the motion of the pendulum and dissipate its energy gradually.
The pendulum is said to execute damped oscillations.
In damped oscillations, although the energy of the system is continuously dissipated :but for small damping
the oscillations remain apparently periodic. The dissipating forces are generally the frictional forces.

FORCED OSCILLATIONS AND RESONANCE


A person swinging in a swing without anyone pushing it or a simple pendulum, displaced and released, are
examples of free oscillations. In both the cases, the amplitude of swing will gradually decrease and the
system would, ultimately, come to a halt. Because of the ever present dissipative forces, the free oscillations
cannot be sustained in practice. They get damped. However, while swinging in a swing if you apply a push
periodically by pressing your feet against the ground, you find that not only the oscillations can now be
maintained but the amplitude can also be increased. Under this condition the swing has forced, or driven,
oscillations. In case of a system executing driven oscillations under the action of a harmonic force, two
angular frequencies are important :
(1) the natural angular frequency of the system, which is the angular frequency at which it will
oscillate if it were displaced from equilibrium position and then left to oscillate freely, and
(2) the angular frequency d of the external force causing the driven oscillations.

If d is very close to it is observed that theamplitude of oscillation is greatest. The phenomenon
of increase in amplitude when the driving force is close to the natural frequency of the oscillator
is called resonance.

Resonance is real life

All mechanical structures have one or more natural frequencies, and if a structure is subjected to a strong
external periodic driving force that matches one of these frequencies, the resulting oscillations of the
structure may rupture it.

 The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Washington, USA was opened on July 1, 1940. Four months later
winds produced a pulsating resultant force in resonance with the natural frequency of the structure.
This caused a steady increase in the amplitude of oscillations until the bridge collapsed.
 Marching soldiers break steps(go out of step) while crossing a bridge.
 Aircraft designers make sure that none of the natural frequencies at which a wing can oscillate match
the frequency of the engines in flight. Earthquakes cause vast devastation.
 Earthquake does not cause uniform damage to all structures even if they are built with same strength
and materials. The natural frequency of a building depends on its height and other size parameters.It
is interesting to note that sometimes, in an earthquake, short and tall structures remain unaffected
while the medium height structures fall down. This happens because the natural frequencies of the
short structures happen to be higher and those of taller structures lower than the frequency of the
seismic waves.
Experimental Demonstration of Resonance
Consider a set of five simple pendulums of assorted lengths suspended
from a common rope as shown in Fig. The pendulums 1 and 4
have the same lengths and the others have different lengths. Now let us set
pendulum 1 into motion. The energy from this pendulum gets transferred
to other pendulums through the connecting rope and they start oscillating.
The driving force is provided through the connecting rope. The frequency
of this force is the frequency with which pendulum 1 oscillates. If we
observe the response of pendulums 2, 3 and 5, they first start oscillating
with their natural frequencies of oscillations and different amplitudes, but
this motion is gradually damped and not sustained. Their frequencies of
oscillation gradually change and ultimately they oscillate with the
frequency of pendulum 1, i.e. the frequency of the driving force but with
different amplitudes.They oscillate with small amplitudes. The
response of pendulum 4 is in contrast to this set of pendulums. It oscillates with the same frequency as that
of pendulum 1 and its amplitude gradually picks up and becomes very large. A resonance-like response is
seen. This happens because in this the condition for resonance is satisfied, i.e. the natural frequency of the
system coincides with that of the driving force.

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