Nikhil Datta, 3rd Year

Internship Project Report

Modelling Vibration Waveforms of Cantilever

Beam in Real Time Using Multiple Sensors

Nikhil Datta

A report submitted in part fulfilment of the degree of

B.Tech in Instrumentation and Control Engineering

Supervisor: Dr. K. Dhanalakshmi

Department of Instrumentation and Control

National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli

Project Duration:
August 11, 2017 to August 11, 2017
Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................... 2

Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 3

Project Specification ....................................................................................................... 4

Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................ 6

Chapter 2: Theoretical Analysis of the Cantilever Beam .............................................. 8

Chapter 3: Theoretical Analysis of Shape Estimation ................................................ 12

Chapter 4: Simulation of shape estimation ................................................................ 14

4.1 Vibration Control of cantilever beam .......................................................................... 14

Chapter 5: Experimental Setup ................................................................................. 16

5.1 Mechanical System ..................................................................................................... 16

5.2 Sensing and Modelling System .................................................................................. 16

Chapter 6: Future Scope ........................................................................................... 17

Summary ...................................................................................................................... 18

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Acknowledgement

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. K.

Dhanalakshmi, Associate Professor, Dept. of
Instrumentation and Control, NIT Trichy for providing me
an opportunity to do my internship and project work in the
field of modelling and simulation of vibration waveforms of
cantilever beam.

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Abstract

This report presents an analysis of natural vibrations of a

homogeneous cantilever beam using multiple sensors. Based
on measurements, displacements of defined beam points
have been determined as a function of time in directions
perpendicular to the beam axis together with the trajectory
of these points in the plane of the beam transverse
vibrations. A model describing the displacement of the beam
due to external kinematic disturbances is presented along
with formulas defining motion of points in the plane of the
beam transverse vibrations, which have been verified
experimentally by recording beam vibrations using a system
of multiple sensors.

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Project Specification
The cantilever beam used in the experimental setup in
rectangular in shape, and is made of aluminium. The beam is
assumed to have uniform mass distribution. The physical
parameters of the cantilever beam are listed below in Table
1.

TABLE I

PHYSICAL PARAMETERS OF THE CANTILEVER BEAM

Physical Parameter (SI Method of determination

Property unit)

Length (l) 1.10 m Measured (Meter scale)

Breadth (b) 2.510-2 m Measured (Meter scale)

Height (h) 310-3 m Measured (Meter scale)

Youngs 7.61010 N Youngs Modulus of

Modulus m-2 Aluminium

Density ( ) 2.7103 kg Density of Aluminium

m3

First 2.22 Hz Estimated Transfer

Harmonic(f) Function

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Piezoelectric sensor attached to the beam at the fixed end

and Laser Displacement Sensor at 77 cm from fixed end are
used for determining the displacement of the beam.
Piezoelectric crystal is used as sensor in the setup.

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Chapter 1: Introduction

A system is said to be a cantilever beam system if one end of

the system is rigidly fixed to a support and the other end is
free to move. The wings of an aircraft may be considered as
real-world system, with the fixed end attached to the aircraft,
and the free end is the other extreme of the wing. The
equipment attached to it may be considered as loads. These
data may be used to make suitable assumptions about the
wings to deduce the system to a cantilever beam. This would
help us in deducing the stability, lift bearing capacity during
flight and various other parameters about the wing when it is
in operation. Vibration analysis of a cantilever beam system
is important as it can explain and help us analyze a number
of real life systems. As shown in above examples, real
systems can be simplified to a cantilever beam, thereby
helping us make design changes accordingly for the most
efficient systems.

When given an excitation and left to vibrate on its own, the

frequency at which a cantilever beam will oscillate is its
natural frequency. This condition is called Free vibration.
The natural frequency of the system depends only on system

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

parameters of mass and stiffness. When a system is

approximated to a simple cantilever beam, some
assumptions are made for modelling and analysis. Some of
the important assumptions for undamped system are given
below:

1) The mass (m) of the whole system is considered to be

lumped at the free end of the beam.

2) The complex cross section and type of material of the

real system has been simplified to equate to a Cantilever
beam.

3) The load on the beam is lumped at a certain point or as

uniform load distribution at certain length of the beam.

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Chapter 2: Theoretical Analysis of the

Cantilever Beam

The transverse vibrations of an aluminium cantilever beam

are considered. Euler-Bernoulli beam theory assumes that
straight and cross-sections relative to the beam axis remain
flat and perpendicular even after the beam is deformed. As a
result of bending, cross-sections are subject to rotation, and
the fibres of one layer of the beam are subject to tension
while those of the second layer are compressed. The neutral
layer does not sustain any deformation. The equation based
on these assumptions describing transverse vibrations w =
w(x, t) of a beam is given by the formula

where, E is Youngs modulus,

I moment of inertia, expressed (for regular rectangular

cantilever beam) as

material density,

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

A area of cross-section,

c arbitrary constant, whose value is given by

Using the method of separation of variables, the solution of

the transverse beam vibration equation is written as

Where, W(x) is the eigenfunction and T(t) function

describing beam displacement as a function of time t. After
inserting equation (2) into (1) and after transformation, the
eigenvalue equation is obtained

The (IV) symbol designates the derivative with respect to

x. The solution to the eigenvalue equation is the following
function

The constants C1, . . ., C4 are determined after the

appropriate boundary conditions have been accounted for.

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

For the cantilever beam under consideration, they are as

follows

After determination of the constants C1, . . ., C4, the

eigenfunction describing the n-th mode takes its final form

On solving for x = l, we get,

On solving, we get,

Here, n is the coefficient normalising the nth mode,

expressed by the formula

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

For n 4, we may approximate the solution Wn(x) as

Successive circular natural frequencies are determined

from equation (3.3)2 as follows

For n 4, we may approximate circular natural frequency

to

Since the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation is ordinary

differential equations, the solutions are linear. Hence, the
total solution of the equation W(x) is

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Chapter 3: Theoretical Analysis of

Shape Estimation
The displacement matrix is found as follows. The
deflection of the beam causes displacement at all points
along the beam. As only first and second harmonic
frequencies of the beam are considered at present, we
determine the displacement of the cantilever beam at two
points, at x = 0.3l and 0.7l. These points are chosen as they
do not lie on the nodes of first and second harmonics
cantilever beam.

Let W = W1 + W2 + Werror

Now, W1 & W2 corresponds to first and second harmonic

waveform and Werror is assumedto be negligible.

Hence, for displacement sensors at x = 0.3l, we get,

W(0.3l) = W1 + W2

= (-0.2729) + (-1.0523)

Also, for x = 0.7l,

W(0.7l) = W1 + W2

= (-1.1816) + (-0.6342)
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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

This can be represented in matrix as follows

The above method can be extended for any number of

harmonics by using suitable number of sensors. The
calculation of deflection matrix helps us deduce the shape of
the cantilever beam in real time using equation (9). The
deflection of the cantilever beam might be detected using
Piezoelectric sensor, Laser Displacement Sensor, Shape
Memory Alloy, Ultrasound sensor.

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Chapter 4: Simulation of shape

estimation

Shape estimation can be used in various applications such as

vibration suppression, shape control of cantilever beam or
other mechanical structures and estimation of stress and
fatigue in various parts mechanical system.

4.1 Vibration Control of cantilever beam

A simple PID based and a state Observer based feedback
control based cantilever beam vibration control has been
simulated using matlab. The simulated open loop output is
represented by the blue line, and the PID closed loop
response represented by red line. A simple linear
electromagnetic motor is used in the simulation for
actuation.

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

The above result is obtained from a PID controller based

system. Displacement is measured in cm, and time in
seconds.

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Chapter 5: Experimental Setup

5.1 Mechanical System

The mechanical setup the experiment consists of a cantilever
beam made of aluminium, a laser displacement sensor is
located at midway of the beam, at 50 cm from the fixed end.
The beam is modelled using the displacement sensor.

5.2 Sensing and Modelling System

The sensors used in the project are a pair of piezoelectric
sensors and a laser displacement sensor. The sensor data is
fed to the data acquisition card, which converts analogue
sensor data to suitable digital form to be interfaced with
MATLAB. System identification toolbox in MATLAB is
used for estimating the system parameters such as cantilever
beam transfer function at various points on the beam. The
model thus obtained is used for simulation of the cantilever
beam and is used to test the effectiveness of the vibration
suppression controller.

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Chapter 6: Future Scope

Proper orthogonal decomposition of the waveforms of the

beam can be used to eliminate the error due to nonlinearity
in sensing the shape of the cantilever beam. Further, a
nonlinear controller may be used in future for better
actuation of the cantilever beam system for shape control.

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Vibration Waveforms of a Cantilever Beam Nikhil Datta

Summary
The project demonstrates an effective model for real time
estimation shape of mechanical systems using Euler
Bernoulli beam theory. Sensors used for the shape
estimation here are piezoelectric sensor and laser
displacement sensor. The PID Controller is effectively used
for vibration suppression in Euler-Bernoulli Beam Model of
the cantilever beam in Simulation.

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