APPLIED MECHANICS

Mass Moment of Inertia of

Flywheel

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(Sep-Dec 2015)

Introduction:
A heavy flywheel is set in rotation by a mass attached to a string
wrapped around the axle of the flywheel. The force exerted by the falling
mass is related to the torque, , and the rate of change of angular velocity
of the wheel, that is, the angular acceleration, . The moment of inertia, I,
is the constant of proportionality between these two variables and
depends on the mass and effective radius of the rotating object. The
above law can be verified by using various masses and measuring the
resulting acceleration for each as a function of the net accelerating torque.
THEORY
Flywheel is a mechanical device with significant moment of inertia
used as a storage device for rotational energy. Flywheels resist changes in
their rotational speed, which helps steady the rotation of the shaft when a
fluctuating torque is exerted on it.

For a thin solid disk of flywheel, the mass moment of inertia is

shown in Equation 1, where m = mass, r = radius of the flywheel

(Equation

1)

For rotational motion, Newtons second law (see Equation 2) can be

adopted to describe the relation between the applied torque, T and
angular acceleration, .
(Equation 2)

T = I.

Note that for constant angular acceleration, the angular

displacement of a rotating object can be obtained from Equation 3
(Equation 3)

= t + t2

Apparatus Needed:

Flywheel apparatus.
A set of weights.
A stopwatch and ruler.

Procedure:
1. Record the measurements of the radius of torque pulley (rp) and
flywheel (r), as well as the mass of the flywheel (m).
2. Wound a cord around the torque pulley and take a load hanger of
known weight and hang it at the free end of the cord.
3. Place a load on the load hanger and hold the load in position
4. Adjust the flywheel so that the arrow marked on it aligns with the
arrow marked on the rig.
5. Set the stopwatch to zero.
6. Release the load while simultaneously pressing the stopwatch
button.

7. After 1 revolution,
simultaneously.

stop

the

flywheel

and

the

stopwatch

8. Record the time taken for the flywheel to rotate 1 revolution.

9. Repeat the experiment twice to get an average value of time taken
for the flywheel to rotate 1 revolution.
10.

Repeat Steps 3 9 for another 4 different sets of load.

11.
Repeat the experiment by attaching the small disk and the
ring to the flywheel.
Results and Discussion:
Without the disk:
Rp = 7.5 mm
Total load,
W on torque
pulley (N)

Applied Torque
(Nm)
=W*
rp

10

Time taken (Sec)

t1

t2

t3

Averag
et

0.075

5.16

4.19

4.15

4.5

20

0.15

2.21

2.22

2.37

2.3

30

0.225

1.70

1.51

1.64

1.6

40

0.3

1.3

1.43

1.65

1.5

50

0.375

1.1

1.17

1.23

1.2

With the disk

Rp = 20mm
Total load, W
on torque
pulley (N)

Applied Torque
(Nm) = W * rp

10

0.2

Time taken (Sec)

t1

t2

t3

Averag
et

4.44

5.08

5.23

4.9

20

0.4

2.25

2.37

2.25

2.3

30

0.6

1.91

1.69

1.77

1.8

40

0.8

1.57

1.30

1.45

1.4

50

1.24

1.35

1.29

1.3

Calculation:
From the experiment, if an object rotates 360 degrees around a
circle radius r (1 revolution) that mean is

From the equation we can simplify to = 2. Therefore 1 revolution

is 2radians.
We are going to find the angular acceleration of the pulley we will using
this
equation
1
=0 t + t 2
2
We can see in this experiment we did only one revolution for all the
2

.t
set of weights .so it is determined that the =0 t+ 2 =2

,, if we want

to find the angular acceleration we should simplify the equation to be

2

.t
=2 0 t
2

so

=2

2 0 t
t

We can see that there wasnt an initial force on the flywheel when

the experiment was being done. So the initial angular velocity ( 0 of
the flywheel when t = 0 is also

=0

Means that:

4
t2

The result for angular acceleration showing by the following table of

calculated result
The result with the small disk:
Total load ,W
Average (t)
Average(t2)
on
torque
pulley
10
4.9
24.01
20
2.3
5.29
30
1.8
3.24
40
1.4
1.96
50
1.3
1.69
The result without the small disk:
Total load ,W
on
torque
pulley
10
20
30
40
50

Average (t)

4.5
2.3
1.6
1.5
1.2

Average(t2)

20.25
5.29
2.56
2.25
1.44

Angular
acceleration
0.52
2.38
3.88
6.41
7.44
Angular
acceleration
0.62
2.38
4.91
5.59
8.73

y 2 y 1
10.8
m=
=
=0.1942
Gradient =
x 2x 1 7.446.41

Based on the graph shown above, mass moment of inertia of

Flywheel is found by calculating the slope of the graph which is 0.1942
(experimental value)
The formula for finding the theoretical mass moment of inertia of Flywheel
is
mr
I=
2

12.1 kg 0.125 m
=0.0945 kgm2
2

Percentage error

( Experimental valuet h eoretical value)

100%
Experimental value

(0.19420.0945)
100
0.1942
= 5.13%

y 2 y 1 0.250.15
Gradient = m= x 2x 1 = 3.82 =0.0637

Based on the graph shown above, mass moment of inertia of Flywheel is

0.0637
found by calculating the slope of the graph which is
(experimental value)
The formula for finding the theoretical mass moment of inertia of Flywheel
is
I=

mr
2

6.55 kg ( 0.03 5 ) 2
=0.00411 kgm252
2

Percentage error

( Experimental valuet h eoretical value)

100%
(Experimental value)

(0.06370.0041)
100 =
(0.0637)

9.35%

Discussion:
Our goal in this experiment is to measure the moment of inertia of a
flywheel in regard to the weights that are loaded to the wheel. As we can
see from our experiment results and conclusion the flywheel is moving fast
when we move the disk. However, the results are not stable because of
many reasons as the time taking in the right time of start and finish of 1
revolution. Adding to the next reason is the flywheel and the stopwatch
were simultaneously stopped and getting the write records of the
revolution. Those reasons make us have big number of error percentage.

Results with the disk:

From the diagram which we draw it is explain and clearing the
relationship between the torque and angular of acceleration. And we find
the gradient is ( 0.1942) for the first table which is with the disk and we
found out that the percentage error is (5.13%).
Results without disk:
In the second table which we found the gradient is (0.0637) and
after we calculate the percentage of error is = (9.35%) .

The percentage of error was almost nothing because of the accuracy

in calculating time (t), it indicates that the data obtained (t) and the
calculations were 90+% correct because the experimented and theoretical
values were very close.

Conclusion:
Even though our calculations were prcised, we should keep in mind
that there are some important factors affected our results. For example, in
this experiment we neglected the friction forces between the rope and the
wheel, the one between the wheel and the axle and the air resistance
forces. In addition, the time readings weren't perfect because we got
different values in different tries and we only took the average. If we want
to get a perfect reading then we should get a digital stop watch instead of
using the normal stop watch. At the end of the day, we can say that we
achieved our goal and that our calculations and results are ok.