Sixteenth Postgraduate Student Conference on MSc Dissertations 2009-10

Department of Civil & Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield, 2010

Frequency Domain Identification of Excitation Force Produced by

Crusher Machine
Shah Rahul R.,
Candidate MSc(Eng) Structural Engineering

ABSTRACT Finding the Force going in to the system has been the concerned topic to many
engineers in all field of engineering since decades. Specifically in the field of Vibration and Control
engineering, finding the excitation force going in to the system is very important and has been the
concern of many engineers because it is then used to design the control equipment which reduces the
vibration like ‘Anti Vibration Mounts’. In this paper our main aim is to find the excitation force
produced by the crusher machine installed on the floor slab of Waste Processing plant. So principally if
we know the mechanical properties of the machine then from the available close formed solutions we
can find the excitation force produced by machine (J.P. Den Hartog, 1956). But if the mechanical
properties of the machine is not known then we should find some other technique to know the
excitation force produced by the machine. In the past many researchers have developed some theories
in order to find the excitation going in to the system by knowing the system parameters and response of
the system. These theories are called Force Identification theories. Broadly two kind of theories are
covered in this, (i) Time Domain (ii) Frequency Domain Force Identification. So in this paper we will
go in to details Frequency Domain theory and investigate it for its applicability on the Waste
Processing plant floor slab. Finally by applying this theory we will find the excitation force produced
by the crusher machine.

1 INTRODUCTION Which further can be represented in matrix form

as shown below,
Response of the system under any excitation
force is given by Convolution integral in time where ‘*’ shows
domain. Where the Impulse response function of convolution of two functions.
the system is convolved together with the
Now if we represent force as u(t), response
excitation force to get the response of the
as y(t) and Impulse response function as g(t)
system. For single degree of freedom (SDOF)
then above equation can be rewritten as,
system the equation of the convolution integral
is (Daniel J. Inman, 2001), y(t) = u(t)*g(t) = g(t)*u(t)
now if we take Laplace Transform of this
convolution integral then we will get the
equation of response of the system in frequency
domain (katsuhiko ogata, 2002).
Where,
= applied excitation force in to system.

Is the Impulse response of the system.

This can also be written in terms of each small
time step as shown below,

So as we can see from the diagram that we are

getting the equation of convolution in frequency
domain.
y(S) = G(S) × u(S)............................................(1)
where, y(S) is the Laplace Transform of
response, G(S) is Laplace Transform of Impulse
response function and u(S) is Laplace Transform
of excitation force applied to the system.
Note the sign of multiplication in equation-(1),
where we are getting the response of the system
by multiplying the Laplace Transform of
Impulse response function with Laplace
Transform of excitation force. So by taking the
Laplace Transform of convolution integral we
are converting the convolution to multiplication.
In equation-(1), G(S) is called the Transfer
Function of the system which is the Laplace
Transform of Impulse response function.
1.1 Frequency Domain Force Identification
The core principle of Force Identification is to
use the dynamic properties of the system and
known response to find the excitation force
going in to the system. From equation-(1),
u(S) = y(S) × G(S)-1 ........................................(2)
it means that multiplication of response of the
system in frequency domain with Inverse of its
Transfer Function will give us the excitation
force going in to system.
G(S) is the Transfer Function of the system
which is nothing but the function representing
the dynamic properties of the system. So from
equation-(2) we can say that we have used the
response of the system and multiplied it with
Inverse of its Transfer Function representing the
dynamic properties of system in frequency
domain to get the excitation force going in to the
system. This is called the theory of Frequency
Domain Force Identification.
2 TRANSFER FUNCTION
2.1 Transfer Function of SDOF System
As we have seen that Transfer Function is the
Laplace Transform of Impulse response function
of the system.
L[ ]=
L[ ] we will divide the higher order numerator with
And by performing detailed Laplace Transform
of this equation (Floyd E. Nixon, 1960), we will
get the Transfer Function of the SDOF system,
G(S) = also
G(S) =
Where, m = modal mass, c = damping constant
and k = modal stiffness of the system.
This is called the displacement Transfer
Function of SDOF system.
2.2 Transfer Function of MDOF System
Transfer Function of multi degree of freedom
system (MDOF) is actually summation of
Transfer Function of all its individual modes of
vibration. And Transfer Function of individual
mode is just equal to Transfer Function of SDOF
system. So when we summed up the Transfer
Function of all these individual modes (SDOF
systems), we will get the Transfer Function of
MDOF system.
Consider Two Degree of Freedom (TDOF)
system. The Transfer Function of two of its
individual modes are given by,
TF1stmode =
TF2ndmode =
And when we summed up these two Transfer
Function we will get the Transfer Function of
TDOF system as below.
TFwholesystem =
Where, m1, m2 = modal mass of first and
second mode, c1, c2 = damping constant for 1st
and 2nd mode, k1, k2 = modal stiffness for 1st
and 2nd mode of vibration.
3 INVERSE OF TRANSFER FUNCTION
Consider a MDOF system whose Transfer
Function is given by,
TF =
The Inverse of this Transfer Function is,
InvTF =
But this Inverse Transfer Function doesn’t exist
as the numerator of the Transfer Function is
higher order than the denominator. So in order to
find the Inverse of this Transfer Function we
should use the method of ‘Long Division’ where
lower order denominator and represent the
Inverse Transfer Function as fraction in the form
of (Improper TF + Proper TF) as shown below.
InvTF =
+
Where, = Improper
TF and = Proper TF.
And then we can multiply the response of the give us frequency range in which the floor is
system with this Inverse of Transfer Function to excited by crusher machine.
get the excitation force going in to the system.
4 WASTE PROCESSING PLANT
Our main aim is to find the excitation force
produced by the crusher machine installed on the
Waste Processing plant floor slab. We will use
the theory of frequency domain Force
Identification as discussed earlier to find this
excitation force.
For using the frequency domain Force
Identification theory we will first create the
Transfer Function of the plant floor slab and Figure-4.1: FFT spectrum of response location-1
calculate the Inverse of Transfer Function. Then
we will multiply the Inverse of Transfer Sensor location-1 is the location on the floor slab
Function with response of plant floor slab to get just below where the machine is installed. Also
the excitation force produced by crusher take the FFT spectrum of response at same
machine. location when the machine is not running i.e.
ambient response.
Now accelerometers (sensors) are used to
measure the response of the plant floor slab at
various locations under general running of
crusher machine. We will use this measured
acceleration response data for Force
Identification on plant floor slab.
Also to calculate the Transfer Function of the
plant floor slab we need the dynamic properties
of the slab like modal mass, modal damping and
modal stiffness.
Dynamic properties of the slab can be measured Figure-4.2: FFT spectrum of ambient response at
by performing (i) Experimental Modal Analysis location-1 on floor slab
(EMA) or (ii) by doing Finite Element Modal
Analysis (FEMA). Now here we don’t have any By looking at Figure-1 we can see that response
data of Experimental Modal Analysis on the at location-1 gets amplified at frequency of 12.5
plant floor slab. So here we have to use Finite Hz and from Figure-2 we can see that 12.5 Hz is
Element Modal Analysis technique to estimate the frequency of one of the natural mode of
the dynamic properties of the slab as accurately vibration of the plant floor slab.
as possible. Also let us assume that this 12.5 Hz is the
We will use commercially available Finite frequency of first mode of vibration of real plant
Element analysis package like ‘ANSYS®’ for floor slab. This assumption may be wrong and it
doing modal analysis of the plant floor slab and can be the frequency of 2nd or 3rd mode of
to extract the modal properties of the slab. vibration. But in absence of any further data we
will proceed with this assumption and examine
4.1 Criterion for Modelling Plant Floor Slab what results we are getting with this assumption.
in ANSYS
So in our ANSYS model if we tune the model in
The modal analysis of plant floor slab should be such a way that after doing the modal analysis in
accurate enough to give us right modal ANSYS if we get the frequency of first mode of
properties of slab to create tight Transfer our model equal to 12.5 Hz which is the
Function to be used for Force Identification. frequency of real floor slab, then we can say that
To get the accurate modal properties, our model our model in ANSYS represents the real slab
in ANSYS should represent the real plant floor and we can use the extracted modal properties
slab. One way of checking whether our model in from ANSYS to create the Transfer Function of
ANSYS represents the real plant slab or not is to the plant floor slab.
match frequency of the all modes of vibration of 4.2 ANSYS Modal Analysis of Plant slab
ANSYS model equal to actual value of
frequency of all modes of vibration of real slab. I have performed the modal analysis of plant
floor slab model in ANSYS (ANSYS Inc.and
Taking the FFT of measured acceleration ANSYS Europe, Ltd. August, 2005; ANSYS
response at location-1 on plant floor slab will
Inc.and ANSYS Europe, Ltd. November,
2004; Nakasone, Yoshimoto et al., 2006; Kent
L. Lawrence, 2005) and match the frequency of
first mode of vibration of ANSYS model to 12.5
Hz. Here we have just matched the frequency of
first mode and not the higher modes of Vibration
because matching the frequency of higher modes
is time consuming process and requires good
knowledge of the area. So here I have just match
the frequency of first mode of vibration of the
ANSYS model.
Figure-4.3: Geometry of waste processing plant
floor slab in ANSYS
Figure-4.4: showing the frequency of 5 modes of
vibration for ANSYS model
Figure-4.5: showing the first mode of vibration
Now we will extract the modal properties from
our ANSYS model for creating Transfer
Function of the slab. As here we are interested in
the point at which the machine is installed i.e.
location-1 on the plant floor slab.
So here will find the node from our ANSYS
model which is located at same position as
location-1 on real slab and extract the modal
properties for that one node and create Transfer
Function of the slab at that particular node.
By examining the plant floor slab layout and
node generated by meshing the slab in ANSYS,
node 11347 is located at the position where the
crusher machine is installed. So the extracted
modal properties at node 11347 is shown below.
Modal Properties Node 11347
Mode shape amplitude 8.99E-04
Modal mass (m11) 1237508.673
Damping constant (C11) 4004912.054
Stiffness (k11) 7635602014
Damping ratio 2%
frequency 12.508
Table-4.1: node 11347 extracted modal
properties
Now we will create the Transfer Function of
plant floor slab for node 11347.
4.3 Transfer Function of Plant Floor Slab
Now as we discussed that Transfer Function of
MDOF system is the summation of Transfer
Function of all its individual modes. But here as
we have matched the frequency of only first
mode of vibration of ANSYS model and real
slab and not for higher modes of vibration, we
will create the Transfer Function of the slab for
only first mode of vibration for node 11347
which is equal to Transfer Function of SDOF
system and given by,
TFnode11347 =
Note that here we have found the velocity
Transfer Function of the slab and not the
acceleration Transfer Function.
4.4 Inverse of Transfer Function of Plant
Floor Slab
The Inverse of Transfer Function by the method
of long division discussed earlier is given in
from of (Improper TF + Proper TF) as below.
Where, = Improper TF &
= Proper TF
4.5 Velocity Response at Location-1
The acceleration response at location-1 on plant
floor slab (Figure-5) located just below the
crusher machine is measured by sensor-1.

Figure-4.6: location-1 on plant floor slab where
sensor is placed below crusher machine
Figure-4.8: Velocity response at location-1 for 1
second
From this Figure we can see that the response at
location-1 is of harmonic nature. So the
excitation force which we should get back after
performing the Force Identification should be of
harmonic nature as well.

As here we have created velocity Transfer Now consider the SIMULINK model shown
Function of the slab at node11347, we need below for performing Force Identification.
velocity response at location-1 to perform the
Force Identification. So by integrating and doing
mean correction on measured acceleration
response we will get the velocity response at
location-1 as shown below.

Figure-4.9: SIMULINK model for Force

Identification
Here we have represented Inverse of Transfer
Function and multiplied it with the velocity
response to get back the excitation force.
After running the SIMULINK simulation we
will get the excitation force as shown in Figure-
Figure-4.7: velocity response at location-1 10 below.
Now we will use this velocity response and
Inverse of Transfer function of slab at
node11347 to perform the Force Identification
and getting the excitation force.
4.6 SIMULINK Model for Force
Identification
We will represent the Inverse of Transfer
Function in SIMULINK as ‘LTI system block’,
‘derivative and gain block’ and ‘gain block’ and
do the multiplication of velocity response and
Inverse Transfer Function to find the excitation
force going in to the slab as shown in figure-9.
But before performing the Force Identification,
we must know the nature of force which we
should get to check whether we got the right Figure-4.10: excitation force derived by Force
excitation force after Force Identification or not. Identification
To make a check and to know the nature of the
excitation force we will zoom in to velocity
response for 1 second as shown in Figure-8.
5 DISCUSSION dynamic properties of the system for creating the
Transfer Function of the system.
As we have discussed in section 4.6 that the
force which we should get back by applying the Also Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA)
Force Identification principle through running technique gives correct estimation of dynamic
the simulation has to be of harmonic nature. properties of the system but in absence of EMA,
Figure-10 shows the excitation force which we Finite Element Modal Analysis (FEMA) can
derived back. So if we compare it with harmonic give very good estimation of dynamic properties
response in Figure-8, then it is not the right force of system provided the modal analysis
which we should get back. Because it is not of performed in FE package is accurate enough to
harmonic nature. So what wrong is happening represent the real floor slab.
during the application of Force Identification
7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
principle?
I am very much thankful to my supervisor
As discussed in section 4.1, we have made an
Professor Aleksandar Pavic at The University of
assumption that the frequency of 12.5 Hz is the
Sheffield for providing me full support and
frequency of first mode of vibration of Waste
guidance in right direction towards the topic of
Processing plant floor slab. And we also said
this paper and shaping up this paper.
that there are no data available to accurately give
some idea about the shape of the modes of I am also very much thankful to Dr. Donald S.
vibration of real slab. So based on the available Nyawako for helping me and providing me with
data through engineering judgment we have good understanding of core principles of
made an assumption that 12.5 Hz is the Transfer Function and SIMULINK.
frequency of first mode which may not be
correct. 8 REFERENCES
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(August, 2005) ANSYS Basic Analysis
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th
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satisfactory results provided we use the correct