Jordan university of science

&technology
Mechanical Engineering Department

INSTRUMENTATION AND DYNAMIC

SYSTEMS
Instructor: ENG. Mohammad AL Othman

TA: Eng. Mohammad Alsalahat

Student Name:
114738 ‫ﺑﺷﯾر اﻟﻧﻌﯾم‬
116574 ‫ﺷﺎدي ﻋﻠﻠوه‬
113220 ‫ھﺷﺎم ھﯾدل‬
Section: 5
Experiment Name:

|Page1
Abstract
In this experiment, we measure experimental and theoretical
value of the radius of gyration and moment of inertia using two
different methods, which are bifilar suspension system and the
compound pendulum in the first two parts, and understand the
relation between them.

In the part 3, we use spring mass system to conduct spring

stiffness then conduct the effective mass of the spring.

Introduction
Moment of inertia measured of the resistance of a body to
angular acceleration about a given axis that is equal to the
sum of the products of each element of mass in the body and
the square of the element's distance from the axis. The
moment of inertia of a body about an axis i sometimes
represented using the radius of gyration. Now, what do you
mean by the radius of gyration? We can define radius of
gyration as the imaginary distance from the centroid at which
the area of cross section imagined to focus at a point in order
to obtain the same moment of inertia. It denoted by k. The
unit of radius of gyration is mm. By knowing the radius of
gyration, one can find the moment of inertia of any complex
body.
The bifilar suspension is a technique used to determine the
moment of inertia of any type of object about any point on the
object. This is done by suspending two parallel cords of equal
length through the object examined. However, the approach
taken for this experiment is to determine the moment of
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inertia of a drop by suspending the cords through the mass
centre of bodies, obtaining an angular displacement about the
vertical axis through the centre of mass by a sensibly small
angle
The parallel axis theorem states that the moment of inertia of
an object around a particular axis is equal to the moment of
inertia around a parallel axis that goes through the center of
mass, and the mass of the object, multiplied by the distance to
that parallel axis, squared.
The moment of inertia around the center of mass is a minimum
value. If you move the rotation axis elsewhere, the moment of
inertia, how difficult it is to slow or speed up the rotation of the
object.
Theoretically, springs, which considered in the vibration
theories, are massless.
This assumption states that the spring does not affect itself
while deflection, but it only responds to the external force
applied. Actually, any spring has a mass, and it deflects because
of this weight force and in some accurate and precise
applications, this addition weight force and its effect on
deflection should be considered, so raises the importance of
this experiment in measuring the effective spring mass.

Equipment and Producer

Part 1: bifilar system
Equipment
• Bifilar suspension system.
• Masses: two known masses.
• Cords: metallic cords used to hang the system.
• Stopwatch: used to measure the system cycle time.

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 Figure 2.1 bifilar suspension system

Producer
1. Suspend the metallic, uniform bar with the cords to the wall; the
cords must be at equal distances from its center, also the bar
should be perfectly horizontal.
2. Measure the distance between the cords.
3. Displace the bar with small angle, and measure the time required
for "20" oscillations.
4. Compute the radius of gyration and the moment of inertia.
5. Repeat the experiment for different configurations of variable
values cord

Part 2: compound system

Equipment
• Pendulum system.
• Stopwatch: to find the time needed for "20" oscillations.
• Length meter: to measure the distance from the rotation
axis to the edge of the bar

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 Figure 2.2 pendulum system

Procedure:
1. Find the center of gravity and the mass of the rod, i.e. "L/2"
from each end, because the bar is uniformly mass distributed.
2. Tighten the knife-edge at some location on the rod, and
measure "Lm", the distance between it and the edge of the rod,
as in figure "2".
3. Compute "h".
4. Oscillate the pendulum with small deflection angle, and find
the time of "20" cycles.
5. Repeat the process after changing the location of the knife-
edge, and fill table “1”.

Part 3: mass -spring system

Equipment
• Spring – mass system: a spring with an effective mass,
suspended to a fixed end, and it's free to vibrate up and
down ward.
• Stopwatch: to find the periodic time.

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 • Length meter: to find the deflection corresponds to
different loading conditions.
• Loads: many metallic plates weigh "0.4 kg" each.
Procedure:
Spring Stiffness:
1. Prepare the spring-mass system on the platform for the
experiment.
2. Load the system with loads gradually upward and downward,
and record the deflection of the system each trial.
3. Sketch the deflection, load graph, and find the stiffness of
the spring from its slope.
4. Compare the experimental and the theoretical values of the
spring stiffness.

Spring Effective Mass:

1. Add a load to the spring system, and oscillate it up and
down.
2. Record the time required for "20" cycles.
3. Sketch the square of the periodic time versus the total mass
of the system, and use this graph to compute the effective
mass of the spring.
4. Compare the result above with the theoretical value of the
theoretical effective mass of the spring.

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 Data and calculation

1) BIFILAR SUSPENSION

Table 1: Moment of inertia for different configurations

T= t/20
t=Time Iexp Ith
Cord Length Displacement Mass
Exp of 20 (s) KExp
"l" (m) Distance "b"(m) (Kg) (kg.m2) (kg.m2)
cycle (s)
Kth

0.02620 0.030128 0.1372992 0.14722

0.42 0 14 0.7 1.39 0.42
3012 25 64 4319

0.43 0.03101 0.030128 0.1493660 0.14722

0 15.5 0.775 1.39 0.435
5 1201 25 48 4319

0.03789 0.030128 0.1651170 0.14722

0.46 0 17.62 0.881 1.39 0.46
644 25 07 4319

0.15297 0.087940 0.1733634 0.13144

0.46 0.25 18.5 0.925 5.09 0.46
9433 75 87 2615

0.11875 370.0301 0.1527472 8.52628

0.46 20 16.3 0.815 5.09 0.46
8526 28 88 1204

0.07930 208.1551 0.1248217 6.39491

0.46 15 13.32 0.666 5.09 0.46
4538 28 1 338

sample of calculations

d=51cm
mbar=1.39 kg
mmass=1.85kg
mbar+2mmmas=5.09
Iexp=(m*g*d^2*t^2)/(16*pi^2*L)

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for exp4
Iexp=(m*g*d^2*t^2)/(16*pi^2*L)
Iexp=(1.39*9.81*.51^2*.925^2)/(16*pi^2*.46)=0.152979433
Ith=(1/12)*mbar*d^2+b^2*mmass*0.5
Ith=(1/12)*1.39*.51^2+0.25^2*1.85*0.5=0.08794075
Kexp=(Iexp/mtotal)^(0.5)=.1733
Kth=(Ith/mtotal)^(0.5)=.13144

2)compound Pendulum
Table 2: compound Pendulum
t=during20 K KTh
Exp
h (m) cycle time T (s)=t/20
(s) (m) (m)

0.23 23 1.15 0.274926367 0.360138862

0.29 26.1 1.305 0.350319366 0.401123422

0.39 29.8 1.49 0.46384535 0.478434949

0.42 33 1.65 0.533044203 0.503189825

Sample of calculations

• Length of rod = 96 cm
for trial 1
Kexp=(ghT^2/4pi^2)^0.5=(9.81*0.23*1.15^2/4pi)^0.5=0.2749
Kth=(L^2/12+h^2)^0.5=(0.96^2/12+0.23^2)^0.5=0.3601

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 2) Spring Mass System

Added F=mg Defliction t.=during T=t/20 T2

Mass 20 cycles
(kg)

1.648 0.25 7.6

2.047 0.26 9.6

2.447 0.27 10.2

2.847 0.285 11.4

3.247 0.295 12.2

3.647 0.31 13.2

mass of spring = 100 g

1. Draw figure between F & deflection

F vs deflection
40
35
30
25
load

20
15
10
5
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35
deflection

2. From figure, find slope (The stiffness K)

F=mg Defliction

17.14788 0.25
21.06207 0.26
Slope=(f2-f1)/(d2-d1)= 391.419
3. Find Effective theory
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 4. Draw figure between T2 & added Mass then find linear equation y=ax+b

T^2 vs added mass

0.5
0.45
0.4 y = 0.139x - 0.0735
0.35
0.3
T^2

0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
added mass

5. Find Effective experiment by

M effective (exp)= b. K / (4. Π2)

b: from equation from question 4

Discussion
From table 1
1. We can figure that as the mass increase the moment of
inertia and radius of gyration also increase
2. The relation between them is squared relationship and that is
clear from the reading of the last raw
3. As the distance increase between the masses and the center
of gravity of the bar the time needed to complete 20 cycle also
increased
I found that there are several differences in between
theoretical values and experimental values that being obtained.
These differences should not be so obvious. The values
supposed to be not much in difference as the experimental and
theoretical values should be almost the same
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The percentage of error was very high in the bifilar suspension
because it depend in many factor that need reading from
human and when these factor increase the error percentage will
also increase unlike compound pendulum method

From table 2 as the height increase the moment of inertia and

radius of gyration also increase.

Conclusion
The bifilar suspension technique offers the opportunity to
determine the radius of gyration of a body by relating the
readings gotten from the procedure in the techniques and
relating that into the equation of angular and this invariably
provides the determination of the moment of inertia for the same
body. These readings encompasses the distance between the
wires used for the suspension, the length of the wires, the time
for the required number of oscillations, the distance between the
masses introduced into the experiment, and so on. All these and
lots more provide the avenue for determining the radius of
gyration and the moment of inertia
Overall, this experiment is not quite a success as there are many
factors that influence the error both in readings and apparatus
set up. In order to reduce these errors, some consideration has
to be taken to improve the experiment, so better performance
can be obtained, hence making this experiment a success. In my
opinion, the area where the lab is performed should be a closed
set so that no blowing winds will affects the pendulum swing.
Other than that, the set up for the experiment must be reliable
and suitable apparatus must be used to improve the accuracy of
readings taken. Perhaps, more readings should be taken for each
swings and then the average values are calculated, at least the
values will not be so much in difference. Lastly, in this matter
some errors can be eliminated if some precautions are taken
seriously.

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