The inertia element stores and releases kinetic energy, the stiffness ele-
ment stores and releases potential energy, and the dissipation or damping
element is used to express energy loss in a system. Each of these elements has
different excitation-response characteristics and the excitation is in the form
of either a force or a moment and the corresponding response of the element
is in the form of a displacement, velocity, or acceleration. The inertia ele-
ments are characterized by a relationship between an applied force (or mo-
ment) and the corresponding acceleration response. The stiffness elements
are characterized by a relationship between an applied force (or moment)
and the corresponding displacement (or rotation) response. The dissipation
elements are characterized by a relationship between an applied force (or mo-
ment) and the corresponding velocity response. The nature of these relation-
ships, which can be linear or nonlinear, are presented in this chapter. The units
associated with these elements and the commonly used symbols for the dif-
ferent elements are shown in Table 2.1.
In this chapter, we shall show how to:
• Compute the mass moment of inertia of rotational systems.
• Determine the stiffness of various linear and nonlinear elastic components
in translation and torsion and the equivalent stiffness when many individ-
ual linear components are combined.
• Determine the stiffness of fluid, gas, and pendulum elements.
• Determine the potential energy of stiffness elements.
• Determine the damping for systems that have different sources of dissipa-
tion: viscosity, dry friction, fluid, and material.
• Construct models of vibratory systems.
2.2 INERTIA ELEMENTS
Translational motion of a mass is described as motion along the path followed
by the center of mass. The associated inertia property depends only on the to-
tal mass of the system and is independent of the geometry of the mass distri-
bution of the system. The inertia property of a mass undergoing rotational
motions, however, is a function of the mass distribution, specifically the mass
moment of inertia, which is usually defined about its center of mass or a fixed
point O. When the mass oscillates about a fixed point O or a pivot point O, the
rotary inertia J
O
is given by
24 CHAPTER 2 Modeling of Vibratory Systems
TABLE 2.1
Units of Components Comprising a
Vibrating Mechanical System and
Their Customary Symbols
Quantity Units
Translational motion
Mass, m kg
Stiffness, k N
/m
Damping, c Ns
/m
External force, F N
Rotational motion
Mass moment of inertia, J kgm
2
Stiffness, k
t
Nm/rad
Damping, c
t
Nms/rad
External moment, M Nm