
EXAMPLE 5.5 Changes in system natural frequency and damping ratio for
enhanced sensitivity
A system is to be redesigned so that the modified system’s sensitivity is in-
creased by a factor of three. We shall determine the percentage changes in the
system natural frequency and the damping ratio.
Since S
2
/S
1
a
o
3, we have that k
2
/k
1
1/3; that is, the stiffness has
decreased by a factor of three. Thus, from Eqs. (5.41) we have that
and . Then the percentage change in the natural
frequency v
n
is
and the percentage change in damping ratio z is
Filter
The amplitude-response characteristics of a mechanical system can be com-
pared to that of an electronic band pass filter. A band pass filter is a system
that lets frequency components in a signal that are within its pass band pass
relatively unattenuated or amplified, while frequency components in a signal
that are outside the pass band are attenuated. The pass band is determined by
the cutoff frequencies, which are those frequencies at which
(5.43)
In other words, as shown in Figure 5.18, the cutoff frequencies are at ampli-
tudes that are 3 dB below H
max
. For those systems that have only one cutoff
frequency, the system acts as either a low pass or a high pass filter. A low pass
filter attenuates frequency components in a signal above the cutoff frequency,
and a high pass filter attenuates frequency components in a signal below the
cutoff frequency.
In the design of mechanical systems, there are two different approaches
that are followed, depending on the objective. To reduce vibration levels in a
system, one selects the system parameters so that the excitation frequency is
not in the system’s pass band, because in this region the input is magnified.
(Recall the damping-dominated region of Figure 5.13.) On the other hand,
there is an application area where mechanical filters are designed for insertion
in systems. In this case, one designs the resonance frequency of the system to
be in the frequency range of interest. This enhances sensitivity as discussed
earlier in this section, and is discussed further in Example 8.12.
H12
H
max
12
¢z 100 a
z
2
z
1
z
1
b 100113 1 2 73.2%
¢v
n
100 a
v
n2
v
n1
v
n1
b 100 a
1
13
1 b42.3%
z
2
z
1
13v
n2
v
n1
/ 13
210 CHAPTER 5 Single Degree-of-Freedom Systems Subjected to Periodic Excitations