University of Arkansas

Mechanical Engineering Department

MEEG 3212 – Lab II
Monday Section 01

Modal Analysis of a Cantilever Beam

Victor Perez
Mechanical Engineering Department

ABSTRACT cantilever beams to better understand their

This lab report details the experimental properties. This is the concept of frequencies
calculation of the natural frequencies and the and mode shapes that are both applied in a
mode shapes of each of those natural frequencies modal analysis of a cantilever beam and would
of a cantilever beam. The values of natural become useful in the engineering world. When a
frequencies were calculated three times using cantilever beam has vibration, it will begin to
Excel, the function generator and a SolidWorks move in the way which depends on the
frequency study. Using all three methods, five cross-sectional area, density, natural frequency
natural frequencies were calculated as follows: of the beam, second moment of area and
Excel: 6.13793Hz, 38.4658Hz, 107.705Hz, Young’s modulus. This is useful to know in the
211.059Hz, 348.896Hz Function Generator: designing of airplane wings or bridges as these
6.00Hz, 44.00Hz, 109.00Hz, 212.00Hz, vibrations have a possibility to cause
346.00Hz SolidWorks: 6.3868Hz, 40.021Hz, deformations.[2]
112.07Hz, 219.67Hz, 363.27Hz
OBJECTIVE
NOMENCLATURE The objective of this experiment is to
L Root Frequencies (Hz) determine the natural frequencies and the mode
𝜔 Frequency (Hz) shapes of a cantilever beam in resonance
E Modulus of Elasticity (psi) experimentally in a lab setting and in
SolidWorks frequency study. Then, to compare
I Moment of Inertia (in^4)
the experimental values with the values from
𝝆 Density (lb/in^3)
Solidworks.
Acs Cross-sectional Area (in^2)
L Length (in.)
cos cosine THEORY
sin sine
Given that the metal beam has one fixed
cosh hyperbolic cosine
sinh hyperbolic sine end and one fixed-free end and that a material is
homogenous. Deflection is calculated using the
INTRODUCTION following equations:
Nowadays, cantilever beams are used in
a wide variety of structural applications. In
addition, many structures are modeled as [Equation 1][1]
 [Equation 2][1]
Where is calculated with the following
equation:

[Equation 3][1]
Which can be solved for 𝜔 to get the natural
Figure 1. Experimental Setup
frequency and defined as:

EQUIPMENT
The following equipment was used in this
experiment.
● Dial Caliper, Shars, 303-1305D,
[Equation 4][1] 7-20.1604500, MEEG 109E
However, this requires to find the L roots of ● Function Generator, Siglent, SDG 805,
the frequency equation which is defined as: SDG08BA2160904, MEEG 109E
● Metal Beam, LDS, V203, 29601-11,
MEEG 109E
● SolidWorks, N/A, N/A, MEEG 109E
[Equation 5][1] ● Stereo Power Amplifier - Pyle, PCA4,
L values correspond to the natural frequencies N/A, MEEG 109E
of vibration. ● Stroboscope Tachometer - Extech, N/A,
K082091, MEEG 109E
● Tape measure - N/A, N/A,
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP ZL003337227, MEEG 109E
A metal beam was connected to a ● Vibration Generator - Impo Electronic,
vibration generator which was in turn connected 14.19, N/A, MEEG 109E
to a stereo power amplifier and a function
generator. A white paper was set up in the back PROCEDURE
of the beam and stroboscope was used to
1. Use [Equation 5] to calculate the L
observe the mode the mode shape of each
values which correspond to the natural
natural frequency by casting on the paper. The
frequencies of vibration using Excel
experimental set-up is shown in Figure 1:
solver.
2. Measure modulus of elasticity E, the
moment of inertia I, density 𝝆,
cross-sectional area Acs and length of
the given metal beam. (Measurements
shown in Appendix)
 3. Calculate the frequency 𝜔 for each L
E (psi) 3.22 E08
in Excel using Equation 4.
4. Tune the function generator to 𝜔 values I (in^4) 1.5259E-05
and measure the frequency at which
max deflection is achieved. 𝝆 (lb/in^3) .00812864
5. Observe the mode shapes of the metal Acs (in^2) 0.046875
beam using a stroboscope.
6. Build the beam model with SolidWorks L^4 (in^4) 107180.145
software. Table 2: Measurements of beam
7. Start a frequency study, fix the hole,
input the median frequency, then run The five values for frequencies are as follows:
study.
8. Record theoretical frequencies.
9. Compare the theoretical frequencies and Frequency 1 (Hz) 6.13793
experimental frequencies. Frequency 2 (Hz) 38.4658

DATA AND DISCUSSION Frequency 3 (Hz) 107.705

In order to calculate frequencies, first begin by Frequency 4 (Hz) 211.059
using the following [Equation 5] and solving for
five values of L: Frequency 5 (Hz) 348.896
1+cosβLcoshβL=0 (1) Table 3: Calculated Frequency Values
Using excel solver we obtained the following
L five values: Next, the deflection of each mode was
calculated using the following [Equation 1]:
L1 1.87510469

L2 4.694091133 (3)
From the equation above the deflection of the
L3 7.854757438
beam is shown in the following graph:
L4 10.99554973

L5 14.13716839
Table 1: L values

Next, to calculate the five frequency values we

used the following [Equation 4] and
measurements:

(1)
Figure 2. Deflection Plot (Data points shown in
Appendix)
 Figure 3: Deflection of Beam for Mode 1
Next, the experimental values of frequency were
obtained from the vibrating beam and eyeballing
the frequency where the beam deflected the
most. Table 4 shows the experimental frequency
for each mode

Frequency 1 (Hz) 6.00

Frequency 2 (Hz) 44.00

Figure 4: Deflection of Beam for Mode 2
Frequency 3 (Hz) 109.00

Frequency 4 (Hz) 212.00

Frequency 5 (Hz) 346.00

Table 4: Experimental Frequency Values

The last frequency values were determined by

using SolidWorks simulation. The simulation
gave the following frequency values: Figure 5: Deflection of Beam for Mode 3

Frequency 1 (Hz) 6.3868

Frequency 2 (Hz) 40.021

Frequency 3 (Hz) 112.07

Frequency 4 (Hz) 219.67

Frequency 5 (Hz) 363.27

Table 5: Analytical Frequency Values Figure 6: Deflection of Beam for Mode 4

The deflection of each mode from the

SolidWorks simulation is as follows:

Figure 7: Deflection of Beam for Mode 5

Comparing the frequencies above it is
determined that as the mode becomes higher so
% Error
does the frequency. Also, comparing the mode
shapes it is determined that the period becomes Frequency 1 6.05
larger as the mode increases.
Comparing the deflection in Figure 2 with the Frequency 2 9.94
deflection in Figures 3-7, the deflections are Frequency 3 2.73
very similar and as a result the error in our
calculations is relatively small. Three different Frequency 4 3.49
error calculation comparisons are as follows:
Frequency 5 4.75
Table 8: Error between Analytical and
Experimental Values of Frequency
% Error

Frequency 1 2.24 CONCLUSION

● As the frequency increases so does the
Frequency 2 14.4
period of the mode shapes.
Frequency 3 1.20 ● The results of the experiment are very
similar to the results of the SolidWorks
Frequency 4 0.44 simulation.
● The highest percent error is 14.4% and
Frequency 5 0.83
the lowest percent error is 0.44%.
Table 6: Error between Calculated and
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Experimental Values of Frequency
The authors would like to thank the
University of Arkansas and the Mechanical
Engineering Department within for providing
% Error the equipment and facilities for the experiment.
Frequency 1 4.05 In addition, the authors would like to thank
Monty Roberts and Austin Crawford for helpful
Frequency 2 4.04 advice on writing the report.

Frequency 3 4.05
REFERENCES
Frequency 4 4.07 [1] Roberts, Monty, Lab II MEEG 3212,
Unit 3, Fall 2018, Section 001, University of
Frequency 5 4.11
Arkansas.
Table 7: Error between Calculated and [2] Wikipedia 2018, ​Cantilever,​ viewed
Analytical Values of Frequency 9 Nov 2018,
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantilever>.
 Appendix A

Beam properties

Mode BL

1 1.875104069

2 4.694091133

3 7.854757438

4 10.99554073

5 14.13716839
First five roots of frequency equation

Mode ​𝜔 ​(rad/s) ​𝜔 ​(Hz)

1 38.56576248 6.137932

2 241.6875079 38.46576

3 676.7320204 107.7052

4 1326.124667 211.0593

5 2192.179095 348.8961
Natural frequency of a metal beam
Mode shape all velocity data