Correlation of Modal Characteristics of Circular Cylindrical Shells

Basem Alzahabi and Logesh Kumar Natarajan C. S. Mott Engineering and Science Center Department of Mechanical Engineering Kettering University 1700 West Third Avenue Flint, Michigan, 48504, USA

ABSTRACT Cylindrical Shells are widely used in many structural designs, such as offshore structures, liquid storage tanks, submarine hulls, and airplane hulls. Most of these structures are required to operate in a dynamic environment. In the case of high performance structures like submarines, the acoustic signature of submarines is very critical. Submarines are not only required to sustain very high dynamic loadings at all times, but also have to maneuver and perform their functions under sea without being detected by sonar systems. The acoustic signature of submarines is generally of two categories; broadband which has a continuous spectrum; and a tonal noise which has discrete frequencies. Acoustic signatures are determined by considering operational scenarios and modal characteristics. Therefore, investigating the modal characteristics of cylindrical shells is very critical in developing a strategy for modal vibration control for specific operating conditions. In cylindrical shells, the lowest natural frequency does not necessarily correspond to the lowest wave index. In fact, the natural frequencies do not fall in ascending order of the wave index either. Mode shapes associated with each natural frequency are combination of Radial (flexural); Longitudinal (axial); and Circumferential (torsional) modes. In this paper, the modal testing using fixed response approach was performed to obtain the modal characteristics of the cylindrical shell between 0 and 800 Hz. The circular cylindrical shell was under shear diaphragm boundary conditions. Designing such a boundary condition is very challenging task by itself. The cylinder was excited at predetermined points with an impact hammer, while the response was measured using an accelerometer at a specified fixed point. A total of ten natural frequencies were found within that range with their corresponding mode shapes. The experimental data were compared with those obtained numerically using the finite element methods using MSC.NASTRAN software. The results were found to be in excellent agreement. NOMENCLATURE n m number of circumferential waves (n = 1,2,3,..) number of longitudinal half-waves (m = 1,2,3,..)

INTRODUCTION Identification of the natural frequencies of a structure is normally done through Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA). EMA of a structure is used to obtain its modal characteristics i.e., natural frequency, damping coefficient and mode shape. In this paper, a circular cylindrical shell under shear diaphragm boundary condition is investigated for its modal characteristics. The modal behavior is studied by exciting the cylinder at one or more points using an impact hammer and observing the response at certain points. The time domain data is collected then transformed in to frequency domain using Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) to calculate the Frequency Response Function (FRF) of the structure. Peaks in the FRF represent resonances of the structure at the forcing

frequencies, which helps in identifying the natural frequencies of the structure. The mode shape associated with a particular frequency can be obtained from the deformation pattern of the various points for which FRF data was collected. While various methods are being used to collect the excitation and response data in modal analysis, the modal characteristics study of a cylindrical shell uses the fixed response impulse method. This approach is found to be very efficient due to its simplicity and low cost. FIXED RESPONSE IMPULSE METHOD In fixed response impulse [1] the excitation was applied to the cylinder by using an impact hammer at a number of predetermined points over the surface of the cylinder and the response was measured using an accelerometer at one fixed point as shown in Figure 1. The transfer function i.e., the ratio of response to impact force was measured at each impact point by measuring both the force and the response at that impact point. The mode shape and its corresponding frequency were identified by schematically representing the geometry of the cylinder using the predetermined impact points on the cylinder both longitudinally and circumferentially as grids lying at their locations in a 3-dimensional space. Fitting the response data to the respective grid points helps in identifying the mode shape of the cylinder at a particular natural frequency using the representative shape formed due to the displacements of these grids.

Figure 1: Grid points on the cylinder

EXPERIMENTAL CYLINDER A thin cylinder of known dimensions and material properties is chosen for the experimental study. The experimental cylinder is of length 28.845 in, radius of 9.94 in, thickness of 0.12 in, Youngs modulus of 3.0 E7 lb.f/in2 Poissons ratio of 0.29, and a mass density of 7.324 E-4 lb.sec2/in4.

FIXTURE DESIGN For shear diaphragm boundary condition, the cylinder is supported in the horizontal direction between two vertical octagonal plates mounted near the ends of a circular bar coaxial with the cylinder axis. Each octagonal plate has sixteen adjustable mounting clamps arranged circumferentially, eight internally and eight externally holding the ends of the cylinder at their sharp tip radii. These clamps support the cylinder ends both internally and externally all along its circumference allowing the cylinder to move only in the axial direction [2], thus providing a SD-SD boundary condition as shown in Figure 2 and 3.

Figure 2: Schematic diagram for SD-SD boundary

Figure 3: Experiment set-up

The circular bar rests on the test bed horizontally over two V-shaped supports at its ends (Figure 3). This arrangement allows the cylinder together with the supporting discs and the circular bar to be rotated on its own axis. Rotation of the cylinder over the V- supports, aids in impacting the cylinder at the predetermined circumferential grid points without moving the impact hammer along the circumferential direction on the cylinder, while conducting the modal testing using fixed response impulse method. FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS Before setting up the experiment for modal analysis, the modal characteristics of the cylinder were examined using finite element analysis. The finite element mode shapes of various frequencies helps in understanding the cylinders vibration behavior and also assists in: choosing the frequency range and mode shapes of interest, selecting suitable accelerometer and impact hammer, selecting locations for accelerometer placement, etc. The placement of the accelerometer is very critical in obtaining valid data. The data obtained wont be useful if the accelerometer is placed at a node point of the structures mode shape for any frequency within the frequency range of interest. The thin uniform circular cylindrical shell used for the Experimental Modal Analysis is modeled and analyzes for its frequencies using normal mode analysis in MSC.NASTRAN [3, 4]. The finite element model shown in Figure 4 has 2304 elements, arranged 64 elements along the cylinder circumference and 36 elements along its cylinder length.

Figure 4: Finite element model of a simply supported cylindrical shell. The results for the normal mode analysis of the cylinder are listed in Table 1 are obtained for the first 20 modes in the frequency range 0 to 800 Hz. From the results it was found that, placing the accelerometer at points along the circumference that is at a distance of th of the cylinder length (Figure 1) from the supporting plate would help in capturing all the modes and frequencies of our interest.

Mode shape (n,m) 4,1 5,1 3,1 6,1 7,1 6,2 5,2 2,1 7,2 4,2 8,1 8,2

Frequency (Hz) 282.2 323.0 366.8 431.7 577.9 586.6 599.3 652.0 670.2 746.0 751.8 814.5

Table 1: Finite Element Analysis Results for the Experiment Cylinder INSTRUMENTATION AND EXPERIMENT SET-UP A small and lighter compression type accelerometer is chosen for the purpose. Though light, the accelerometers sensitivity is compensated as the structure has modes of higher frequencies and the acceleration levels are higher. Wax is used in attaching the accelerometer to the cylinder because it is fast, clean, easy to use, lightweight and safe. The impact hammer selected for the test is a modally tuned one having an integral force transducer to measure the magnitude of the impact force. The impact is measured by the compression of the piezoelectric force transducer in the hammer head. For the experiment cylinder a lighter hammer head and a hard tip are chosen to have short impulses with high peak force which provides sufficient energy to excite the frequencies between 0 to 800Hz. An SRS 785 dynamic signal analyzer is selected for our purpose to collect the Frequency Response Function (FRF) for each impact. The accelerometer and impact hammer are connected to the two channels of the analyzer through a signal conditioner. The signal conditioner provides DC offset voltage to the piezoelectric transducers of the accelerometer and impact hammer, it also amplifies their output signal to connect to the input channels of analyzer. For FRF measurement, the display of the analyzer is set for dual display format, displaying the forcetime data in the top window and the transfer function (FRF) in the bottom window. The analyzer is set for manual overload data rejection; this lets the user to see the force time signals in the top window, and allows the user to accept or reject the data by verifying for overload or double hits. The transfer functions and computed FRFs are stored to a floppy disk to use in further processing. On the experimental cylinder, a total of 153 grid points are marked over its outer surface along its circumference at two locations and along its length in longitudinal direction as seen in Figure 1. Grids points 1 to 63 are marked at equal intervals over the circumference at a circumferential location at 1/4th distance of cylinder length between the two supporting discs. Grid points 64 to 91 are marked between the supporting discs at equal intervals along the longitudinal direction. Grid points 92 to 153 are marked at equal intervals over the circumference at a circumferential location at 1/2 of the cylinder length. During the test, the accelerometer was placed at a fixed point (grid 1) and the impact will be applied at the 153 grid locations to record the resulting 153 transfer functions. The data stored by the analyzer has to be fed in to STAR Modal 5.3.2 (Computer software by Spectral Dynamics) to identify the resonant frequencies and mode shapes. Using Star Modal, the cylinder geometry is represented schematically using the grid points locations in a 3-dimensional space, the FRF collected using the analyzer are associated with their respective grid points to visualize the displacements of each grid location. The

displacement of the grid points is used to visualize the mode shape and to identify frequency of each mode shape. IMPACT TESTING AND DATA ACQUISITION The frequency analyzer is set to measure the acceleration from the accelerometer signal and force from the impact hammer signal. The test is performed by gently hitting the cylinder at each grid point and measuring the frequency response function over the desired frequency range for each hit using the FFT analyzer. Before accepting the output data, the impact is verified for overloads or double hits by checking at the top window of the FFT analyzer. A total of 153 hits corresponding to 153 grid points were taken and the FRF data for each hit is stored. A schematic of the testing procedure is shown Figure 5.

Analyze Data Define Geometry Impact Test Data Acquisition

FFT Analyzer

Identify Modes

(Raw Data)
Impact Hammer Accelerometer

(FRF, Coherence)

Mode shape, Frequency.

Results -

Associate Measurement s
Star Modal Software

Figure 5: Schematic representation of the test procedure The FRF data stored is then transferred to the computer to analyze it for identifying the mode shapes and frequency. The measured data from the analyzer was associated to the cylinder geometry using the STAR Modal dynamic analysis software. A curve fit is made for the peaks of the FRF data collected at grid point 1 is shown in Figure 6. To sketch the mode shapes a quadrature fit is used to fit the frequency bands selected near each peak. The frequency for each mode is obtained by identifying the peak of each frequency band using a polynomial fit for the curve. The animation of the displaced geometry of each modes is used to identify the corresponding mode shapes.

Frequency

Figure 6: Frequency Response Function at grid point 1.

A summary of the natural frequencies and their corresponding mode shapes are shown in Table 2 and Table 3, alongside with the respective finite element result. The experimental modal analysis mode shapes and natural frequencies compared very well with those of the finite element results. Out of the 12 unique mode shapes and frequencies identified using finite element analysis, mode (7,1) and mode (2,1) are not captured in the experimental procedure. This is due to the nature of the shear diaphragm end design used in the experimental procedure, which is not continuous as in the finite element analysis.

Mode n,m

Frequency (Hz) FEA Experimental FEA

Mode Shapes Experimental

4,1

282.2

269

5,1

323.0

315.0

3,1

366.8

327.1

6,1

431.7

420.8

7,1

577.9

6,2

586.6

573

Table 2: Modal Analysis Results (Modes 1 to 6)

Mode n,m

Frequency (Hz) FEA Experimental FEA

Mode Shapes Experimental

5,2

599.3

568.4

2,1

652.0

7,2

670.2

657.5

4,2

746.0

634.1

8,1

751.8

736.0

8,2

814.5

797.8

Table 3: Modal Analysis Results (Modes 7 to 12) CONCLUSIONS A simple and efficient approach to experimentally evaluate the modal characteristics of a cylindrical shell is presented. The results correlate very well with those of finite element analysis. The Experimental Modal Analysis suggested here can be used to evaluate the frequencies as well as the strain energies of cylindrical shells, which will aid in developing suitable designs. REFERENCES [1] [2] [3] [4] Harris, C. M., Shock and vibration handbook, Mc Graw Hill, New York, 3rd ed., 1988. Sewall, J.L.; Naumann, E.C., An experimental and analytical vibration study of thin cylindrical shells with and without longitudinal stiffeners, Washington, D.C, NASA (NASA TN D-4705), 1968. Alzahabi, B.; Natarajan, L. K., Non-Uniqueness in Cylindrical Shells Optimization, International Conference on Computer Aided Optimum Design of Structures, OPTI 2003, Detroit, 2003. Alzahabi, B.; Natarajan, L. K., Frequency Response Optimization of Cylindrical Shells using MSC.NASTRAN, The 1st International Conference on Finite Element Process, Luxembourg City, LUXFEM, Luxembourg, 2003.