Mechanismforstartofoscillationandstabilizationofamplitude

Oscillationistherepetitivevariation,typicallyintime,ofsomemeasureaboutacentralvalue(oftena
pointofequilibrium)orbetweentwoormoredifferentstates.Familiarexamplesincludeaswinging
pendulumandACpower.Thetermvibrationissometimesusedmorenarrowlytomeana
mechanicaloscillationbutsometimesisusedtobesynonymouswith"oscillation."Oscillationsoccur
notonlyinphysicalsystemsbutalsoinbiologicalsystemsandinhumansociety.SimplicityThe
simplestmechanicaloscillatingsystemisamassattachedtoalinearspringsubjecttonoother
forces.Suchasystemmaybeapproximatedonanairtableoricesurface.Thesystemisinan
equilibriumstatewhenthespringisstatic.Ifthesystemisdisplacedfromtheequilibrium,thereisa
netrestoringforceonthemass,tendingtobringitbacktoequilibrium.However,inmovingthemass
backtotheequilibriumposition,ithasacquiredmomentumwhichkeepsitmovingbeyondthat
position,establishinganewrestoringforceintheoppositesense.Ifaconstantforcesuchasgravity
isaddedtothesystem,thepointofequilibriumisshifted.Thetimetakenforanoscillationtooccuris
oftenreferredtoastheoscillatoryperiod.Thespecificdynamicsofthisspringmasssystemare
describedmathematicallybythesimpleharmonicoscillatorandtheregularperiodicmotionisknown
assimpleharmonicmotion.Inthespringmasssystem,oscillationsoccurbecause,atthestatic
equilibriumdisplacement,themasshaskineticenergywhichisconvertedintopotentialenergy
storedinthespringattheextremesofitspath.Thespringmasssystemillustratessomecommon
featuresofoscillation,namelytheexistenceofanequilibriumandthepresenceofarestoringforce
whichgrowsstrongerthefurtherthesystemdeviatesfromequilibrium.Theharmonicoscillatoroffers
amodelofmanymorecomplicatedtypesofoscillationandcanbeextendedbytheuseofFourier
analysis.Damped,drivenandselfinducedoscillationsInrealworldsystems,thesecondlawof
thermodynamicsdictatesthatthereissomecontinualandinevitableconversionofenergyintothe
thermalenergyoftheenvironment.Thus,oscillationstendtodecay(become"damped")withtime
unlessthereissomenetsourceofenergyintothesystem.Thesimplestdescriptionofthisdecay
processcanbeillustratedbyoscillationdecayoftheharmonicoscillator.Inaddition,anoscillating
systemmaybesubjecttosomeexternalforce(oftensinusoidal),aswhenanACcircuitisconnected
toanoutsidepowersource.Inthiscasetheoscillationissaidtobedriven.Somesystemscanbe
excitedbyenergytransferfromtheenvironment.Thistransfertypicallyoccurswheresystemsare
embeddedinsomefluidflow.Forexample,thephenomenonofflutterinaerodynamicsoccurswhen
anarbitrarilysmalldisplacementofanaircraftwing(fromitsequilibrium)resultsinanincreaseinthe
angleofattackofthewingontheairflowandaconsequentialincreaseinliftcoefficient,leadingtoa
stillgreaterdisplacement.Atsufficientlylargedisplacements,thestiffnessofthewingdominatesto
providetherestoringforcethatenablesanoscillation.