MECHANICS

RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Mechanics Research Communications 34 (2007) 312317

www.elsevier.com/locate/mechrescom

Eect of gravity on the vibration of vertical cantilevers

L.N. Virgin *, S.T. Santillan, D.B. Holland
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0300, USA

Available online 28 December 2006

Abstract

The free vibration of a vertically-oriented, thin, prismatic cantilever is inuenced by weight. That is, the natural fre-
quencies (and to a lesser extent, mode shapes) are aected by the application of a linearly varying axial load. A beam with
an upward orientation, i.e., with the free end above the clamped end, will experience a de-stiening eect, up to the point
of self-weight buckling (at zero eective stiness). A beam in a downward orientation will be stiened by the weight of
the beam. This technical note describes some simple experiments on very slender strips and their (vertical) orientation and
shows a close correlation with theory.
 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Vibration; Stability; Gravity

1. Introduction

The relation between axial load and the natural frequencies of prismatic beams is well-established. In cases
where the buckling and vibration mode shapes are identical we obtain a linear relation between the axial load
and the square of the lowest natural frequency. Even in those cases in which the buckling and vibration mode
shapes are not the same, the deviation from linearity is often very small, and the simplicity of this relation has
been exploited for non-destructive testing purposes (Lurie, 1952). If the weight of a structure, which is slender
in its vertical direction, is the dominant form of loading, then this loading takes the form of a linearly varying
load (Timoshenko and Gere, 1962). A practical example of this occurs in the analysis of marine risers in which
gravity and buoyancy eects must be included (Sparks, 2002).
There are many examples of mode-splitting in the literature. This occurs when a symmetry in the system is
broken, and is often due to a slight dierence in geometry, e.g., a beam whose cross-section is not quite square.
The system described in this note, provides a convenient mechanism for studying this type of eect (frequency
detuning) via gravity.
Consider the cantilever shown in Fig. 1. We wish to examine the eect of orientation i.e., pointing
upright (1a) or downward (1b), on the dynamic behavior. Intuitively we expect both systems to have

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 919 660 5342; fax: +1 919 660 8963.
E-mail address: l.virgin@duke.edu (L.N. Virgin).

0093-6413/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mechrescom.2006.12.006
 L.N. Virgin et al. / Mechanics Research Communications 34 (2007) 312317 313

EI, m
constant X
W(X)

g
L g

W(X)
X

Fig. 1. A cantilever in a gravitational eld: (a) up orientation and (b) down orientation.

identical behavior if weight (and hence gravity) is ignored, giving the familiar expression for the rst few nat-
ural frequencies:
r
EI
xi ci ; ci 3:516i 1; 22:034i 2; 61:697i 3 . . . : 1
mL4
In eect this expression implies that the restoring force due to elastic bending is much greater than the restor-
ing force due to gravity.
Taking into account the eect of gravity the equation of motion for the system shown in Fig. 1 is
0000 0
mY EIY W L  X Y 0  0; 2
in which Y_  oY =oT and Y 0  oY/oX. W  mg is the weight per unit length of the beam. This type of beam,
with a linearly varying axial load, was previously analyzed in Huang and Dareing (1969), including a variety of
dierent boundary conditions. The underlying static (upright) problem is often known as self-weight buck-
ling and dates back to the classic paper of Greenhill (1881), in which use is made of Bessel functions. If the
bending stiness of the beam is negligible (for the downward orientation) then the classic hanging chain solu-
tion is obtained, in which case the rst few natural frequencies are:
r
g
xi ci ; ci 1:203i 1; 2:760i 2; 4:327i 3 . . . : 3
L
This is a result also obtained with the aid of Bessel functions (Blevins, 1979).
We now introduce the non-dimensional quantities:
p
a WL3 =EI; x X =L; y Y =L; t T =L2 EIg=W ; 4
where a > 0 and a < 0 correspond to the up and down congurations respectively. Note that, although
the case of a = 0 corresponds to a gravity-free system, in practice we identify this situation with a short hor-
izontal cantilever. We can rewrite Eq. (2) as
0000
y y a1  xy 0 0 0; 5
314 L.N. Virgin et al. / Mechanics Research Communications 34 (2007) 312317
p
in which we now have y_  oy=ot and y 0  oy/ox. Assuming harmonic motion and using X xL2 W =EIg (in
which x is a dimensional vibration frequency), we now have
0000 0
y a1  xy 0   X2 y 0: 6
0 00 000
The boundary conditions are given by y = 0 and y = 0 when x = 0 (the clamped end), and y = 0 and y = 0
when x = 1 (the free end). In the results to follow, to better display the eect of orientation, the absolute mag-
nitude of a is plotted with the orientation identied by labeling. This boundary value problem can be solved in
a number of ways; the results to be presented later are based on a shooting technique (assuming small ampli-
tude vibration) (Virgin and Plaut, 2004), and veried using a nite dierence method, with natural frequencies
X computed for dierent values of a. Damping (which is on the order of 0.5% in experiments) is neglected in
the analysis.

2. Experiments

A number of thin polycarbonate strips were fabricated such that frequencies for a range of the non-dimen-
sional parameter a could be examined. The specic arrangement consisted of the up and down congu-
rations simultaneously clamped to a common hub. The hub was clamped to an electro-magnetic shaker and
the system subject to a broadband, random excitation. A laser vibrometer was then used to acquire velocity
data from discrete locations along both beams, and subsequent signal processing used to obtain frequency
response data. As an example, Fig. 2a shows the experimental arrangement, with part b showing the super-
imposed frequency response extracted from 30 evenly spaced locations along the entire length. The measured
natural frequencies (in Hz) are 1.812, 11.34, 31.71, 62.35.
For the polycarbonate material a Youngs modulus of 2.4 GPa was measured together with a specic
weight of 11.2 kN/m3. The cross-sectional dimensions were xed at 25.4 0.508 mm. For example, a length
of 0.166 m gives a values of +1, 1 and 0, for the upward, downward and horizontal congurations respec-
tively. For the horizontal (a = 0) case the fundamental frequency was measured at 4.113 Hz, which compares
to a value of 4.3 Hz obtained via Eq. (1).
Now, if we take the same system and rotate it 90 we get the frequency separation (mode splitting) shown in
Fig. 3a. Now there are two adjacent peaks with (dimensional) fundamental frequencies of 3.962 Hz (a = 1,
or up) and 4.488 Hz (a = +1, or down). Fig. 3b shows a similar result when jaj = 4 with an underlying
dimensional horizontal frequency of 1.625 Hz, in which all the parameters are kept the same other than a
length increase to 0.264 m.
For the upright cantilever we have the result that buckling occurs when a = 7.837 (Greenhill, 1881), and the
trivial equilibrium loses its stability. Thus, the results shown in Fig. 3a (for which a = 1) correspond to a can-
tilever whose length is (1/7.837)1/3 = 50% of its buckling length, and 80% for the cantilever corresponding to
the results shown in Fig. 3b.

10
(m/s)/(m/s)

1
Mag

0.1

0.01
0.0 20 40 60 80 100
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 2. A thin prismatic cantilever: (a) experimental conguration and (b) a typical frequency response.
 L.N. Virgin et al. / Mechanics Research Communications 34 (2007) 312317 315

a x 10 b 2.5
x 10
3

7
2
6

5 1.5
Mag (m)

Mag (m)
4

1
3

2
0.5

0
2 4 6 8 0 1 2 3 4
Frequency, Hz Frequency, Hz
Fig. 3. Frequency response spectrum for a cantilever in a gravitational eld: (a) jaj = 1.0 and (b) jaj = 4.0. Data was acquired from six
measurement points along the complete length.

Experiments and analyses were conducted for a range of dierent lengths, and hence, a values, and the
results are shown graphically in Fig. 4. In this, and subsequent gures, the lines represent analytical results
and the symbols are measured data. Alternatively, plotting the square of the natural frequency results in a near
linear relation, and this is shown in Fig. 5a for the rst mode. Shown in Fig. 5b is the same data but now the
length (divided by the critical buckling length) is plotted versus dimensional frequency. It should be pointed
out that the data in Fig. 10 of Virgin and Plaut (2004) follows this trend closely, but only the upward orien-
tation was considered in that work. Finally, the splitting of the fundamental frequencies as a function of a is
shown in Fig. 6a, with the equivalent scaled results for the rst four frequencies shown in part b.
If only an approximate analysis for the rst mode is needed then it can easily be shown that using the Ray-
leighRitz method (Virgin, 1987), based on a simple parabolic mode shape, leads to the expression

40
, downward
35
, upright

30
=0

25
||

20

15

10

0 0 1 2 3 4 5
10 10 10 10 10 10
2

Fig. 4. The four lowest frequencies and their dependence on jaj.

316 L.N. Virgin et al. / Mechanics Research Communications 34 (2007) 312317

a b
25 1.4

1.3 Downward

20 1.2

1.1
= 0 (g = 0)
15 1

L/Lc
||

upright 0.9

10 0.8
downward
0.7

5 0.6
upright
0.5

0 0.4
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 1 2 3 4 5

2
Frequency, Hz

Fig. 5. (a) jaj vs. the fundamental frequency squared and (b) alternative plot of the same results.

a b
8 10

9 mode 2
7 mode 4
8
6
7
5
6 mode 3
||
||

4 5

4 mode 1
3
3
2
2
1
First mode 1

0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
/ c

Fig. 6. The split in the natural frequencies due to orientation as a function of jaj.

1=3mgL3  4EI
X2 ; 7
1=5mL4
p p
with a stiness-dominated result X 4:47 EI=mL4 and a gravity-dominated result X 1:29 g=L. As the fre-
quency drops to zero we also obtain acr = 12. Although the error in this result is less pronounced when com-
paring non-dimensional critical lengths (since this involves the cube-root), the result can, of course, be
improved using more accurate mode shapes.

3. Concluding remarks

The natural frequencies of very slender vertical cantilevers are aected by their orientation due to gravity.
The important parameter is a = mgL3/EI which reects both the orientation (in terms of its sign) and the
inuence of bending versus gravity (in terms of its magnitude). If the orientation is purely vertical then the
 L.N. Virgin et al. / Mechanics Research Communications 34 (2007) 312317 317

equilibrium conguration is trivial, but the dynamic response is dierent according to whether the beam is
held upright or suspended downwards. In the former case the frequencies are reduced due to the compressive
nature of the self-weight loading (with the possibility of buckling). For the same beam, the latter case displays
higher natural frequencies due to the stiening eect of the beam weight, and as a ! 1 the system
approaches the behavior of a hanging chain.

References

Blevins, R.D., 1979. Formulas for Natural Frequency and Mode Shape. Krieger, Florida.
Greenhill, A.G., 1881. Determination of the greatest height consistent with stability that a vertical pole or mast can be made, and of the
greatest height to which a tree of given proportions can grow. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 4, 6573.
Huang, T., Dareing, D.W., 1969. Buckling and frequencies of long vertical pipes. Journal of the Engineering Mechanics Division (ASCE)
95, 167181.
Lurie, H., 1952. Lateral vibrations as related to structural stability. Journal of Applied Mechanics 19, 195204.
Sparks, C.P., 2002. Transverse modal vibrations of vertical tensioned risers: a simplied analytical approach. Oil and Gas Science and
Technology 57, 7186.
Timoshenko, S.P., Gere, J.M., 1962. Theory of Elastic Stability. McGraw-Hill.
Virgin, L.N., 1987. Free vibrations of imperfect cantilever bars under self-weight loading. Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science 201,
345347.
Virgin, L.N., Plaut, R.H., 2004. Postbuckling and vibration of linearly-elastic and softening columns under self-weight. International
Journal of Solids and Structures 41, 49895001.