Redesign of FlexLab cantilever beam for reduced resonance frequencies and increased damping

• Main Author: Harmon, Christopher (Christopher T.)
• Other Authors: David Trumper.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2017
• Subjects: Mechanical Engineering.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/112584

Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2017. === Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. === Includes bibliographical references (page 40). === Hands-on learning remains a key aspect of the educational path through MIT. It provides the practical experience and real-world tie-in that theoretical study and analysis alone could not uphold. Thus, it is necessary to ensure that a lack of lab resources, space, and time do not present barriers to prospective students. As such, the portable FlexLab/LevLab module serves to bring laboratory teaching beyond the lab. This paper presents the results of efforts to redesign the FlexLab portion's cantilever beam to meet two design goals. First of all, that the frequency of the second natural mode of the beam fall below 100 Hz. Second, that the beam's damping is increased such that the first peak gain is within an order of magnitude of the surrounding gain. After testing, a new beam geometry and damping mechanism that satisfied both goals is proposed. === by Christopher Harmon. === S.B.