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Fundamentals of Vibration

When you'll study it
Semester 1
CATS points
15
ECTS points
7.5
Level
Level 7
Module lead
Michal Kalkowski
Academic year
2025-26

Module overview

Vibrations are the oscillation of a mechanical structure. Vibration may be desirable as in the strings of a guitar or in the human vocal cords. More often vibrations are undesirable as for the vibrations of an electrical motor or of an entire car. In both case modelling can inform the designer so that vibration can be precisely obtained or avoided. Although the optimal and cost effective way to minimise the vibration of a structure is by careful engineering early in the design cycle, frequently the engineer must turn to palliative measures to control vibration at a stage in the design when even minor modifications to the structure are prohibitively costly or detrimental to other performance targets.

The general aims of this module are to introduce students with little or no previous experience of mechanical vibrations, and with quite different backgrounds, to the basic concepts of vibrational

behaviour, to provide a general introduction to vibration modelling, analysis and control and to give students some experience of vibration measurement. This module also promotes the principles which can influence the design process of mechanical structures and it presents a number of commonly adopted techniques for trouble-shooting vibration problems.