Assessing the Damaging Effect of Continuous Vibration in Brittle Structures

Abstract

It is common practice to measure vibration amplitudes in terms of acceleration levels when assessing the likelihood that a particular broad-band vibration will cause damage to a brittle structure, such as a bridge or building.

The practical relevance of this is in the assessment of structures exposed to broad-band vibration such as that produced by machinery or road and rail traffic. This paper presents a theoretical prediction that peak velocity is the most appropriate quantity to measure for beam-like structures, since it can be shown to be more closely related to peak strain than to peak acceleration or displacement. An experimental verification of the theory is presented for the simple case of a brittle cantilever. The experimental work was undertaken as a final-year undergraduate project.