The development and use of an engineering visualization tool for longitudinal vibrations of structures

Summary form only given. Visualization greatly enhances understanding in the study of vibrations and assists in the design of structures. The software program is used to help engineering students better understand free and forced longitudinal vibration through beam design. The user is able to select the beam configuration and once the beam configuration and loading are set, the program develops a series of pictures which can be animated to show the vibration. The user has the ability to select which modes of vibration to simulate. Only those modes selected are used in animation results. The sequence of pictures contains stress and strain field information throughout the beam. By using a color gradient scale related to the stress/strain the user can easily see the change is stress and strain throughout the beam during the vibration. The program gives maximum and minimum stress values and their location. On any particular frame, the user has the ability to get stress/strain information from any point on the beam through simple a mouse click. Animation sequences can be saved for comparison with other cases. The ability to view multiple animations concurrently is under consideration. Other options being considered include the introduction of modal damping. The program functions as a design tool since all stress and strain information is available to the user. As a study tool, the user is given the ability to change parameters which give visual results, not just new numbers. The program is used at Georgia Tech to assist in the understanding of vibrations in aerospace applications.