EDUCATIONAL COMPUTER CODE FOR THE STUDY OF TORSIONAL VIBRATIONS OF SHAFTS

Several mechanical systems, such as vehicles of various types, boring equipment, turbines etc. include shafts upon which either a number of wheels or other bodies with axial symmetry, which can be assimilated with wheels, are fixed. The efficient design of the device may lead to shafts with slender geometry. However, due to these characteristics, during the functioning of the system, the shaft may exhibit vibrations which at certain rotational velocities may become intense and, therefore, may have a negative influence. The paper presents an educational computer software that provides animated representations of the torsional vibrations of such a shaft. The software calculates the vibration eigenmodes and represents graphically the eigenshapes. The user can define the number and the position of the wheels on the shaft, as well as the mechanical characteristics of the system, in order to understand the effects that these have upon the vibration parameters. The computer program is part of a larger software package, developed gradually by the authors and which is used as a virtual laboratory for the study of vibrations within engineering faculties.