Response to the added load

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/paper-2/section-b/b6/response-to-the-added-load

Measure downward displacement relative to the former mean equilibrium. The added changes the equilibrium by
Assume the load is deposited without a significant impact impulse and then moves with the table. The moving mass becomes . Ignoring the tiny pre-existing vibration in the sketch, the added-load step response of a supported table is
For the estimated mass, , the envelope time is , and the period is about . The table overshoots and rings about the new equilibrium, with the displacement starting continuously at zero and with zero initial slope. A real impact adds an initial-velocity transient; the problem gives no impact history. The residual driven vibration, of order a micrometre, can be superposed.
Figure 1.
Lightly damped response amplitude and phase, followed by the table's load-step displacement and a critically damped comparison
. Details.

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