1 Physics -- Periodic Motion

Why Critical damping is often the goal of Mechanical engineers in designing systems?Fig: A Damped Oscillation

Why Critical damping is often the goal of Mechanical engineers in designing systems?

Fig: A Damped Oscillation

From figure it can be noted that amplitude decreases exponentially which is the case for a damped oscillation,

A undamped oscillation isn't acted by any opposing force meaning it oscillates indefinitely.


But a damped oscillation is acted by another opposing force of damping constant b which is what we see in our daily life.

where, tau is damping time constant that is the time taken to decrease exponentially by 1/e of its initial value and

Since, the mechanical engineers doesn't want unwanted and harmful oscillations, the required condition is ω'=0 which is the case for critical damping. Also, the motion decays exponentially to zero with no oscillation at all.

For the above case, damping constant should be 2(k m)1/2., it also follows τ=1/ω which is the shortest possible value of damping time constant.

So, Critical damping always roams in the mind of Mechanical engineers.



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