MECH 398: Measurement of Moments of Inertia

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering

21

Queen’s University
Faculty of Applied Science
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering

MEASUREMENTS OF MOMENTS OF INERTIA

Location: Beamish-Munro Hall (ILC) room 214

Objective To determine the moments of inertia of various engineering components.

Safety Considerations
This laboratory is conducted without the use of obviously dangerous equipment, but it does
require the manipulation and suspension of relatively heavy metal objects at a significant height.
Care must be taken to handle the objects in such a way that they do not fall and cause injury.

Background
Torque (T), moment of inertia (I), and angular acceleration (α) are related in the same way that
force, mass and linear acceleration are related. That is T = Iα. To compute the torque required to
start a flywheel rotating, the time for a motor to accelerate a rotating mechanism to full speed, or
the torque required for an emergency brake to stop a ride at the midway, it is necessary to know
the moment of inertia of the component. Although moments of inertia can be, and often are,
calculated from knowledge of the dimensions and (perhaps assumed) densities, it is quite often
desirable that the moment of inertia of an engineering component be measured directly.

The axis of rotation will often pass through the centroid (centre of mass) of the object, but it may
not. If the axis of rotation does not pass through the centre of mass, the parallel axis theorem
may be applied to calculate the moment of inertia for rotations about an arbitrary axis.

Three methods of determining moments of inertia through experiment are presented in this
laboratory. All are based on simple vibration theory. You will apply them to the particular cases
of a connecting rod, a crankshaft, a gear wheel, and an odd shaped element, Figure 1. You
should make the physical measurements, including the location of the centre of mass, for each
element, and then calculate them while in the laboratory: you are to report the values to the
instructor before leaving (this is considered good experimental technique in any laboratory).

For the odd shaped element, identify the appropriate measurement techniques, and compare the
experimental results of the methods you feel are appropriate.

For the gearwheel, estimate the moment of inertia about the rotational axis, in the basis of
theoretical analysis. Compare your computed estimate with the experimentally measured value.

For more information on mass moments of inertia please refer to Appendix B of Engineering
Mechanics - Dynamics by Meriam and Kraige [1].
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Figure 1: The engineering components for the Moments of Inertia laboratory.

Procedure I: Using the Theory of the Compound Pendulum

Consider a rigid body, e.g. the connecting rod shown in Figure 2, free to swing in a vertical plane
about a horizontal pivot at A. For a small angle of swing (i.e., sin θ ≈ θ ), the free oscillation is
governed by the local gravitational field according to the equation of motion as

d 2θ
∑ MA = IA
dt 2

..
I A θ + mga θ = 0

Where IA is the Moment of Inertia about A, θ is the angle of swing (θ = 2πt/TA), m is the
component mass and a is the distance AG, G being the centroid. The periodic time TA of the
motion is given by

IA
T A = 2π
mga

Note that, since IA, m and a are invariant properties of the body, the period depends on the value
of g locally (take g to be 9.81 m/sec2).
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Figure 2: Connecting rod, with dimensions needed for determining its moment of inertia

Using the theorem of Parallel Axes, which states that

I A = I G + ma 2

we determine that
mgaTA2  gT A2 
IG = − ma = ma 
2
− a
4π 2
 4π
2


Equally, by swinging the rod about its “big-end” B, we can obtain

 gT 2 
I G = mb  B2 − b 
 4π 
If we now equate the two values for IG as expressed by the above two equations and using the
fact that l = a+b, we can obtain a (or b) in terms of l:

gTB2 − 4π 2 l
a= l
( )
g T A2 + TB2 − 8π 2 l
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which enables us to determine the position of G (assuming, of course, that it lies symmetrically
on the line AB).

1. Estimate the location of G by balancing the connecting rod on a knife-edge. Measure the
period of oscillation TA, for a small angle θ. Using the measured values for a, b and TA, and
having weighted the rod, estimate IA from equations (4) and (5). Take l as 0.196 m. (To
reduce measurement error measure oscillation time, t, for about n=10 periods and then
calculate TA = t/n.)

2. Measure the periods of oscillation TA and TB, and use equation (7) to determine the position of
the centroid dynamically, rather than by the static balance.

3. Estimate the location of G by using a scale. One end of the rod could be supported on the
scale and the other end of the rod will be on a rest, Figure 3. Is this method applicable to
estimate the location of centre of mass for any element with any shape? If not, which types
of elements are more suitable for this approach?

Scale Support

Figure 3: The connecting rod supported on a rigid support and a digital scale.

Procedure II: Using a Trifilar Suspension

The setup consists of a uniform circular table suspended in a horizontal plane by three flexible
cables of equal length, l, each attached to the table at a radius r from its centre O, Figure 4. The
free angular vibration of the table about a vertical axis through O is described by:

.. mT gr 2
IT θ + θ = 0
l

where θ is the angular displacement and IT (moment of inertia of table), mT (mass of table), g,
and r have the following values, Table 1. The value for l will be provided in the laboratory.
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Figure 4: Trifilar suspension table supporting small cylindrical object.

Table 1: Dimensions of trifilar suspension tables

Setup A Setup B
mT [kg] 4.513 4.380
2
IT [kg m ] 0.1782 0.1711
2
g [m/s ] 9.81 9.81
R [m] 0.250 0.275
l [m]

IT l
The period of motion is given by: TT = 2π
mT gr 2

mT gr 2 2
so that: IT = TT
4π 2 l

When the gearwheel (or connecting rod) is placed on the table, with its centroid coincident with
O so that it moves with the table, the new period T will be related to the resultant moment of
inertia I by:
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mgr 2 2
I= T
4π 2 l

where m denotes the total mass. The moment of inertia of the gearwheel, Ia, can be obtained as:

( ) 4grπ l
2
I a = mT 2 − mT TT2 2

I a = I − IT
1. For the gearwheel, estimate Ia about its axis of rotation. Check for stretch, and thus alteration
in the value for l, when the table is loaded.
2. Place the wheel on edge and estimate Ia about a diameter. Calculate the ratio of diametrical
inertia versus axial inertia.

Procedure III: Using a Gravity-Controlled Roll Oscillation

If the component is in the form of a balanced rotor, it is sometimes convenient to place it on

knife-edges, and deliberately unbalance it by the addition of an off-centre mass to induce a roll
oscillation. This approach is illustrated in Figure 5. One assumes that it rolls without slipping.

Figure 5: Schematic side and front views of a rotor rolling on parallel supports.

Using the crankshaft,

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1. Check that the shaft alone appears to be well balanced.

2. Add a known mass m at a radius r (use a magnet), and observe the period of oscillation
in order to estimate I.

In this case, the moment of inertia of rotor about its centre of mass “G” is

mgr
− MR 2 − m( R − r )
2
IG = T 2
− Im
4π 2

where T = period of oscillation

m = mass of magnet
M = mass of rotor
Im = Moment of Inertia of magnet about its centre of mass “D” (may be negligibly small).

For a derivation of this equation, please refer to the Appendix.

Report
Follow the general reporting requirements outlined in this manual and on the course website for
format and due dates. http://me.queensu.ca/courses/MECH398/
It is not necessary to carry out the complete error-propagation equations for all calculations in
this exercise. However, you must note sources of uncertainty and their magnitudes, discuss how
to reduce them, and show one important uncertainty propagation calculation.

References

1. J.L. Meriam, L.G. Kraige, Engineering Mechanics – Dynamics, Wiley, New York, 1997.

APPENDIX

THEORETICAL DERIVATION OF GRAVITY CONTROLLED ROLL OSCILLATION

Table of Symbols
M = mass of rotor
m = mass of magnet
IG = moment of inertia of rotor alone about “G”
Im = moment of inertia of magnet about “D”
I = moment of inertia of rotor and magnet about “B”
B = centre of gravity of rotor and magnet
D = centre of gravity of magnet
G = centre of gravity of rotor
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C = point of contact
T = period of oscillation
ω = angular frequency of oscillation
KE = kinetic energy
PE = potential energy

Using energy method

KE + PE = constant

Calculate Kinetic Energy of the System

Absolute velocity of point B (centre of gravity of system) is
.
VB = θ CB
But CB = (R2 + 2 - 2R  cos θ )1/2
Therefore
.
VB = θ (R2 + 2 - 2R  cos θ )1/2

KE =  M + m  V B2 + I θ
2

 2  2
.

=  M + m  θ 2 R 2 + l 2 − 2 R l cosθ + I θ
( )
. 2

 2  2

Gain in KE = Loss in PE. Therefore,

.
 M + m Iθ 2
(R )
.
 θ
2 2
+ l 2 − 2 R l cosθ + = mgr ( cosθ − cosθ max )
 2  2

where θmax = maximum value of θ during oscillation. Therefore

.
θ 2
[(M + m) (R2 + 2 - 2R  cos θ ) + I] - mgr (cos θ - cos θ max )=0
2
θ
Replacing cos θ by 1 − 2 sin
2
and rearranging the expression yields
2
.
θ 2 θ θ
[(M + m) (R2+  2 - 2R  cos θ ) + I] - mgr [1 - 2sin2 - 1 + sin2 max ] = 0
2 2
2
Therefore
.
θ 2 θ θ
[(M + m) (R2+  2 - 2R  cos θ ) + I] - mgr [2sin2 - 2sin2 max ] = 0
2 2
2
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For small θ, cos θ ≈ 1 and sinθ ≈ θ . Therefore

. θ θ
θ 2 [(M + m) (R2+  2 - 2R θ ) + I] + 2mgr [ - max ] = 0
2 2
Assuming sinusoidal motion:

θ= θ max sin ωt θ = ωθmax cos ωt

with sin2θ= 1 – cos2θ, results in

ω2 θ max
2
cos2ωt [(M+m) (R2 + 2 - 2R  ) + I] + mgr [ θ max
2
sin2ωt- θ max
2
]=0
or

ω2 θ max
2
cos2ωt [(M+m) (R2 + 2 - 2R  ) + I] + mgr [ θ max
2
-θ max
2
cos2ωt - θ max
2
]=0

This expression is equal to zero if cos ωt = 0, or

ω2 [(M+m) (R2 + 2 - 2R  ) + I] - mgr = 0

But
I = IG + M  2 + Im + m(r-  )2.

Substituting the expression for I in the above equation gives

ω2[(M+m) (R-  )2 + IG + M  2 + Im + m(r-  )2 ] - mgr = 0

ω2[(M+m) (R2-2R  +  2) + IG + M  2 + Im + m(r2-2R  +  2)] - mgr = 0

ω2[MR2 - 2MR  + M  2 + mR2 - 2mR  + m  2 + IG + M  2 + Im +mr2 - 2mr  + m  2] - mgr = 0

ω2[IG + Im + MR2 + 2M  2 - 2MR  + mR2 - 2mR  + 2 m  2 + mr2 - 2mr  ] - mgr = 0

ω2[IG + Im + MR2 + 2(M+m) 2 - 2  [MR + mR + mr] + m(R2 + r2)] - mgr = 0

But
mr
 =
M+ m

Therefore by substitution

2( M + m ) m 2 r 2 2mr
ω2[IG + Im + - [MR+mR+mr] + m(R2+r2)] - mgr = 0
( M + m) 2
( M + m)

ω2[IG + Im + MR2 - 2mrR + m(R2 + r2)] - mgr = 0

 MECH 398: Measurement of Moments of Inertia
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ω2[IG + Im + MR2 + m(R-r)2] - mgr = 0

Therefore,
mgr 2 2
IG = 2 - Im - MR - m(R-r)
ω
and since
2π
ω=
T
mgrT 2
then IG = - Im - MR2 - m(R-r)2
4π 2