Low Cost Experimental Vibration Analysis of a Cantilever Beam Under Base Excitation

This paper presents the investigation of operational deflection shapes of vibration of a cantilever beam using a low-cost digital video camera, and by application of image processing techniques. The beam is uniform and under base excitation. The analytical model of the system is developed using dimensionless formulation. The analytical ODS’s are derived, and then compared with those found from experiment. The significance of this research is that it provides the researchers an inexpensive alternative tool for investigating the behavior of systems with low-frequency dynamics.