Harmonic oscillator

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This article is about the harmonic oscillator in classical mechanics. For its uses in quantum mechanics, see quantum harmonic oscillator. This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (Consider usingmore specific clean up instructions.) Please improve this article if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. (June 2008)

An undamped spring-mass system is a simple harmonic oscillator.

In classical mechanics, a harmonic oscillator is a system that, when displaced from its equilibrium position, experiences a restoring force, F, proportional to the displacement, x:

where k is a positive constant. If F is the only force acting on the system, the system is called a simple harmonic oscillator, and it undergoes simple harmonic motion: sinusoidal oscillations about the equilibrium point, with a constantamplitude and a constant frequency (which does not depend on the amplitude). If a frictional force (damping) proportional to the velocity is also present, the harmonic oscillator is described as a damped oscillator. Depending on the friction coefficient, the system can:

Oscillate with a frequency smaller than in the non-damped case, and an amplitude decreasing with time (underdamped oscillator). Decay exponentially to the equilibrium position, without oscillations (overdamped oscillator). If an external time dependent force is present, the harmonic oscillator is described as a driven oscillator. Mechanical examples include pendula (with small angles of displacement), masses connected to springs, andacoustical systems. Other analogous systems include electrical harmonic oscillators such as RLC circuits. The harmonic oscillator model is very important in physics, because any mass subject to a force in stable equilibrium acts as a harmonic oscillator for small vibrations. Harmonic oscillators occur widely in nature and are exploited in many manmade devices, such as clocks and radio circuits. They are the source of virtually all sinusoidal vibrations and waves.

[edit]Simple

harmonic oscillator

Main article: Simple harmonic motion

Simple harmonic motion.

A simple harmonic oscillator is an oscillator that is neither driven nor damped. It consists of a mass m, which experiences a single force, F, which pulls the mass in the direction of the pointx=0 and depends only on the mass's position x and a constant k. Newton's second law for the system is

Solving this differential equation, we find that the motion is described by the function

where

The motion is periodic repeating itself in a sinusoidal fashion with constant amplitude, A. In addition to its amplitude, the motion of a simple harmonic oscillator is characterized by its period T, the time for a single oscillation or its frequency f = 1T, the number of cycles per unit time. The position at a given time t also depends on the phase, , which determines the starting point on the sine wave. The period and frequency are determined by the size of the mass m and the force constant k, while the amplitude and phase are determined by the starting position and velocity. The velocity and acceleration of a simple harmonic oscillator oscillate with the same frequency as the position but with shifted phases. The velocity is maximum for zero displacement, while the acceleration is in the opposite direction as the displacement. The potential energy stored in a simple harmonic oscillator at position x is

[edit]Damped

harmonic oscillator

Main article: Damping

Dependence of the system behavior on the value of the damping ratio

A damped harmonic oscillator, which slows down due to friction

In real oscillators, friction, or damping, slows the motion of the system. In many vibrating systems the frictional force Ff can be modeled as being proportional to the velocity v of the object: Ff = cv, wherec is called the viscous damping coefficient. Newton's second law for damped harmonic oscillators is then

This is rewritten into the form

where

is called the 'undamped angular frequency of the oscillator' and is called the 'damping ratio'.

Step-response of a damped harmonic oscillator; curves are plotted for three values of =
1

0 1

. Time is in
0).

units of the decay time = 1/(

The value of the damping ratio harmonic oscillator can be:



critically determines the behavior of the system. A damped

Overdamped ( > 1): The system returns (exponentially decays) to equilibrium without oscillating. Larger values of the damping ratio return to equilibrium slower. Critically damped ( = 1): The system returns to equilibrium as quickly as possible without oscillating. This is often desired for the damping of systems such as doors. Underdamped ( < 1): The system oscillates (with a slightly different frequency than the undamped case) with the amplitude gradually decreasing to zero. The angular frequency of the underdamped harmonic oscillator is given by

The Q factor of a damped oscillator is defined as

Q is related to the damping ratio by the equation [edit]Driven

harmonic oscillators

Driven harmonic oscillators are damped oscillators further affected by an externally applied force F(t). Newton's second law takes the form

It is usually rewritten into the form

This equation can be solved exactly for any driving force using the solutions z(t) to the unforced equation, which satisfy

and which can be expressed as damped sinusoidal oscillations,

in the case where

1. The amplitude A and phase

determine the behavior needed to match

the initial conditions. [edit]Step

input
< 1 and a unit step input with x(0) = 0:

See also: Step response In the case

the solution is:

with phase

given by

This behavior is found in (for example) feedback amplifiers, where the amplifier design is adjusted to obtain the fastest step response possible without undue overshoot or undershoot and with an adequate settling time. T h e t i m e a n

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driving force

In the case of a sinusoidal driving force:

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