Vibrations are responsible for causing harmful effects to the adjoining structures, foundation and

machines leading to devastating damages. Additionally, the dynamic vibrations also cause
annoyance or distraction to the people working or accessing near the machine operation area.
However, if the frequency ratio is managed to remain outside the critical range of 0.4 and 1.5 and if
the amplitude lies within the allowance limits then damaging/harmful effects may be successfully
eliminated, especially when the system us damped.

Transfer or transmission of vibration may be controlled and damaging effects can be successfully
reduced to considerable amounts by isolation of the source called active isolation or by protecting
absorber or receiver called passive isolation.

The measures employed are as follows;

1. By placement or location of machine foundation far away from adjoining structures, the
process is called as geometric isolation. Mechanism is that with the increase in distance
between machine foundation and adjoining structure the amplitude of surface waves (R-
waves) gets reduced. For this follow the ratio of foundation mass to engine mass. The
specific decreasement in the amplitude can be achieved by placing the foundation to a
greater depth since the R-waves tends to reduce successfully due to increase in depth.
2. Extra masses called as dampers may be attached/added to the foundation encountering
higher frequency machines in order to form a multiple degree freedom system plus for
altering the natural frequency.

3. In case of reciprocating machines, considerable amount of vibrations can be reduced by
counterbalancing the exciting forces through means of attachment of counterweights at the
crank sides.
4. The placement or use of absorbers helps to reduce the vibrations considerably. Absorbers
may be rubber mountings, felts and corks applied amid the base and machine.
5. Another technique can be by attaching an auxiliary mass along with a spring to the machine
foundation such that the system gets transformed to two-degree-freedom system. Usable
when the system is at resonance.
6. The strength of soil may be improved via chemical or cement stabilization technique, which
enhances the natural frequency of system. This technique is preferable in machines with
operating frequencies.
7. The propagation or fluctuation of waves can also be lowered by use of sheet piles, screens
and trenches.


Design Criteria of Machine
Foundation
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In the design a rigid block is assumed to rest directly in the soil. When acted by dynamic loads the
rigid block as shown in Fig. 2 may vibrate in any one of six degrees of freedom and the complete
evaluation of the response of the block is very complex. However many researchers have conformed
from various studies that freedom of vibration in order to arrive at reasonable solution.

A vibrating foundation fails when velocity or acceleration or displacement exceeds a certain limit at a
specified frequency. Thus the design criteria are limiting values of acceleration, velocity and
displacements. In addition the foundation should be safe in shear and settlements should be within
permissible limits. There should be no resonance. The center of gravity of machine and foundation
should coincide. The vibration produced by machines should not cause any disturbance to persons
and nearby structures. The ground water table should be at least at a depth of one fourth the width of
foundation below foundation level.


Richart (1962) has developed curves between frequency and displacement (Fig.1) which limit the
zone of different sensitivity of response. In the figure the shaded line is a limit for machine and
machine foundation. This shaded envelop indicates a limit for safety and not a limit for satisfactory
operation of machines. For a given frequency the curve provide a designer the maximum permissible
limit of amplitude.

Degree of freedom | Loads on
Machine Foundation
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What is degree of freedom?
The Degree of freedom is defined as the number of independent coordinates which describe the
motion of a system.


Figure 1 (a) shows a system with one degree of freedom while, Fig.1 (b) shows a system with two
degree of freedom. A foundation block as shown in Fig.2 has six degree of freedom. The block can
undergo into six independent displacements. We can have translation in X, Y, and Z directions and
also rotation in X, Y and Z directions.
Loads on Machine Foundation
The loads transmitted by machine foundations comprise both static and dynamic loads. The static
loads are weight of machine and foundation. The dynamic loads are repeated loads applied over a
very long period of time but the magnitude is small. In vertical vibration a rigid foundation block
may undergo four patterns of motion. This is illustrated in Fig.3

Figure 3(a) is a harmonic motion which a rigid block may follow in one dimensional vibration. Such
motion is represented by a sinusoidal curve and is developed by a sinusoidal input force. Fig.3 (b)
represents a periodic motion where the pattern repeats itself, but the motion is not a harmonic
motion. This type of motion is developed by foundation supporting machinery which develops forces
at two or more different frequencies. Fig.3(c) represents random motions developed by wind, waves
and earthquakes. These forces have random input. Finally, Fig. 3(d) represents a transient motion
resulted by short term application of forces or a pulsating loading.