Using Low-Cost Hands-On Equipment and Virtual Lab for Teaching and Learning Mechanical Vibrations

Engineering students struggle to comprehend the abstract topics introduced in the mechanical vibrations courses since the content is highly mathematical and the course is delivered in a traditional lecture format without physical demonstration. In such cases, the instructor presents the topic and continues with in-class examples while students become passive learners. Although traditional lectures allow the instructor to teach many topics in a limited time, research shows it’s ineffective in enhancing student learning. On the contrary, active learning promotes student engagement through interactive group discussions, problem-based learning, and learning by doing. This study presents the design and development of two low-cost, portable, and 3D-printed laboratory equipment to demonstrate the fundamentals of vibrations. The first equipment consists of two 3D-printed springs attached to the slider housing a disk driven by a dc motor. Four loads can be attached to the disk to create unbalanced forces, demonstrating the rotating unbalance concept. A noncontact tachometer and ADXL 335 accelerometer are utilized to read the disk\u27s speed and record the cart\u27s acceleration. The second equipment is a 3 DOF rectilinear setup comprised of three carts, a rail, and 3D-printed translational springs to demonstrate the effect of spring length on stiffness. The springs can be connected to each other by magnets to emulate the combination of springs in a series form. System identification can be performed through free response data collection using ADXL 335 accelerometers. All parts are 3D printed using polylactic acid, and polypropylene filaments. Various springs are designed by changing the thickness and material type so each student team can work at a different setup. In addition to the low-cost lab equipment, we also developed virtual labs of the same equipment in MATLAB Simscape to simulate and animate the proposed designs so students can work at home at their own pace