Natural Vibrations - 2

The Fundamental Mode

Imagine you could push a building sideways at its top and then let go so that it swayed naturally. The number of times it swayed to and fro every second would be the fundamental frequency of vibration of the building.

If you repeated the experiment, but pushed the building a little harder or lighter, the fundamental frequency would stay the same.

The building distorts in a particular way when it vibrates at this frequency. The shape it takes up is called the fundamental mode shape.

 
 

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Vibrating Buildings
      Natural Vibrations - 2

from Bristol University