MODELING the VIBRATIONAL RESPONSE of PLANTAIN FRUITS |
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Authors: | S.T.A.R. KAJUNA W.K. BILANSKI G.S. MITTAL G.L. HAYWARD |
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Affiliation: | Department of Agric. Engineering Sokoine University of Agriculture P.O. Box 3003, Morogoro, Tanzania;School of Engineering University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1 |
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Abstract: | Plantain fruits of the plantain subgroup ( Musa AAB Group) were obtained at a green stage and used in this study. the fruits were labelled for identification, and stored in a chamber maintained at a temperature of 20C and relative humidity of 90 ± 4%. On daily basis, for a period of 14 days, the fruits were removed from the storage chamber and each was weighed to record the mass. They were vibrated vertically on a vibration exciter through a range of frequencies from 10 to 2000 Hz. the frequency response was modeled by a single-degree-of-freedom Kelvin model. the mass of the fruit, the stiffness, the natural frequency and the critical damping all decreased significantly (p < 0.01) with storage time. There was no significant change (p > 0.05) in the damping coefficient of the fruit. the damping ratio decreased significantly (p < 0.01) with storage time. the models that described the changes in these parameters with storage time were obtained by stepwise regression, and are also presented. It was concluded that a single degree-of-freedom model provides satisfactory results of the vibrational characteristics of intact plantain fruit. |
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