| the the mass of the system. Vibrations are modeled using spring-mass-damper systems. If you change the mass of the system and don't change the dampers characteristics, the system will not behave as it did originally. By lightening the flywheel, you have actually reduced the crankshaft twist as there is less rotational mass at the back end to create inertia and flex along the shaft. Take an example similar to Spongerider's above. You have two rubber shafts of the same material, same diameter, same length. There is nothing on either end of one, and a 20 lb barbell weight attached to one end of the other. Twist the free end of each shaft with the same force and rotational speed. Which one winds up more? The one with more weight on the end, aka a heavier flywheel. That is kind of besides my original point that you are changing the natural frequency of the roatating system by changing the mass of the flywheel tho. Although the above example shows how part of the system charcteristics are changed by altering the weight of the flywheel it does not address the change in vibration resonance and/or amplitude by changing the mass and not the damper.
Mike ------------------------------------------------------
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11:16:38 02/25/03
