Structural analysis and optimization design of mechanical pendulum of differential capacitance seismometer.

ABSTRACT

Seismometers can collect and record earthquake information in real time, and they play an important role in earthquake prediction and post-earthquake monitoring. Aiming at the high natural frequency problem of the mechanical pendulum of differential capacitance seismometers, this study employed the ANSYS simulation software to establish a finite element model of the mechanical pendulum; using the constructed model, this study performed static and modal analysis on the key structure, the cross reed, and conducted topological optimization on the shape of the reed. Moreover, the sine calibration method was adopted to measure the natural frequency of the mechanical pendulum before and after optimization, and the experimental results showed that after optimization, the natural frequency of the mechanical pendulum had been reduced by 22%, decreasing from 5.4 to 4.2 Hz, which proved the feasibility of the optimization design.