mechanical impedance

mechanical impedance [mi′kan·ə·kəl im′pēd·əns]

(mechanics)

The complex ratio of a phasor representing a sinusoidally varying force applied to a system to a phasor representing the velocity of a point in the system.

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Mechanical impedance

For a system executing simple harmonic motion, the mechanical impedance is the ratio of force to particle velocity. If the force is that which drives the system and the velocity is that of the point of application of the force, the ratio is the input or driving-point impedance. If the velocity is that at some other point, the ratio is the transfer impedance corresponding to the two points.

Mechanical impedance is a complex quantity. The real part, the mechanical resistance, is independent of frequency if the dissipative forces are proportional to velocity; the imaginary part, the mechanical reactance, varies with frequency, becoming zero at the resonant and infinite at the antiresonant frequencies of the system. See Forced oscillation, Harmonic motion