136

6
Response of structures to impulsive loads
Abstract: Impulsive force is a force of large magnitude that acts over a
short time interval. In practice, vehicles and cranes are subjected to
impulsive loads. In this chapter, the response of the single-degree-of-
freedom system with or without damping subjected to impulsive loads is
considered. The concept of response spectrum, which is a very useful tool in
the design, is also illustrated.
Key words: impulsive loads, dynamic magnification factor, shear frame,
Duhamel integral, ramp, response spectrum, Laplace transform.
6.1 Introduction
An impulsive load consists of a single principal impulse as illustrated in Fig.
6.1. Such a load is generally of short duration. Vehicles and cranes, etc., are
subjected to impulsive loads. The maximum response is reached due to
impulsive loads within a short period of time before damping forces absorb
much energy. Hence for this reason only, an undamped response to impulsive
loads will be considered, and for completeness an under-damped system
subjected to impulsive load will also be discussed.
6.2 Impulsive loading sine wave
Consider a sine wave impulse as shown in Fig. 6.2 with the duration of sine
pulse as t
1
.
t
F(t)
6.1 Arbitrary impulsive loading.

Response of structures to impulsive loads 137

6.2.1 Phase I
During this phase, the structure is subjected to harmonic loading starting
from rest. The undamped response including transient and steady state may
be obtained as
x t
F
k
t t t t
n
( )
(1 )
[sin ( ) sin ( )] 0
0
2
1

6.1
where is the frequency ratio,
n
is the natural frequency of the system and
t
1
is the time duration of the pulse.
6.2.2 Phase II
In this phase, there is no impulsive load but at the start of the second phase,
i.e. t = tt
1
= 0, there will be velocity and displacement present at the end of
phase I that is, at the end of Phase I and at the beginning of Phase II
x t x t t
F
k
t t
n
( 0) ( )
(1 )
[sin ( ) sin ( )
2
1 1

1
0

]
6.2

x t
F
k
t t
n n
( )
(1 )
[ cos ( ) cos ( )]
0
2
1 1

6.3
We have seen in Chapter 2 the response of undamped system due to initial
velocity and initial displacement is given by
x t x t t
x t
t
n
n
n
( ) ( 0) cos ( )
( 0)
sin ( ) +

6.4a
or
x t x t t t t
x t t
t t
n
n
n
( ) ( ) cos [ ( ) ]
( )
sin[ ( )]
1
1
1
+

for t t
1
6.4b
t
F
(
t
)
t
1
6.2 Half sine wave F(t) = F
0
sin( t).

Structural dynamics of earthquake engineering 138

x t
F
k
t t t t
n
( )
(1 )
[sin ( ) sin ( )
2
1

0
0

6.4c
To find the maximum response velocity must be equated to zero. Usually
this occurs in Phase I.

x t
F
k
t t
n
( )
(1 )
[ cos ( ) cos ( )] 0
2

6.5a
t = 2 n
n
t n = 0, 1, 2, 3 6.5b
The least time where it reaches zero is given by

t
n

+
2
1
6.6
Hence maximum displacement can be obtained by substituting t in Eq. 6.6
in Eq. 6.4c. The result is valid only if t < 1 or < 1, i.e.
n
< . For >
1 the maximum response occurs in Phase II. The amplitude of vibration is
given by
A
x t
x t
n
2
2
2
( 0)
[ ( 0)]

,

,
]
]
]
+

6.7
A

+
j
(
,
\
,
(
,

,
]
]
]
( )
(1 )
2 2 cos
2
1/ 2
F k
0
/

6.8
Hence DMF (dynamic magnification factor = x(t)/x
st
) is given by
DMF
2
(1 )
cos
2

j
(
,
\
,
(

2
for > 1 and t > t
1
6.9
6.2.3 Case 1 When t
1
/T
n
1/2
Forced vibration phase
x t
x
T
t
t
t
T
t
t
T
t t
st
n
n
n
( )
(0)
1
1
2
sin
2
sin
2

1
2
1 1
1

j
(
\
,
j
(
\
,

j
(
\
,
,

,
]
]
]
<

6.10
Free vibration phase
x t
x
T
t
T
t
t
T
t
T
t
T
st
n
n
n n n
( )
(0)
2
1
cos sin 2
2
1
1
2
1 1

j
(
\
,
j
(
\
,

j
(
\
,

j
(
\
,
,

,
]
]
]

6.11

Response of structures to impulsive loads 139

6.2.4 Case 2 When t
1
/T
n
= 1/2
Forced vibration phase
x t
x
t
T
t
T
t
T
t t
st n n n
( )
(0)
1
2
sin
2 2
cos
2

1

j
(
\
,

j
(
\
,
,

,
]
]
]
>

6.12
Free vibration phase
x t
x
x
st
( )
(0) 2
( ) 0
1
1

t 6.13
The above equation implies that the displacement in the forced vibration
phase reaches a maximum at the end of the phase.
x t
x
t
T
t t
st n
( )
(0) 2
cos 2
1
2

1

j
(
\
,

6.14
The displacement response for sine pulse with duration of pulse t
1
= 1s is
shown in Fig. 6.3.
Maximum response
The maximum values of response over each of the two phases, forced vibration
and free vibration, are determined separately. The larger of the two values is
the overall maximum response.
A program in MATLAB to obtain the maximum response for various
values of t
1
/T
n
is given below.
0 1 2 3 4
Time in secs
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
6.3 Displacement response for sine pulse (t
1
= 1).