Dynamics of Structures:

Theory and Analysis

Steen Krenk
Technical University of Denmark
1. Free vibrations
2. Forced vibrations
3. Transient response
4. Damping mechanisms
5. Modal analysis I: Basic idea and matrix formulation
6. Modal analysis II: Implementation and system reduction
7. Damping and tuned mass dampers
8. Time integration by Newmark methods
9. Structural response to earthquakes
10. Vibration of cables, bars, etc.
11. Vibration of beams
12. Finite element formulation for bars, beams etc.
13. Course summary
Books
Daniel J. Inman, Engineering Vibration, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall Interna-
tional, Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2001.
J.W. Tedesco, W.G. McDougal and C.A. Ross, Structural Dynamics, Addison-
Wesley, Menlo Park, Ca, 1999.
A.K. Chopra, Dynamics of Structures. Theory and application to Earthquake
Engineering, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2001.
Geradin, M. and Rixen, D., Mechanical Vibrations, Theory and Applications
to Structural Dynamics, 2nd ed., Wiley, Chichester, 1997.
I. Langen and R. Sigbjrnsson, Dynamisk Analyse av Konstruktioner, Tapir,
Trondheim, 1979.
Journals
Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics.
Journal of Sound and Vibration
Journal of Engineering Structures.
Journal of Structural Engineering.
Journal of Engineering Mechanics.
International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering.
Computers and Structures.
General Introduction
Oshore platforms
Tyra South STAR platform Harald Field (www.maersk.com)
Wind Turbines
Nysted Wind Farm (www.nystedwindfarm.com)
Cable stayed bridge
Erasmus Bridge, Rotterdam (www.h2olland.nl )
Rotating pedestrian bridge
Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Gateshead (www.gateshead.gov.uk/bridge)
Pedestrian bridge
Solferino Bridge, Paris (S. Krenk)
Pedestrian suspension bridge
Millennium Bridge, London (www.galinsky.com/buildings/millenniumbridge/)
See also the detailed presentation at www.arup.com/millenniumbridge/
Lecture 1: Free Vibrations
Undamped vibrations
Damped vibrations
Logarithmic decrement
Energy balance
State variables and state-space
Discrete time increments
Undamped vibrations
Equation of motion by balance of inertial force m x and elastic force kx with
mass m and stiness k,
m x + k x = 0 (1.1)
Obtain normalized equation by division by m
x +
2
0
x = 0 (1.2)
where the natural angular frequency
0
is dened by

0
=
_
k
m
(1.3)
Note that the (angular) frequency is determined by

2
0
=
stiness

mass

In many problems stiness and mass can be estimated by use of energy

methods.
Solution
Solution requires initial conditions in terms of initial position x
0
and initial
velocity v
0
= x
0
.
x(t) = x
0
cos(
0
t) +
v
0

0
sin(
0
t) (1.4)

0
t
x

0
t
v /
0
Figure 1.1: a) displacement x(t), and b) velocity x(t) as function of time t.
The period T requires the phase
0
t to increase by 2, Note that the (angular)
frequency is determined by
T =
2

0
(1.5)
The natural frequency f is the number of oscillations per time unit, whereby
f =
1
T
=

0
2
(1.6)
Damped vibrations
Include energy dissipation through damping force c x,
m x(t) + c x(t) + k x(t) = 0 (1.7)
Note, that all three parameters m, c, k are positive, when the forces are
restoring.
Normalize equation by division by m
x + 2
0
x +
2
0
x = 0 (1.8)
using the natural angular frequency
0
,

0
=
_
k
m
(1.9)
and the damping ratio ,
=
c
2

km
(1.10)
The characteristics of the free vibration behavior depends on the magnitude
of the damping ratio .
Solutions
The free vibration solution is of exponential type and is found by substitution
of the partial solution x(t) = Ae
t
into the homogeneous equation of motion,
yielding the characteristic equation

2
+ 2
0
+
2
0
= 0 (1.11)
There are three dierent cases of damped vibrations, depending on the mag-
nitude of the damping ratio . The solutions are given below for initial
conditions (x, x)
t=0
= (x
0
, v
0
).
Underdamped, 0 < < 1 :
Two complex roots of characteristic equation, =
0
( i
_
1
2
).
Imaginary part is expressed by dening the damped natural frequency

d
=
0
_
1
2
(1.12)
This leads to complex partial solutions of the form
x(t) = Ae

0
t
. .
amplitude
e
i
d
t
. .
oscillation
(1.13)
The last factor can be expressed in terms of sin(
d
t) and cos(
d
t).
x(t) = x
0
e

0
t
[ cos(
d
t) +

0

d
sin(
d
t) ]
+
v
0

d
e

0
t
sin(
d
t)
(1.14)

0
t
x

0
t
v /
0
Figure 1.2: a) displacement x(t), and b) velocity x(t) for = 0.05.
The period of the oscillatory factor in damped free oscillations is T
d
= 2/
d
.
Critically damped, = 1 :
The characteristic equation has the real double root, =
0
, and in this
case the amplitude A is replaced by a linear function A + Bt.
x(t) = [ x
0
+ (
0
x
0
+ v
0
) t ] e

0
t
(1.15)
Overdamped, 1 < :
The characteristic equation has two real roots =
0
(
_

2
1). In-
troducing the parameter
d
=
0
_

2
1 <
0
the solution is expressed in
terms of hyperbolic functions as
x(t) = x
0
e

0
t
[ cosh(
d
t) +

0

d
sinh(
d
t) ]
+
v
0

d
e

0
t
sinh(
d
t)
(1.16)
Logarithmic decrement

0
t
x,a
a
j a
j+1
Figure 1.3: Displacement record with maxima a
j
and a
j+1
for = 0.05.
Underdamping can also be characterized by the decrease in amplitude from
one maximum to the next. The ratio between any two maximum values
following each other is constant, and the logarithmic decrement is dened
as
= ln
_
a
j
a
j+1
_
= ln
_
e

0
T
d
_
=
2
_
1
2
(1.17)
or for lightly damped systems
2 for << 1 (1.18)
NOTE: Lightly damped structures may have as low as 0.001 .
Energy balance
Form the rate of work by multiplication of the equation of motion with x,
x(t)
_
m x(t) + c x(t) + k x(t)
_
= 0 (1.19)
Rewrite as time derivative,
d
dt
_
1
2
m x
2
+
1
2
k x
2
_
= c x
2
0 (1.20)
This denes the mechanical energy E as
E = E
kin
+ E
el
(1.21)
with kinetic energy
E
kin
=
1
2
m x
2
(1.22)
and elastic energy
E
el
=
1
2
k x
2
(1.23)
The mechanical energy of undamped free vibrations is constant.
When the motion can be described (estimated) by a single degree of freedom,
the equation of undamped motion can be determined from the time derivative
of the mechanical energy.
State vector and phase-plane
Time histories of displacement x(t) and velocity v(t) = x(t) against time t.

0
t
x

0
t
v /
0
Figure 1.4: a) displacement x(t), and b) velocity x(t) as function of time t.
Combination into a single three-dimensional graph as shown in Fig. , with
time t along the rst axis.

0
t
x
v /
0
v /
0
x
Figure 1.5: a) response path and b) phase-plane diagram.
Projection of the state vector (x(t), x(t)) on the phase-plane.
Use of normalized coordinates x, x/
0
reduces to near-circle.
Discrete time increment - Undamped system
Undamped equation of free vibrations, = 0,
x +
2
0
x = f(t)
Free oscillations described entirely in terms of initial conditions,
x = x
0
cos(
0
t) + x
0

1
0
sin(
0
t)
x = x
0

0
sin(
0
t) + x
0
cos(
0
t)
State vector (x, x)
1
at time t = t in terms of initial state vector (x, x)
0
.
Recurrence relation for any pair of state vectors with time separation t.
Time separation only appears in the form of the non-dimensional parameter
=
0
t
Non-dimensional form, when x is replaced with t x.
_
x
t x
_
i+1
=
_
cos
1
sin
sin cos
__
x
t x
_
i
Discrete time increment - Damped system
Normalized equation for free vibrations
x + 2
0
x +
2
0
x = 0
Damped natural angular frequency,

d
=
0
_
1
2
Free damped oscillations given in terms of the initial conditions
x = x
0
e

0
t
_
cos(
d
t) +

0

d
sin(
d
t)
_
+
x
0

d
e

0
t
sin(
d
t)
x = x
0

2
0

d
e

0
t
sin(
d
t) + x
0
e

0
t
_
cos(
d
t)

d
sin(
d
t)
_
Two non-dimensional time scales, conveniently dened as
=
d
t , =
0
t
Recurrence relations for time increment t,
_
x
t x
_
i+1
=
e

_
cos + sin sin
(
2
+
2
) sin cos sin
__
x
t x
_
i
Structure of time-stepping algorithm
The exact solution (x
n
, x
n
) can be obtained at discrete times 0, t, 2t,
by starting at the initial conditions (x
0
, x
0
) and multiplying with the matrix
A, found above, in each step.
y
0
= (x
0
, t x
0
)
T
for i = 0 : n 1
y
i+1
= Ay
i
(x, t x) = y
T
Table 1.1: Direct time-stepping algorithm.
NOTE: The simplicity of the algorithm is obtained because the natural
frequency and damping ratio is known. For multi-degree-of-freedom systems,
this procedure requires a modal analysis, described later.
Exercise 1.1
The natural frequency of a single-degree-of-freedom-system depends on the
ratio of stiness to mass. For a simple massspring system the relation is

2
0
= k/m.
a) For the beam shown in the gure the force-displacement relation for a
transverse force at the end is
F = 3
EI
l
3
u
What is the natural frequency for transverse vibrations of a heavy mass
M xed to the end of the beam, when the mass of the beam is neglected.
b) Let the mass M = 1000 kg be supported by a beam of length l = 10
m. What is the bending stiness EI necessary to give the frequency
f = 2.0 Hz.
Figure 1.6: Beam supporting a mass M.
Exercise 1.2
Consider the mass m supported by a spring with stiness k. The motion of the
mass m is described by x. The mass of the spring m
s
is small relative to the
mass m, and therefore the motion of the spring is quasi-static. This implies
that the spring extends uniformly. Thus, the left end point is a rest, while
the right end point moves x. A non-dimensional coordinate is introduced
such that the spring is described by 0 1. This implies that the motion
of a point described by the position is x.
a) Find the total kinetic energy of the mass m and the spring in terms of x.
b) Use energy balance to nd an expression for the natural angular fre-
quency
0
.
c) The contribution from the spring can be included as an extra contribu-
tion to the eective mass m
eff
,

2
0
= k/m
eff
with m
eff
= m + (?)m
s
Find the coecient (?) of the spring mass.
Figure 1.7: Beam supporting a mass M.
Exercise 1.3
The gure shows a water column of total length l and cross-section area A.
The mass density is . When the water surface at the left side is displaced
the distance x downward, the water surface at the right side is lifted the same
distance x and conversely. The system is exposed to downward gravitation
with acceleration constant g.
a) Express the potential energy E
pot
and the kinetic energy E
kin
as function
of x and x, respectively.
b) Use an energy balance argument to nd an expression of the natural
angular frequency
0
.
c) The angular frequency
0
is independent of the mass density . Why?
Figure 1.8: Beam supporting a mass M.
The motion of the uid may be constrained, whereby damping is introduced.
This device can be used as damper of ship roll motion.
Summary
Examples have been given of structures that often exhibit dynamic be-
havior and must be analyzed for dynamic eects.
Free vibrations of a single degree-of-freedom system constitute an ex-
change between potential and kinetic energy. The time scale is charac-
terized by the natural angular frequency
0
.
The square of the natural (angular) frequency is determined by the ratio
stifness/mass, i.e.
2
0
= k/m.
Damping is charactized by the non-dimensional damping ratio , de-
scribing attenuation per vibration cycle. Vibrations with < 1 are
underdamped and may have damping ratio as low as 0.001.
Damping may be measured from attenuation of free vibration response
in terms of the logarithmic decrement = 2.
The equation of motion may be considered as the time derivative of
an energy balance equation. For simple systems with distributed mass
or stiness the equation of motion may be obtained from the energy
balance relation.
The displacement and velocity may be combined into a state vector
(x, x) describing the response of the system. Initial conditions and re-
sponse are conveniently represented in a phase-plane.