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A mode of vibration is characterized by a modal frequency and a mode shape, and is numbered
according to the number of half waves in the vibration. For example, if a vibrating beam with
both ends pinned displayed a mode shape of half of a sine wave (one peak on the vibrating beam)
it would be vibrating in mode 1. If it had a full sine wave (one peak and one valley) it would be
vibrating in mode 2.

In a system with two or more dimensions, such as the pictured disk, each dimension is given a
mode number. Using polar coordinates, we have a radial coordinate and an angular coordinate. If
you measured from the center outward along the radial coordinate you would encounter a full
wave, so the mode number in the radial direction is 2. The other direction is trickier, because
only half of the disk is considered due to the p


p p 

nature of a disk's vibration in the angular direction. Thus, measuring 180° along the angular
direction you would encounter a half wave, so the mode number in the angular direction is 1. So
the mode number of the system is 2-1 or 1-2, depending on which coordinate is considered the
"first" and which is considered the "second" coordinate (so it is important to always indicate
which mode number matches with each coordinate direction).

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In a one dimensional system at a given mode the vibration will have nodes, or places where the
displacement is always zero. These nodes correspond to points in the mode shape where the
mode shape is zero. Since the vibration of a system is given by the mode shape multiplied by a
time function, the displacement of the node points remain zero at all times.

When expanded to a two dimensional system, these nodes become lines where the displacement
is always zero. If you watch the animation above you will see two circles (one about 1/3 of the
way from the center to the edge, and the edge itself) and a straight line bisecting the disk, where
the displacement is close to zero. In a real system these lines would equal zero exactly, as shown
to the right.






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For example, a beam might have a mode shape of:

Where n is the mode number, x is the distance from a given end of the beam, and L is the overall
length. The „ subscript denotes that this is for a single „-th mode.

The time function may look like:

Where t is time and T is the period of vibration.

Thus the vibration for a given mode is given by:

Since the total vibration of the beam is given by the 
 of all modes, the total
vibration for our example system is given by:

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  p p p"

Modal analysis studies the  p 
 or ³structural characteristics´ of a mechanical

structure under dynamic excitation:

1. resonant frequency
2. mode shapes
3. damping

To explain this in a simple manner, we¶ll take a plate as a theoretical example. We¶ll apply a
force that varies in a sinusoidal fashion on one corner. Then, we¶ll change the rate of oscillation
(frequency rate) of the sinusoidal force, but the peak force stays the same. And then, we¶ll
measure the response of the excitation with an accelerometer attached to the other corner of the
plate.

The measured amplitude can vary depending on the frequency rate of the input force. The
response amplifies as we apply a force with a frequency rate that gets closer and closer to the
system¶s  p
 p
p  .
The resonant frequency is the frequency at which any excitation produces an exaggerated
response. This is important to know since excitation close to a structure¶s resonant frequency
will often produce adverse effects. These generally involve excessive vibration leading to
potential fatigue failures, damage to the more delicate parts of the structure or, in extreme cases,
complete structural failure.



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If we take the time data and transform it to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform
algorithm to compute something called the ³frequency response function´, we see the functional
peaks that occur at the resonant frequencies of the system.




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Deformation patterns (bending, twisting «) at these resonant frequencies take on a variety of
different shapes depending on the excitation force frequency. These deformation patterns are
referred to as the structure¶s   p.







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Structural p  provides information about how quickly the structure dissipates vibrational
energy and returns to rest when the excitation force is removed.
 


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c p p p refers to a complete process including both an acquisition phase and an analysis
phase. The structure is excited by external forces such as an impact hammer or shaker. In this
case, we talk about #
p  p p p.

Modal testing systems consist of transducers (typically accelerometers and force cells), an analog
to digital converter or front-end to digitize the analog instrumentation signals and a host PC to
review and analyze the data.

m  c
  

An ideal impact to a structure is a perfect impulse, which has an infinitely small duration,
causing a constant amplitude in the frequency domain; this would result in all modes of vibration
being excited with equal energy. The impact hammer test is designed to replicate this; however,
in reality a hammer strike cannot last for an infinitely small duration, but has a known contact
time. The duration of the contact time directly influences the frequency content of the force, with
a larger contact time causing a smaller range of bandwidth. A load cell is attached to the end of
the hammer to obtain a recording of the force. Impact hammer testing is ideal for small light
weight structures; however as the size of the structure increases issues can occur due to a poor
signal to noise ratio.

c
  

A shaker is a device that excites the structure according to its amplified input signal. Several
input signals are available for modal testing, but the sine sweep (chirp) and random frequency
vibration profiles are by far the most commonly used signals.

Shakers can have an advantage over the impact hammer as they can supply more energy to a
structure over a longer period of time.



 p  
 p  p

In mathematics, eigenvalue, eigenvector, and eigenspace are related concepts in the field of
linear algebra. Linear algebra studies linear transformations, which are represented by matrices
acting on vectors. Eigenvalues, eigenvectors and eigenspaces are properties of a matrix. They are
computed by a method described below, give important information about the matrix, and can be
used in matrix factorization. They have applications in areas of applied mathematics as diverse
as finance and quantum mechanics.

In general, a matrix acts on a vector by changing both its magnitude and its direction. However, a
matrix may act on certain vectors by changing only their magnitude, and leaving their direction
unchanged (or possibly reversing it). These vectors are the eigenvectors of the matrix. A matrix
acts on an eigenvector by multiplying its magnitude by a factor, which is positive if its direction
is unchanged and negative if its direction is reversed. This factor is the eigenvalue associated
with that eigenvector. An eigenspace is the set of all eigenvectors that have the same eigenvalue.

c   
  

In linear algebra, there are two kinds of objects: scalars, which are just numbers, and vectors,
which can be thought of as arrows, and which have both magnitude and direction (though more
precisely a vector is a member of a vector space). In place of the ordinary functions of algebra,
the most important functions in linear algebra are called "linear transformations", and a linear
transformation is usually given by a "matrix", an array of numbers. Thus  
p  
  a

 
 c
  c  p p
# p   p 
. The rules for using a matrix to transform
a vector are given in the article linear algebra.

If the action of a matrix on a (nonzero) vector changes its magnitude but not its direction, then
the vector is called an eigenvector of that matrix. A vector which is "flipped" to point in the
opposite direction is also considered an eigenvector. Each eigenvector is, in effect, multiplied by
a scalar, called the eigenvalue corresponding to that eigenvector. The eigenspace corresponding
to one eigenvalue of a given matrix is the set of all eigenvectors of the matrix with that
eigenvalue.

Many kinds of mathematical objects can be treated as vectors: ordered pairs, functions, harmonic
modes, quantum states, and frequencies are examples. In these cases, the concept of direction
loses its ordinary meaning, and is given an abstract definition. Even so, if this abstract direction
is unchanged by a given linear transformation, the prefix "eigen" is used, as in eigenfunction,
eigenmode, eigenstate, and eigenfrequency.
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If a matrix is a diagonal matrix, then its eigenvalues are the numbers on the diagonal and its
eigenvectors are basis vectors to which those numbers refer. For example, the matrix

stretches every vector to three times its original length in the x-direction and shrinks every vector
to half its original length in the y-direction. Eigenvectors corresponding to the eigenvalue 3 are
any multiple of the basis vector [1, 0]; together they constitute the eigenspace corresponding to
the eigenvalue 3. Eigenvectors corresponding to the eigenvalue 0.5 are any multiple of the basis
vector [0, 1]; together they constitute the eigenspace corresponding to the eigenvalue 0.5. In
contrast, any other vector, [2, 8] for example, will change direction. The angle [2, 8] makes with
the x-axis has tangent 4, but after being transformed, [2, 8] is changed to [6, 4], and the angle
that vector makes with the x-axis has tangent 2/3.

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the scalar ʄ is called an eigenvalue of A corresponding to the
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the vector x
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The eigenvalue ʄ is simply the amount of "stretch" or "shrink" to which a vector is subjected when
transformed by A.
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