Coursework Sheet of Structural Dynamics

1. It is possible to determine the mass, damping and stiffness of a SDOF

structure by using a kind of shaking machine with harmonic loading at two
different frequencies and measuring the resulting structural responses
(amplitude and phase relationship) in each case. In a test of a single-story
building as given in Fig.1, the machine was operated at frequencies of
1 =16rad/s and 2 =25rad/s, with a force amplitude of 2222N in each case.
The response amplitudes and phase relationships measured in the two cases
were 1= 18.3 10 3 cm , 1=15o, 2= 36.8 10 3 cm , 2=55o.
Evaluate the mass, damping (ratio, coefficient) and stiffness of the structure.

u(t)

p(t)

k/2

k/2
c

(Ans: m=22394kg, =15.7%, c=196.55 kN.s/m, k=17462 kN/m)

Fig.1

2. A two-story shear building, which is modelled as a two-degree-of-freedom system, is shown in Fig.2, the
displacements of the foundation, the first floor and the second floor of the structure are, respectively, y0, y1
and y2, which are all observed from a remote stand point (origin of an inertia coordinate system).
u2
y2(t)
(a) Demonstrate that the governing equation of motion for the structure is
m2
0 u k k k u
m
m

y0
k 2 u 2
m2
d 2 y0
in which u1 y1 y0 , u 2 y 2 y0 and y0
.
dt 2
(b) Solve for the two normal mode vectors i (i 1, 2)
1

2
m2 u2 k 2
1

k2

u1

y1(t)

k2

m1
k1

k1

of the system and sketch them .

y0(t)
Fig.2

3. The free vibration of a uniform beam ( , A, L) is modelled by lumping mass at three nodes as shown in
Fig.3, where , A, L are the mass of unit volume, cross section area and total length of the beam respectively.
The resulting equation of motion ( m AL ) is
u1
u2
u3

m 0 0 u1
0 2m 0 u 48EI

2
L3
0 0 m u3

1 2 1 u1 0
2 4 2 u 0

2
1 2 1 u 3 0

m/4

m/2

m/4

L/2

L/2
Fig.3

(a) Solve for the three natural circular frequency of this system.
(b) Solve for the three normal modes of the system and sketch them.
(c) Try to find mode vectors

i (i 1, 2, 3) satisfying orthogonality for 1T m1 , 1T m 2 and 1T m 3 .