APPENDIX B.

DUHAMEL INTEGRAL FOR AN

UNDAMPED AND DAMPED SYSTEM
The unit impulse response procedure for approximating the response of a structure to a
may be used as the basis for developing a formula for evaluating response to a general
dynamic loading. Consider the arbitrary general loading p(t) shown in Fig. B-1,
specifically the intensity of loading p(τ) acting at time t = τ. This loading acting during
the short interval of time dτ produces a short duration impulse p(τ )dτ on the structure,
and equation B-2 can be used to evaluate the response to this impulse. It should be noted
carefully that although the procedure is only approximate for impulses of finite duration,
it becomes exact as the duration of loading approaches zero. Thus for the differential time
interval dτ, the response produced by the loading p(τ) is exactly (for t > τ)
p ( τ ) dτ
dx(t ) = sin ω(t − τ ) (B-1)
mω
In this expression, the term dx(t) represents the differential response to the differential
impulse over the entire response history for t > τ; it is not the change of x during a time
interval dt.

t p(τ)

Figure B-1 Derivation of the Duhamel integral (undamped).

The entire loading history may be considered to consist of a succession of such

short impulses, each producing its own differential response of the form of Eq. (B-1). For
this linearly elastic system, then, the total response can be obtained by summing all the
differential responses developed during the loading history, that is, by integrating Eq. (B-
1) as follows:
t
1
mω ∫0
x(t ) = p( τ ) sin ω(t − τ ) dτ (B-2)

Richard P. Ray 1/8

Equation (B-2) is generally known as the Duhamel integral for an undamped system. It
may be used to evaluate the response of an undamped SDOF system to any form of
dynamic loading p(t), although in the case of arbitrary loadings the evaluation will have
to be performed numerically.
Equation (B-2) may also be expressed in the form
t
x(t ) = ∫ p ( τ ) h(t − τ ) dτ (B-3)
0
where the new symbol has the definition
1
h(t − τ ) = sin ω(t − τ ) (B-4)
mω
Equation (B-3) is called the convolution integral; computing the response of a structure
to an arbitrary loading using this integral is known as obtaining the response through the
time domain. The function h(t - τ) is generally referred to as the unit-impulse response
(defined in this case for an undamped system), because it expresses the response of the
system to an impulse of unit magnitude applied at time t = τ.
In Eq. (B-2) it has been tacitly assumed that the loading was initiated at time t = 0 and
that the structure was at rest at that time. For any other specified initial conditions, x(0) ≠
0 and x (0) ≠ 0, an additional free-vibration response must be added to this solution; thus,
in general,
t
x (0) 1
mω ∫0
x(t ) = sin ωt + x(0) cos ωt + p ( τ ) sin ω(t − τ ) dτ (B-5)
ω

Numerical Evaluation Of The Duhamel Integral For An Undamped

System

If the applied-loading function is integrable, the dynamic response of the structure can be
evaluated by the formal integration of Eq. (B-2) or (B-5). In many practical cases,
however, the loading is known only from experimental data, and the response must be
evaluated by numerical processes. For such analyses it is useful to note the trigonometric
identity, sin (ωt- ωτ) = sin ωt cos ωτ - cos ωt sin ωτ, and to write Eq. (B-2) in the form
(zero initial conditions being assumed)
t t
1 1
x(t ) = sin ωt ∫
mω 0
p ( τ ) cos ωτ dτ − cos ωt
mω ∫0
p ( τ ) sin ωτ dτ

or
v(t ) = A(t ) sin ωt − B(t ) cos ωt (B-6)
t
1
mω ∫0
where A(t ) = p( τ ) cos ωτ dτ

t
1
mω ∫0
B(t ) = p ( τ ) sin ωτ dτ (B-7)

Richard P. Ray 2/8

The numerical integration of the Duhamel integral thus requires the evaluation of the
integrals Ā(t) and B (t) numerically. Consider, for example, the first of these; the function
to be integrated is depicted graphically in Fig. B-2. For convenience of numerical
calculation, the function has been evaluated at equal time increments Δτ, successive
values of the function being identified by appropriate subscripts. The value of the integral
can then be obtained approximately by summing these ordinates multiplied by
appropriate weighting factors. Expressed mathematically, this is
∆τ 1 A
t
1
A(t ) =
mω ∫0
y ( τ ) d τ =
 ∑ (t )
mω ζ ζ
(B-8)

in which y(τ) = p(τ) cos ωτ and 1/ ζ ∑ζA represents the numerical summation process, the
specific form of which depends on the order of the integration approximation being used.
For three elementary approximation procedures, the summations are performed as
follows:

p(τ)

p3
p0 p1 p2
p4 p5 p6 τ
cosωτ

τ
Δτ Δτ Δτ Δτ Δτ Δτ
p(τ)cos ωτ
=y(τ)
y3
y0 y1 y2 τ
y4 y5 y6

Figure B-2 Formulation of numerical summation process for Duhamel integral.

Simple summation (ζ = 1):

A

∑ (t ) =y
1
0 + y1 + y2 +  + y N −1 (B-9a)

Trapezoidal rule (ζ=2):

A

∑ (t ) =y
2
0 + 2 y1 + 2 y2 +  + 2 y N −1 + y N (B-9b)

Simpson’s rule (ζ=3):

Richard P. Ray 3/8

 A

∑ (t ) =y
3
0 + 4 y1 + 2 y2 +  + 4 y N −1 + y N (B-9c)

where N = t/Δτ must be an even number for Simpson’s rule.

Using any of the summation processes of Eq. (B-9) with Eq. (B-8) leads to an
approximation of the integral for the specific time t under consideration. Generally,
however, the entire history of response is required rather than merely the displacement at
some specific time; in other words, the response must be evaluated successively at a
sequence of times t1, t2, …., where the interval between these times is Δτ (or 2 Δτ if
Simpson's rule is used). To provide this complete response history it is more convenient
to express the summations of Eq. (B-9) in incremental form:
Simple summation (ζ = 1):
A A

∑ (t ) = ∑ (t − ∆τ ) + p(t − ∆τ ) cos ω(t − ∆τ )

1 1
(B-10a)

v
W=96.6 k
p(t)
96.6 k
p(t)

k=2,700 k/ft t

0.025 s 0.025 s

fs Loading history
Figure B-3 Water tower subjected to blast load.

Trapezoidal rule (ζ=2):

A A

∑ (t ) = ∑ (t − ∆τ ) + [ p(t − ∆τ ) cos ω(t − ∆τ ) + p(t ) cos ωt ] (B-10b)

2 2
Simpson’s rule (ζ=3):
A A
 p (t − 2∆τ ) cos ω(t − 2∆τ ) 
∑3 (t ) = ∑3 (t − 2∆τ ) +  + 4 p(t − ∆τ ) cos ω(t − ∆τ ) + p(t ) cos ωt  (B-10c)
 
in which ∑ζ (t-Δτ) represents the value of the summation determined at the preceding
A

time t - Δτ.
The evaluation of the term B (t) can be carried out in exactly the same way, that
is,
∆τ 1 B
B(t ) =
mω ζ ζ
∑ (B-11)

Richard P. Ray 4/8

in which ∑ζB (t) can be evaluated by expressions identical to Eqs. (B-10) but with sine
functions replacing the cosine functions. Substituting Eqs. (B-8) and (B·11) into Eq. (B-
6) leads to the final response equation for an undamped system:
∆τ 1  A B 
x(t ) = ∑ (t ) sin ω t − ∑ (t ) cos ωt  (B-12)
mω ζ  ζ ζ 

EXAMPLE B.1 The dynamic response of a water tower subjected to a blast

loading has been calculated to illustrate the numerical evaluation of the Duhamel
integral. The idealizations of the structure and of the blast loading are shown in
Fig. E7·1. For this system, the vibration frequency and period are

kg 2,700(32.2) 2π
ω= = = 30rad / s T= = 0.209 s
W 96.6 ω
The time increment used in the numerical integration was Δτ = 0.005 s, which
corresponds to an angular increment in free vibrations of ωΔτ = 0.15 rad
(probably a longer increment would have given equally satisfactory results). In
this undamped analysis, the Simpson's rule summation was used; hence the factor
ζ = 3 was used in Eqs. (B-10) to (B-12).
A hand solution of the first 10 steps of the undamped response is
presented in a convenient tabular format in Table 1, pg. 8. The operations
performed in each column are generally apparent from the labels at the top. ΔĀ
and Δ B represent the summing of column 7 (or column 12) by groups of three
terms, as indicated by the braces. Column 17 is the term in square brackets of Eq.
(B-12), and the displacements given in column 18 were obtained by multiplying
column 17 by G=Δτ/mωζ. The forces in the last column are given by fs = kv(t). It
should be noted that this is slide-rule work, so that the final results, which involve
differences of large numbers, are rather rough.
Since the blast loading terminates at the end of these 10 time steps, the
values of Ā and B remain constant after this time. If these constant values of the
integrals designated Ā* and B *, the free vibrations which follow the blast loading
are given by [see Eq. (B-6)]
∗ ∗
x(t ) = A sin ωt − B cos ωt
[ ∗ ∗
]
1/ 2
and the amplitude of motion is vmax = ( A ) 2 + ( B ) 2 .
The Duhamel integral could easily have been evaluated by formal integration for
this simple form of loading, but the advantage of the numerical procedure is that it
can be applied to any arbitrary loading history, even where the loads have been
determined by experiment and cannot be expressed analytically.

Richard P. Ray 5/8

Response Of Damped Systems

The derivation of the Duhamel integral equation which expresses the response of a
damped system to a general dynamic loading is entirely equivalent to the undamped
analysis except that the free-vibration response initiated by the differential load impulse
p(τ)dτ is subjected to exponential decay. Thus setting x(0) = 0 and letting x (0) =
[p(τ)dτ]/m in equation B-6 leads to
−ξ ( t −τ )  p (τ ) dτ 
dx(t ) = e (1)  sin ω D (t − τ ) t>τ (B-13)
 mω D 
in which the exponential decay begins as soon as the load is applied at time t = τ.
Summing these differential response terms over the entire loading interval then results in
t
1
x(t ) =
mω D 0 ∫ p (τ ) e −ξω (t −τ ) sin ω D (t − τ ) dτ (B-14)

Comparing Eq. (B-14) with the convolution integral of Eq. (B-3) shows that the
unit-impulse response for a damped system is given by
1 −ξω(t −τ )
h(t − τ ) = e sin ωD (t − τ ) (B-15)
mωD
For numerical evaluation of the damped-system response, Eq. (B-14) may be
written in a form similar to Eq. (B-6):
x(t ) = A(t ) sin ω D t − B(t ) cos ω D t (B-16)
Where, in this case,
eξωτ
t
1
mωD ∫0
A(t ) = p ( τ ) cos ωD τ dτ
eξωt
eξωτ
t
1
mωD ∫0
B (t ) = p (t ) sin ωD τ dτ (B-17)
eξωt

These integrals can be evaluated by an incremental summation process equivalent to that

used previously but taking account of the exponential decay in the process. The first
integral is given by
∆τ 1 A
A(t ) =
mωD ζ ζ
∑ (t ) (B-18)
in which the summations can be expressed for the different processes considered before
as follows:
Simple summation (ζ = 1):
A
 A 
∑1 (t ) = ∑1 (t − ∆τ ) + p(t − ∆τ ) cos ωD (t − ∆τ ) exp(−ξω∆τ ) (B-19a)

Trapezoidal rule (ζ=2):

Richard P. Ray 6/8

 A
 A

∑ (t ) = ∑ (t − ∆τ ) + p(t − ∆τ ) cos ω
2 2
D (t − ∆τ ) exp (−ξω∆τ )
 (B-19b)
+ p (t ) cos ω D t

Simpson’s rule (ζ=3):

A
 A 
∑3 (t ) = ∑ ( t − 2∆τ ) + p(t − 2∆τ ) cos ω D (t − 2∆τ ) exp(−ξω 2∆τ ) (B-19c)
 3 
+4 p(t − ∆τ ) cos ω D (t − ∆τ ) exp(−ξω∆τ ) + p(t ) cos ω D t

The B(t) term is given by similar expressions involving the sine functions.

Richard P. Ray 7/8

Table 1. Example problem from Clough and Penzien

Richard P. Ray 8/8