Two degree of freedom systems

•Equations of motion for forced vibration

•Free vibration analysis of an undamped system
 Introduction
• Systems that require two independent coordinates to describe their
motion are called two degree of freedom systems.

Number of
degrees of freedom  Number of masses  number of possible
of the system in the system types of motion of each
mass
 Introduction
• There are two equations for a two degree of freedom system, one for each
mass (precisely one for each degree of freedom).

• They are generally in the form of coupled differential equations‐that is,

each equation involves all the coordinates.

• If a harmonic solution is assumed for each coordinate,the equations of

motion lead to a frequency equation that gives two natural frequencies of
the system.
 Introduction
• If we give suitable initial excitation, the system vibrates at one of these
natural frequencies. During free vibration at one of the natural
frequencies, the amplitudes of the two degrees of freedom (coordinates)
are related in a specified manner and the configuration is called a normal
mode, principle mode, or natural mode of vibration.

• Thus a two degree of freedom system has two normal modes of vibration
corresponding to two natural frequencies.

• If we give an arbitrary initial excitation to the system, the resulting free

vibration will be a superposition of the two normal modes of vibration.
However, if the system vibrates under the action of an external harmonic
force, the resulting forced harmonic vibration takes place at the frequency
of the applied force.
 Introduction
• As is evident from the systems shown in the figures, the configuration of a
system can be specified by a set of independent coordinates such as
length, angle or some other physical parameters. Any such set of
coordinates is called generalized coordinates.

• Although the equations of motion of a two degree of freedom system are

generally coupled so that each equation involves all coordinates, it is
always possible to find a particular set of coordinates such that each
equation of motion contains only one coordinate. The equations of motion
are then uncoupled and can be solved independently of each other. Such
a set of coordinates, which leads to an uncoupled system of equations, is
called principle copordinates.
 Equations of motion for forced
vibration
• Consider a viscously damped two degree of freedom spring‐mass system
shown in the figure.

• The motion of the system is completely described by the coordinates x1(t)

and x2(t), which define the positions of the masses m1 and m2 at any time t
from the respective equilibrium positions.
 Equations of motion for forced
vibration
• The external forces F1 and F2 act on the masses m1 and m2, respectively.
The free body diagrams of the masses are shown in the figure.
• The application of Newton’s second law of motion to each of the masses
gives the equation of motion:
 Equations of motion for forced
vibration
• It can be seen that the first equation contains terms involving x2, whereas
the second equation contains terms involving x1. Hence, they represent a
system of two coupled second‐order differential equations. We can
therefore expect that the motion of the m1 will influence the motion of
m2, and vica versa.
 Equations of motion for forced
vibration
• The equations can be written in matrix form as:

where [m], [c] and [k] are mass, damping and stiffness matrices,
respectively and x(t) and F(t) are called the displacement and force
vectors, respectively.which are given by:
 Equations of motion for forced
vibration
• It can be seen that the matrices [m], [c] and [k] are all 2x2 matrices whose
elements are the known masses, damping coefficienst, and stiffness of the
system, respectively.
• Further, these matrices can be seen to be symmetric, so that:

Free vibration analysis of an undamped system

• For the free vibration analysis of the system shown in the figure, we set
F1(t)=F2(t)=0. Further, if the damping is disregarded, c1=c2=c3=0, and the
equations of motion reduce to:
 Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system
• We are interested in knowing whether m1 and m2 can oscillate
harmonically with the same frequency and phase angle but with different
amplitudes. Assuming that it is possible to have harmonic motion of m1
and m2 at the same frequency  and the same phase angle , we take the
solutions to the equations

as:

where X1 and X2 are constants that denote the maximum amplitudes of

x1(t) and x2(t) and  is the phase angle.Substituting the above two
solutions into the first two equations, we have:
 Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system

• Since the above equations must be satisfied for all values of time t, the
terms between brackets must be zero. This yields,

which represents two simultaneous homogeneous algebraic equations in

the unknowns X1 and X2. It can be seen that the above equation can be
satisfied by the trivial soution X1=X2=0, which implies that there is no
vibration. For a nontrivial solution of X1 and X2, the determinant of
coefficients of X1 and X2 must be zero.
 Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system

(m1m 2 ) 4 {k1  k2 m2  (k2  3 1  2 {(k1  k2 )(k2  k3 )  k2 2 } 

k )m } 0
• The above equation is called the frequency or characteristic equation
because solution of this equation yields the frequencies of the
characteristic values of the system. The roots of the above equation are
given by:
 Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system
• This shows that it is possible for the system to have a nontrivial harmonic
solution of the form

when =1 and =2 given by:

We shall denote the values of X1 and X2 corresponding to 1 as

and those corresponding to 2 as .
 Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system
• Further, since

the above equation is homogeneous, only the ratios and

r2= can be found. For , the equations

give:

• Notice that the two ratios are identical.

 Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system
• The normal modes of vibration corresponding to
can be expressed, respectively, as:

• The vectors , which denote the normal modes of vibration

are known as the modal vectors of the system. The free vibration solution
or the motion in time can be expressed using

as:

where the constants are determined by the initial

conditions.
 Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system
Initial conditions:
Each of the two equations of motion ,

involves second order time derivatives; hence we need to specify two

initial conditions for each mass.
The system can be made to vibrate in its ith normal mode (i=1,2) by
subjecting it to the specific initial conditions.

However, for any other general initial conditions, both modes will be
excited. The resulting motion, which is given by the general solution of the
equations

can be obtained by a linear superposition of two normal modes.

 Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system
Initial conditions: → →
x(t)  c1 x1 (t)  c2 x2 (t)
→
where c1 and c2 are constants.

Since and already involve the unknown constants

we can choose c1=c2=1 withandno loss of generality. Thus, the components of the
→
vector x(t) can be expressed as:

where the unknown can be determined from the initial

conditions
Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system
Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system
Free vibration analysis of an
undamped system
Frequencies of a mass‐spring system
Example: Find the natural frequencies and
mode shapes of a spring mass system , which
is constrained to move in the vertical
direction.
Solution: The equations of motion are given
by:

By assuming harmonic solution as:

the frequency equation can be obtained by:

 Frequencies of a mass‐spring system

• The solution to the above equation gives the natural frequencies:

 Frequencies of a mass‐spring system
• From

the amplitude ratios are given by:

 Frequencies of a mass‐spring system
• From

• The natural modes are given by

 Frequencies of a mass‐spring system
• The natural modes are
given by:
 Frequencies of a mass‐spring system
• It can be seen that when the system vibrates in its first mode, the
amplitudes of the two masses remain the same. This implies that the
length of the middle spring remains constant. Thus the motions of the
mass 1 and mass 2 are in phase.
 Frequencies of a mass‐spring system
• When the system vibrates in its second mode, the equations below show
that the displacements of the two masses have the same magnitude
with opposite signs. Thus the motions of the mass 1 and mass 2 are out
of phase. In this case, the midpoint of the middle spring remains
stationary for all time. Such a point is called a node.
 Frequencies of a mass‐spring system
• Using equations

the motion (general solution) of the system can be expressed as:

 Forced vibration analysis
• The equation of motion of a general two degree of freedom system under
external forces can be written as:

• We shall consider the external forces to be harmonic:

where  is the forcing frequency. We can write the steady state solution
as:

where X1 and X2 are, in general, complex quantities that depend on  and

the system parameters. Substituting the above two equations into the first
one:
 Forced vibration analysis
• We obtain:

• If we define a term called ‘mechanical impedance’ Zrs(i) as:

and write the first equation as:

where
 Forced vibration analysis
• The equation
can be solved to obtain:
• Where the inverse of the impedance matrix is given by:

• Therefore, the solutions are:

• By substituting these into the below equation, the solutions can be

obtained.
Multi‐degree of freedom systems

•Modeling of continuous systems as multidegree of freedom systems

•Eigenvalue problem
 Multidegree of freedom systems
• As stated before, most engineering systems are continuous and
have an infinite number of degrees of freedom. The vibration
analysis of continuous systems requires the solution of partial
differential equations, which is quite difficult.

• In fact, analytical solutions do not exist for many partial differential

equations. The analysis of a multidegree of freedom system on the
other hand, requires the solution of a set of ordinary differential
equations, which is relatively simple. Hence, for simplicity of
analysis, continuous systems are often approximated as
multidegree of freedom systems.

• For a system having n degrees of freedom, there are n associated

natural frequencies, each associated with its own mode shape.
 Multidegree of freedom systems
• Different methods can be used to approximate a continuous system as a
multidegree of freedom system. A simple method involves replacing the
distributed mass or inertia of the system by a finite number of lumped masses or
rigid bodies.

• The lumped masses are assumed to be connected by massless elastic and damping
members.

• Linear coordinates are used to describe the motion of the lumped masses. Such
models are called lumped parameter of lumped mass or discrete mass systems.

• The minimum number of coordinates necessary to describe the motion of the

lumped masses and rigid bodies defines the number of degrees of freedom of the
system. Naturally, the larger the number of lumped masses used in the model, the
higher the accuracy of the resulting analysis.
 Multidegree of freedom systems
• Some problems automatically
indicate the type of lumped
parameter model to be used.

• For example, the three storey

building shown in the figure
automatically suggests using a
three lumped mass model as
indicated in the figure.

• In this model, the inertia of the

system is assumed to be
concentrated as three point
masses located at the floor
levels, and the elasticities of the
columns are replaced by the
springs.
 Multidegree of freedom systems
• Another popular method of approximating a continuous system as a
multidegree of freedom system involves replacing the geometry of the
system by a large number of small elements.
• By assuming a simple solution within each element, the principles of
compatibility and equilibrium are used to find an approximate solution to
the original system. This method is known as the finite element method.
 Using Newton’s second law to derive
equations of motion
The following procedure can be adopted to derive the equations of motion of
a multidegree of freedom system using Newton’s second law of motion.

1. Set up suitable coordinates to describe the positions of the various point

masses and rigid bodies in the system. Assume suitable positive directions
for the displacements, velocities and accelerations of the masses and rigid
bodies.

2. Determine the static equilibrium configuration of the system and measure

the displacements of the masses and rigid bodies from their respective static
equilibrium positions.

3. Draw the free body diagram of each mass or rigid body in the system.
Indicate the spring, damping and external forces acting on each mass or rigid
body when positive displacement or velocity are given to that mass or rigid
body.
 Using Newton’s second law to derive
equations of motion
4. Apply Newton’s second law of motion to each mass or rigid body shown by
the free body diagram as:

Example: Derive the equations of motion of the spring‐mass‐damper system

shown in the figure.
 Using Newton’s second law to derive
equations of motion
• Draw free‐body diagrams of masses and apply Newton’s second law of
motion. The coordinates describing the positions of the masses, xi(t), are
measured from their respective static equilibrium positions, as indicated
in the figure. The application of the Newton’s second law of motion to
mass mi gives:

• or

• The equations of motion of the masses m1 and m2 can be derived from the
above equations by setting i=1 along with xo=0 and i=n along with xn+1=0,
respectively.
Equations of motion in matrix form
• The equations of motion in matrix form in the above example can be
expressed as:
Equations of motion in matrix form
Equations of motion in matrix form
• For an undamped system, the equations of motion reduce to:

• The differential equations of the spring‐mass system considered in the

example, can be seen to be coupled. Each equation involves more than
one coordinate. This means that the equations can not be solved
individually one at a time; they can only be solved simultaneously.

• In addition, the system can be seen to be statically coupled since

stiffnesses are coupled‐ that is the stiffness matrix has at least one
nonzero off‐diagonal term. On the other hand, if the mass matrix has at
least one off‐diagonal term nonzero, the system is said to be dynamically
coupled. Further, if both the stiffness and the mass matrices have nonzero
off‐diagonal terms, the system is said to be coupled both statically and
dynamically.
 Undamped free vibrations
• The equations of motion for a freely vibrating undamped system can be
obtained by omitting the damping matrix and applied load vector from:
m˙x˙  cx˙  kx  0
in which 0 is a zero vector. The problem of vibration analysis consists of
determining the conditions under which the equilibrium condition expressed
by the above equation will be satisfied.
• By analogy with the behavour of SDOF systems, it will be assumed that the
free‐vibration motion is simple harmonic (the first equation below), which
may be expressed for a multi degree of freedom system as:
x(t)  xˆ sin(t   )

˙x˙   2 xˆ sin(t   )   2x

• In the above expressions, xˆ represents the shape of the system (which does
not change with time; only the amplitude varies) and  is a phase angle. The
third equation above represents the accelerations in the free vibration.
 Undamped free vibrations
• Substituting
x(t)  xˆ sin(t   )

˙x˙   2 xˆ sin(t   ) 
in the equation  2 x
m˙x˙  cx˙  kx  0
we obtain: ˆ ˆ
 2mx sin( t  )  kx sin( t  ) 
which (since the sine0term is arbitrary and may be omitted) may be written:
k   mxˆ  0
2

• The above equation is one way of expressing what is called an eigenvalue

or characteristic value problem. The quantities 2 are the eigenvalues or
characteristic values indicating the square of the free‐vibration
frequencies, while the corresponding displacement vectors xˆ express
the corresponding shapes of the vibrating system‐ known as the
eigenvectors or mode shapes.
 Undamped free vibrations
• It can be shown by Cramer’s rule that the solution of this set of
simultaneous equations is of the form:
0
xˆ k
 2
m
• Hence a nontrivial solution is possible only when the denominator
determinant vanishes. In other words, finite amplitude free vibrations are
possible only when
k m 
2

0
• The above equation is called the frequency equation of the system.
Expanding the determinant will give an algebraic equation of the Nth
degree in the frequency parameter  2 for a system having N degrees
of freedom.
• The N roots of this equation 12 ,22 ,32 ,....,2N represent the frequencies of
the N modes of vibration which
 are possible in the system.
 Undamped free vibrations
• The mode having the lowest frequency is called the first mode, the next
higher frequency is the second mode, etc.
• The vector made up of the entire set of modal frequencies, arranged in
sequence, will be called the frequency vector .
1 
 
  3 
2

⁝ 
 
Normalization: N

It was noted earlier that the vibration mode amplitudes obtained from the
eigenproblem solution are arbitrary; any amplitude will satisfy the basic
frequency equation
k 2
m 0
and only the resulting shapes are uniquely defined.
 Normalization of modes
• In the analysis process described above, the amplitude of one degree of
freedom (the first actually) has been set to unity, and the other
displacements have been determined relative to this reference value. This
is called normalizing the mode shapes with respect to the specified
reference coordinate.

• Other normalizing procedures also are frequently used; e.g., in many

computer programs, the shapes are normalized relative to the maximum
displacement value in each mode rather than with respect to any
particular coordinate. Thus, the maximum value in each modal vector is
unity, which provides convenient numbers for use in subsequent
calculations.
 Normalization of modes
• The normalizing procedure most often used in computer programs for
structural vibration analysis, however, involves adjusting each modal
amplitude to the amplitude nˆ, which satisfies the condition

ˆnT mˆn 
• This can be accomplished by computing
1 the scalar factor

v vˆ  n
ˆn T m m
where n represents an arbitrarily determined modal amplitude, and
v ˆ
then computing the normalized
Mˆ mode shapes as follows:
1/ 2
 v
nˆ nˆ n
By simple substitution, it is easy to show that this givs the desired result. A
Mˆ
consequence of this type of normalizing together with the modal
orthogonality relationships relative to the mass matrix is that
φˆ T m φˆ  I
n n

where  is the complete set of N normalized mode shapes and I is an NxN

identity matrix. The mode shapes normalized in this fashion are said to be
orthonormal relative to the mass matrix.
Mode shapes of a four storey 2D frame
• A model of a four‐story three‐bay frame can be evaluated to
determine the mode shapes. This 2 D model is from a
typical building from the Marmara region in Turkey.

• Generally, the first mode of vibration is the one of primary

interest. The first mode usually has the largest
contribution to the structure's motion. The period of this
mode is the longest and the natural frequency is the lowest.

• Please click on the movie to start!

Mode shapes of a four storey 2D frame
• First mode shape
Mode shapes of a four storey 2D frame
• Second mode shape
Mode shapes of a four storey 2D frame
• Third mode shape
 Undamped free vibrations
Example:

Determine the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a vibrating system for which

Example
 Example
Solution:
When the characteristic equation possesses repeated roots, the
corresponding mode shapes are not unique.
 Example
Solution:
 Rigid body motion
• An unrestrained system is one that has no restraints or supports and that
can move as a rigid body. It is not uncommon to see in practice systems
that are not attached to any stationary frame.
• Such systems are capable of moving as rigid bodies, which can be
considered as modes of oscillation with zero frequency.
• A semidefinite system such as this, has a singular stiffness matrix. In
systems that are not properly restrained, rigid‐body displacements can
take place without the application of any force. Thus, denoting a possible
rigid‐body displacement by ur, we have
fr  Kur  0

• For a nonzero ur, the above equation can be satisfied provided only that
is singular. In this case, the below equation can only be satisfied when
K
=0.
K   Mu2
r

0
 Rigid body motion
• The rigid body displacements are those displacement modes that the
element must be able to undergo as a rigid body without stresses being
developed in it.
• Rigid body displacement shapes are also referred to as rigid body
modes.
• A system can, of course, have more than one rigid body mode. In the most
general case, up to six rigid body modes are possible. For example, a
spacecraft or an aeroplane in flight has all six possible rigid‐body modes,
three translations and three rotations, one along each of the three axis.

Rigid body modes of a plane stress element

 Orthogonality of modes
• The natural modes corresponding to different natural frequencies can be
shown to satisfy the following orthogonality conditions. When    :
n

nT k r0 nT m r 
0
• Proof: The nth natural frequency and mode satisfy

kn  n2 n
m T
Premultiplying the above equation by r
rT kn  n2 rT n
m and mode shape satisfy
Similarly the rth natural frequency
kr  r2 r
m
 Orthogonality of modes
T
Premultiplying k r  r2m r by n gives:

nT kr  r2 nT r

m
The transpose of the matrix on the left side of r kn  n r
T 2 T
n will
m of the equation:
equal the transpose of the matrix on the right side
nT kr  n2 nT r
Subtracting the first equation
m from the second equation:
    m 
2
n r
2 T
n r

The equation
T
 m r
n
 0 is true when
0
n
 which for systems with
positive natural frequencies implies that
r n  
r
 Modal equations for undamped
systems
• The equations of motion for a linear MDOF system without damping is:
 ︵

m
x
k
x

p
t
˙ 
• The simultaneous solution of these coupled equations of motion that we
have illustrated before for a 2 dof system subjected to harmonic
excitation is not efficient for systems with more DOF, nor is it feasible for
systems excited by other types of forces. Consequently, it is advantegous
to transform these equations to modal coordinates.
• The displacement vector x of a MDOF system can be expanded in terms
of modal contributions. Thus, the dynamic response of a system can be
expressed as:
N

x(t)   r qr (t)  φq(t)

r 1
 Modal equations for undamped
systems
N

• Using the equation x(t)  r qr (t)  φq(t) , the coupled equations in

given below 1
r

xj(t)
 ︵

m
x
k
x

p
t
˙ 
can be transformed to a set of uncoupled equations with modal
coordinates qn(t) as the unknowns. Substituting the first equation into the
second:
N N

 ︵︶
m

p
t
r 1 r q˙ r(t )   r qr(t )

Premultiplying each term in this equation by nT
r 1
gives
N : N
T ︵
r q˙r (t )  r q r(t )  n
T
m

p
t

n
r
1

T
n
r 1
 Modal equations for undamped
systems
• Because of the orthogonality relations nT r
k 0 nT m r  0 , all
terms in each of the summations vanish except the r=n term, reducing the
equation to:
nT n q n(t )  nT n qn(t )  nT ︵
m

p
t


or ˙
M n q˙ n (t)  Kn q n (t)  Pn (t)
where ˙T
M n  n n K n  n kn
T
Pn (t)  nT p(t)
m
• The above equation may be interpreted as the equation governing the
response qn(t) of the SDOF system with mass Mn, stiffness Kn, and exciting
force Pn(t).
• Therefore Mn is called the generalized mass for the nth natural mode, Kn
the generalized stiffness for the nth mode, and Pn(t) the generalized force
for the nth mode. These parameters only depend on the nth mode.
Modal equations for damped systems
• When damping is included, the equations of motion for a MDOF system
are:
︵
˙  ˙ 

m
x
c
x

k
x
p
t
• Using the transformation N
x(t)  
r r qr (t)  φq(t)
where r are the natural modes
1 of the system without damping, these
equations can be written in terms of the modal coordinates. Unlike the
case of undamped systems, these modal equations may be coupled
through the damping terms. However, for certain forms of damping that
are reasonable idealizations for many structures, the equations become
uncoupled, just as for undamped systems. Substituting the second
equation into the first, we obtain:
N N N

 ︵
m

p
t
r 1 r q˙ r(t ) r 1 r q˙ r (t ) r  r qr(t )
1

Modal equations for damped systems
• Premultiplying each term in this equation by T
n gives:
N N N

 ︵
 q (t ) 
T T T T
m

p
t
 q˙ (t )    q (t ) 
n r ˙r n

 n r r 
which can be rewritten
n as:
r r r 1
r 1
N
r 1

M n q˙ n(t )   C nr q˙ r (t )  Knqn(t ) 
where Pn(t )
r 1
C nr  n c
T
r

The above N equations can be written in matrix form as:
Mq˙  Cq˙  Kq  P(t)

Here C is a nondiagonal matrix of coefficients Cnr.

Modal equations for damped systems
• The modal equations will be uncoupled if the system has classical
damping. For such systems Cnr=0 if nr and Cn can be expressed as:
Cn  2
n Mn
n
• For such systems:

M n q˙ n  Cn q˙ n  Kn q n  Pn
(t)
• Dividing by Mn: 2 Pn (t)
q˙ n  2 nn q˙ n n n q M
n

where  n is the damping ratio for the nth


mode.