July 30, 2002 Ahmed Elgamal

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MDOF Systems & Modal Analysis
Ahmed Elgamal
July 30, 2002 Ahmed Elgamal
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Modal Analysis
(These notes cover sections from Ch. 10, Dynamics of
Structures, Anil Chopra, Prentice Hall, 1995).
References
Dynamics of Structures, Anil K. Chopra, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, ISBN 0-13-
855214-2
July 30, 2002 Ahmed Elgamal
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Procedure to Compute Mode Shapes
Start with the equation of motion for a Linear Multi-Degree
Of Freedom (MDOF) system, with base ground excitation:
with initial
conditions:
g
u& & & & & m1 ku u c u m = + +
u u =
u u & & =
(t=0)
(t=0)
Upon completion of the forced vibration phase = 0 thereafter),
the system continues to oscillate in a Free-Vibration phase. The
corresponding Free Vibration Equation is (forget about damping for
now):
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g
u& &
0 ku u m = + & &
This system will oscillate in a steady-state harmonic fashion, such that:
u u
2
= & &
( ) ( ) t cos b t sin a u + = e.g. gives u u
2
- = & &
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substituting for u& & , we get:
( ) 0 = + u k m -
2

or
( ) 0 = u m - k
2

Equation 1
The above equation represents a classic problem in
Math/Physics, known as the Eigen-value problem.
The trivial solution of this problem is u = 0 (i.e., nothing is
happening, and the system is at rest).
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For a non-trivial solution (which will allow for computing the
deformed shape the system exhibits during free vibration),
0 m - k =
2
0 m - k =
or
2
= where
For a 2-DOF system, the above determinant calculation will result in a quadratic
equation in the unknown term . If this quadratic equation is solved (by hand), two roots
are found (
1
and
2
), which define and (the natural resonant frequencies of
this 2-DOF system).
For a general MDOF system, Matlab or similar computer program can be used to solve
the determinant equation (of order equal to the MDOF system, thus defining MDOF
roots or MDOF natural frequencies , ,, ).
Note: These resonant (natural) frequencies , , are conventionally ordered
lowest to highest (e.g., = 8 radians, = 14 radians, and so forth).
1

MDOF

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Continuing with the Eigen-value problem solution
(again, Matlab does this, or by hand for a 2-dof
system), for each we get an associated mode
shape. To do this (for each identified ), go ahead
and substitute this for in Eq. 1 above. Upon this
substitution, you can solve for the corresponding
vector u, the components of which defines the mode
shape .
n

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Notes:
1) When you substitute any of the values into Eq. 1, the
determinant of the matrix automatically becomes
= 0, since this is a root of the determinant equation
(i.e., the matrix becomes singular). The determinant being
zero is a necessary condition for obtaining a vector u that
is not equal to zero in all its elements to satisfy Equation
1 (i.e., a solution other than the trivial solution of u = 0,
denoting that no vibration is happening as we said earlier).
The u vector obtained when is substituted is what we
call the mode shape .
n

( ) m - k
2
n

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2. Any mode shape only defines relative amplitudes of
motion of the different degrees of freedom in the MDOF
system. For instance, if youre solving a 2-dof system, you
might end up with (when solving for the first mode):
n

=
mdof
u
u
u
2
1
u
u
1
2u
2
= 0, only defining a ratio
between amplitudes of u
1
and u
2
(for instance, if u
1
= 1, then u
2
= 0.5, or
if you choose u
1
= 2, then u
2
= 1, and
so forth).
Generally, go ahead and make u
1
= 1
and solve for the other degrees of
freedom in the vector u, made of :
then divide the elements of by and get
b) Also can be normalized such that if
(not )
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n

0
r
T
n r
T
n
= = m k
n

n n
T
n
M = m
n

n
M
1
1.0
n
T
n
= m
n
2
n n n
T
n
M K = = k
1.0
n
T
n
= m
2
n n
T
n
= k
0
r
T
n
=
Properties of
a) Modes are orthogonal such that (for nr)
c)
and if then
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Solution by mode superposition
Example of a 2-DOF system ( 2 mode shapes and )
1

u
1
u
2
m
2
m
1
11

21

Multiply by to get:
Let known as generalized coordinates (2)
or
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q u =
or

2
1
22 21
12 11
2
1
q
q
u
u


[ ]q q
2 1
= =
Equation of Motion:
g
u& & & & m1 ku u m = +
g
u& & & & m1 k q m = + q
g
u& & & & m1 k q m
T T T
= + q
g
T
2
T
1
2
1
2
T
2 1
T
2
2
T
1 1
T
1
2
1
2
T
2 1
T
2
2
T
1 1
T
1
u
q
q
q
q
& &
& &
& &

m1
m1
k k
k k
m m
m m

or
T

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Due to the orthogonality property of mode shapes
(see previous slide), the matrix equation becomes
un-coupled and we get:
g 2 2
2
2 2 2 2
g 1 1
2
1 1 1 1
u L q M q M
u L q M q M
& & & &
& & & &
= +
= +

or
g
2
2
2
2
2 2
g
1
1
1
2
1 1
u
M
L
q q
u
M
L
q q
& & & &
& & & &
= +
= +

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Note that the original coupled matrix Eq. of motion, has
now become a set of un-coupled equations. You can solve
each one separately (as a SDOF system), and compute
histories of q
1
and q
2
and their time derivatives. To
compute the system response, plug the q vector back into
Equation 2 and get the u vector (and the same for the time
derivatives to get velocity and acceleration).
The beauty here is that there is no matrix operations
involved, since the matrix equation of motion has become a
set of un-coupled equation, each including only one
generalized coordinate q
n
.
sign, while and are of opposite sign).
Therefore, the first mode is more likely to
play a more prominent role in overall
response (frequency content of the input
ground motion also affects this issue).
( since and are of the same
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For a diagonal mass matrix:

=
=
NDOF
1 j

2
ji j i
m M

=
=
NDOF
1 j

ji j i
m L

=
i NDOF
2i
1i
i
.
.
.

i
2
i i
M K =
The terms and are known as modal
participation factors. These terms control
the influence of on the modal response.
You may notice that (if both modes are
normalized to 1.0 at roof level for example)
1
1
M
L
2
2
M
L
g
u& &
2
2
1
1
M
L
M
L
>
11

21

12

22

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Now, you can add any modal damping you wish (which is
another big plus, since you control the damping in each mode
individually). If you choose = 0.02 or 0.05, the equations
become:
Damping
i

g
i
i
i
2
i i i i i
u
M
L
q q 2 q & & & & & = + +
, i = 1, 2, NDOF
OK, go ahead and solve for q
i
(t) in the above uncoupled equations
(using a SDOF-type program), and the final solution is obtained from:
q u =
q u & & =
q u & & & & =
g
t
u& & & & & & 1 u u + =
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Multi-Degree-Of-Freedom (MDOF) Response Spectrum Procedure
1. Once you have generalized coordinates and uncoupled equations, use response
spectrum to get maximum values of response (r
i
)
max
for each mode separately.
Calculate expected max response ( ) using
r
( )

=
2
max i max
r r
root sum
square formula
where i = 1, 2, N degrees of freedom of interest (maybe first 4 modes at most) and
r is any quantity of interest such as |u
max
| or SD
(note that summing the maxima from each mode directly is often too conservative
and is therefore not popular; because the maxima occur at different time instants
during the earthquake excitation phase)
See Chopra Dynamics of Structures for improved formulae to estimate .
max
r
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Response Spectrum Modal Responses
Max relative displacement |u
n
| or |u
jn
| (j
th
floor, n
th
mode)
jn n d
n
n
jn
S
M
L
u =
(S
dn
is S
d
evaluated at frequency or period T
n
)
n

Estimate of maximum floor displacement

=
=
M
1 n
2
jn j
u u (M = number of modes of
interest)
Maximum Equivalent static force f
n
or f
j
n
(j
th
floor, n
th
mode)
jn j n a
n
n
jn
m S
M
L
f =
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Therefore, modal base shear V
0n
and moment M
0n

=
=
N
1 j
jn 0n
f V
# of floors
base

=
=
N
1 j
j jn 0n
d f M
where d
j
= Distance from floor j to base
Estimate of maximum base shear and moment

=
=
M
1 n
2
0n 0
V V

=
=
M
1 n
2
0n 0
M M
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Damping Matrix for MDOF System of Equations
(Ch. 11, Chopra, Dynamics of Structure)
Classical damping matrix
i) Rayleigh damping
c = a
o
m and c = a
1
k
The stiffness proportional damping matrix appeals to
intuition because it generates a damping based on story
deformations, but mass proportional is needed as will be
shown.
In any modal equation, we have
where, and
Therefore, a
o
can be specified to obtain any desired
n
for
any given mode n such that
or or
(e.g. at = 2 radians,
1
= .05) find a
0
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0 q K q C q M
n n n n n n
= + + & & &
n
2
n n
M K =
n n n n
M 2 C =
n
o
n
2
a

=
1

n 0 n n n
M a M 2 =
n n 0
2 a =
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This form of mass proportional damping results in
the trend shown below.
n
o
n
2
a

=
n

m c
o
a =
1

n
o
n
2
a

=
n

m c
o
a =
1

Similarly we can find a

1
such that
or or
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n
2
n 1 n n n
M a M 2 =
n
n
1
2
a

=
2
a

n 1
n

=
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Such stiffness proportional damping displays the trend shown
below with damping increasing linearly with frequency
(not so good physically).
k c
1
a =
2
a

n 1
n

=
n

Physically, we often observe (in first approximation) a

nearly equal value of damping for the first few modes of
structural response (e.g., first 5 modes), and we want to
model that. Therefore, we use:
and define damping ratios and in two modes and get
the damping shown by the combined curve, which is
somewhat uniform within the range of interest (say 1 Hz
to 7 Hz or 2 to 14 in radians).
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k m c
1 0
a a + =
i

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n

Range of
Interest
i

for example 4
th
mode for example
Combined
Stiffness
Mass
nearly uniform damping
Therefore, (since)
or
and for any two modes i and j, we get
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n
2
n 1 n 0 n n n
M a M a M 2 + =
n
2
n n
M K =
2
a
2
a

n 1
n
o
n

+ =

2
1
1
0
j
j
i
i

a
a
1
1
2
1

solve to get a
0
and a
1
and construct your damping matrix
(which is a linear combination of mass and stiffness
matrices)
Notes
1) For a choice of
1
=
2
= single value in the two
modes, we get
,
2) Classical damping and is attractive because of
combination of mass and stiffness, allowing the no-
damping free-vibration mode shapes to un-couple the
matrix equation of motion.
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j i
j i
0
2
a


+
=
j i
1
2
a
+
=
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ii) Caughey damping
The above procedure was generalized by Caughey to allow for more
control over damping in the specified modes of interest (i.e. to be
able to specify for more than 2 modes i and j)
In this generalization, you can stay within the scope of classical
damping by using
[ ]

=
1 N
0 i
i
1
i
a k m m c
to find coefficients to match modal damping ratios (see Ch. 11,
Chopra, Dynamics of Structures)
i
a
i

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Disadvantages:
1. c can become a full matrix instead of being a banded
matrix (if mand k are banded) as with c = a
0
m+ a
1
k
2. You must check to ensure that you dont end up with a
negative in some mode where you have not specifically
specified damping (because damping variation with
frequency might display sharp oscillations).
In summary, c = a
0
m + a
1
k is the usual choice at present
despite the limitations discussed above.
i