Northern Illinois University

Department of Mechanical Engineering

MEE 321 Mechanical Vibrations I

Spring 2017

Homework #11
Due: April 28, Friday (at the beginning of class)

Note: You must show steps and reasoning. Your whole solution process and presentation of
it will be graded, not just the final answer. It is encouraged to discuss with classmates, but
the work you turn in must be your own work.
Ch 6.7 to 6.10
1. Derive the equations of motion of the system shown in Fig. 5.12(a) from the textbook using Lagranges
equations with x and as generalized coordinates. Compare with Eq. (5.23). Are they the same?

2. Derive the equations of motion of the system shown in Fig. 6.29 using Lagranges equations.

3. Redo Example 6.11 with 1 = 1, 2 = 2, 3 = 3 and 1 = 1, 2 = 2, 3 = 3. Follow the steps below.

1) Calculate the matrix [] = []1 [].

Notes: You may want to use the following MATLAB code for calculating the inverse matrix.
e.g.) k = [1 2 1;2 1 1;3 3 3]; inv(k) % 3x3 matrix k

2) Find the characteristic equation, i.e., set the determinant of ([I] [D]) equal to zero.
1
3) Solve the characteristic equation for . With the matrix of ([I] [D]), is given by 2 . What are
the natural frequencies?
4) Now lets calculate the eigenvectors (mode shapes). With the first natural frequency you obtained
above, write three equations of (E.13).
5) Solve the equations and write the first mode shape in a vector form as in (E.16).
6) Repeat steps 4), 5) for 2 and 3 .

4. For the following eigenvalue problem,

use [V, D] = eig(A). Here, V and D are the matrices of eigenvectors and eigenvalues, respectively.
Redo Problem 3 using this Matlab command and check if the results are the same.