Lectures on

Mechanical System Dynamics

Alessandro Vigliani
e-mail: alessandro.vigliani@polito.it

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale

Politecnico di Torino

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 1 / 24

Todays Lecture:
Response of SDOF systems to non-periodic excitations

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 2 / 24

 non-periodic excitation

non-periodic excitation

non-periodic excitations are often referred to as transient,

although some can last a long time
the term transient is to be interpreted in the sense that
non-periodic excitations are not steady-state
usually non-periodic excitations start at time t = 0
thanks to superposition principle the response of linear systems to
non-periodic excitations can be combined with the response to
initial excitations to obtain the total response
the response of linear systems to arbitrary excitations can be
expressed as a superposition of impulse responses by means of the
convolution integral

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 3 / 24

non-periodic excitation

step response
step excitation: F (t) = f0 for t t0
if f0 = 1, then we have the unit step function
(
0 for t < t0
u(t t0 ) =
1 for t t0
assume t0 = 0; then the equilibrium equation for the mds system is
mx + cx + kx = f0 for t 0
and the initial conditions (i.c.) are:
x(t = 0) = x0 = 0
x(t = 0) = v0 = 0
the solution is given by superposition of the particular solution xp (t),
often called steady-state solution, and of the homogeneous solution
xg (t), referred to as transient solution:
x(t) = xp (t) + xg (t)
(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 4 / 24
 non-periodic excitation

step response

the particular solution can be immediately determined

since the right hand-side term is constant (f0 ), also the left hand-side
terms must be constant, for any time t 0
hence xp = f0 /k const, while xp = 0 and xp = 0
hence the total solution is

x(t) = f0 /k + A1 es1 t + A2 es2 t

p
where s1,2 = n n 2 1, while A1 and A2 can be determined
imposing the initial conditions
note that i.c. must be imposed on the complete solution

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 5 / 24

non-periodic excitation

step response - underdamped system

in case the system is underdamped ( < 1), it holds

x(t) = f0 /k + en t a cos(d t) + b sin(d t)

 

let impose the initial conditions

f0 /k + a = x0 = 0
n a + d b = v0 = 0

the total solution, called step response, is

(  )
f0
s(t) = x(t) = 1 en t cos(d t) + p sin(d t)
k 1 2

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 6 / 24

 non-periodic excitation

step response - underdamped system

unit step response

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 7 / 24

non-periodic excitation

impulse response
let define the unit impulse or Dirac delta the distribution (t t0 )
characterized as
(t t0 ) = 0 t =
6 t0
(t t0 ) t = t0
Z +
(t t0 ) dt = 1

the impulse is a distribution equal to 0 for any time t except for time
t0 , when it tends to
moreover its integral has a finite value equal to 1

the impulse can be thought as

lim f (t)
0
f0

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 8 / 24

 non-periodic excitation

impulse response
let assume that t0 = 0
consequently, for any time t 6= t0 , the equation of motion is

mx + cx + kx = 0

we know that the free response depends on viscous damping and initial
conditions
let assume that immediately before the impulse, i.e. at time t = 0 , i.c.
are
x(t = 0 ) = x(0 ) = 0
x(t = 0 ) = x(0 ) = 0
now, it holds

mx + cx + kx = f0 for /2 < t < /2

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 9 / 24

non-periodic excitation

impulse response
in the interval [/2, /2], integrate once and take the limit for 0:
" Z #
/2
+ +
mx(0 ) + cx(0 ) + lim k x dt = 1
0 /2

integrating twice it holds:

" Z #
/2 Z /2 Z
mx(0+ ) + lim c x d + k x dt d = 0
0 /2 /2 /2

assuming that x(t) is limited (i.e. it does not tend to infinite) in the
interval [/2, /2], the limit of the integrals is equal to 0
consequently (from the second eq.) also term mx(0+ ) is null, i.e.:
x(0+ ) = 0
substituting in the first eq., it yields:
x(0+ ) = 1/m

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 10 / 24

 non-periodic excitation

impulse response - underdamped system

let impose the i.c. just determined for t = 0+

hence the impulse response h(t) for an underdamped system is
1 n t
x(t) = h(t) = e sin(d t)
md
the impulse response is determined as the free response of a system
having null initial displacement but initial speed different from 0
due to the impulse, h(t) is a continuous function but its first derivative
has a discontinuity in t0 , jumping from 0 to 1/m
in general, for an underdamped system, it holds:

for t t0

0
h(t) =
1 en (tt0 ) sin d (t t0 )
 
for t > t0
md

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 11 / 24

non-periodic excitation

impulse and unit step

the unit step function is clearly discontinuous at t = t0 : its value jumps
from 0 to 1
an interesting feature is that multiplication of an arbitrary function
f (t) by u(t t0 ) annihilates the portion of f (t) corresponding to t < t0
while it leaves unaffected the portion for t t0
so it is possible to express the impulse response in compact form as
1 n (tt0 )  
h(t) = e sin d (t t0 ) u(t t0 )
md

there is a relationship between unit step u(t t0 ) and impulse (t t0 ),

the unit step being the integral of the unit impulse:
Z t
u(t t0 ) = ( t0 ) d

where is a dummy variable of integration

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 12 / 24
 non-periodic excitation

impulse and unit step

obviously, the unit impulse is the time derivative of the unit step, i.e.:
du(t t0 )
(t t0 ) =
dt
similarly, the step response s(t) is related to the impulse response h(t)
by Z t
s(t) = h( ) d

this equation can be used to derive the unit step response of a mds
system:
Z t Z t
1 1
s(t) = en sin(d )u( ) d = en sin(d ) d
md md 0
to solve the integral, let observe that
e d ed e d + ed
sin(d ) = and cos(d ) =
2 2
(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 13 / 24

non-periodic excitation

impulse and unit step

consequently
Z t
1
en e d ed d


s(t) =
2md 0
Z t
1
e(n d ) e(n +d ) d

=
2md 0

e(n +d ) t
 (n d ) 
1 e
=
2md (n d ) (n + d ) 0

1
h (n d )t
i
= n + d 1 e +
2md n2

h i
n d 1 e(n +d )t
 i
1 h n
= 1 en t cos(d t) + sin(d t) u(t)
k d
(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 14 / 24
 non-periodic excitation

response to arbitrary excitations

there are two ways of deriving the response to arbitrary excitations,

depending on the manner in which the exciting function is described
frequency-domain representation of functions
I express the arbitrary excitation as periodic and represent it by a
Fourier series
I use a limiting process whereby the period approaches infinity so
that the function becomes arbitrary the Fourier series becomes a
Fourier integral
I well suited for random excitations
time-domain representation of functions
I regard the arbitrary function as a superposition of impulses of
varying amplitude applied at different time

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 15 / 24

non-periodic excitation

response to arbitrary excitations

the Dirac delta is particularly suited for describing impulsive forces

if a very large force acts over a short interval at t = a, then it can be
described as
F (t) = F (t a)
where F is the magnitude of the impulse ([N/s])
sampling property: multiplying a continuous arbitrary function f (t) by
(t a) and integrating with respect to time, if f (t) does not change
over the duration of the impulse, it follows
Z + Z +
f (t)(t a) dt f (a) (t a) dt = f (a)

the effect of integrating a function f (t) weighed by the Dirac delta

applied at t = a is simply to evaluate f (t) at t = a

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 16 / 24

 non-periodic excitation

response to arbitrary excitations

sampling property of Dirac delta

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 17 / 24

non-periodic excitation

convolution integral

consider an arbitrary excitation F (t)

focus on the contribution to the
response of an impulse acting in the
time interval < t < +
assume that is sufficiently small
that F (t) does not change much over
the time increment
the area in figure can be considered
an impulse of magnitude F ( )
the impulsive force is

F ( )(t ) = F ( ) (t )

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 18 / 24

 non-periodic excitation

convolution integral
impulsive force
F ( )(t ) = F ( ) (t )
the response of a linear time-invariant system to impulse is
x(t, ) = F ( ) h(t )
where h(t ) is the impulse response delayed by the time interval
let regard the excitation F (t) as a superposition of impulsive forces;
then the response can be approximated as
X
x(t) = F ( ) h(t )

in the limit, as 0, let replace the summation by integration and
obtain the convolution integral
Z t
x(t) = F ( )h(t ) d
0

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 19 / 24

non-periodic excitation

convolution integral

since the convolution integral

Z t
x(t) = F ( )h(t ) d
0

expresses the response as a superposition of impulse responses, it is

also known as superposition integral
this integral allows to compute the system response for any time t
provided that initial conditions are null and that the impulse response
is known
if i.c. are not null, it is necessary to add the free response to the
convolution integral
the computation of the integral can be very complex!

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 20 / 24

 non-periodic excitation

convolution integral

note that h ia a function of t , rather than of , where is the

variable of integration
to obtain h(t ) from h( ) it is necessary to carry out two operations:

shifting
folding

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 21 / 24

non-periodic excitation

convolution integral

impulse response h( ) shifting backwards folding and shifting

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 22 / 24

 non-periodic excitation

convolution integral

arbitrary F ( ) product F ( )h(t ) point on x(t)

integrate the curve F ( )h(t ) determine the area in figure

the result is the red point of the response x(t)

(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 23 / 24

non-periodic excitation

convolution integral
let carry out the shifting and folding process on F ( ) instead of h( )
let introduce a variable transformation from to :
=t =t d = d
a change of the integration limits is required:
=0 =t
=t =0
substituting, it holds
Z 0 Z t
x(t) = F (t )h()( d) = F (t )h() d
t 0
since both and are dummy variables of integration, it yields:
Z t Z t
x(t) = F ( )h(t ) d = F (t )h( ) d
0 0
the conv. int. is symmetric in the excitation F and impulse response h
(Dimeas) Mechanical System Dynamics 24 / 24