ADVANCED DYNAMICS OF

STRUCTURES
(INS6602)
- LESSON 7 -
Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ
Email: mborekciytu@gmail.com
DIRECT INTEGRATION of the EOM
Analytical solution of the EOM for a SDOF system is
usually not possible if the excitation [applied force p(t) or
ground acceleration 𝑢𝑔 (𝑡)] varies arbitrarily with time or if
the system is nonlinear. Such problems can be tackled by
numerical time-stepping methods for integration of
differential equations. Although, the EOM is integrated
using a step-by-step procedure. There are two fundamental
concepts at the essence of direct integration methods:
(1) the EOM is satisfied at only discrete time intervals Δt
(2) for any time t, a variation of displacement, velocity, and
acceleration within each time interval Δt is assumed

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

  It is assumed that the displacement, velocity, and
acceleration at time t = 0 are known and are represented
by 𝑢0 , 𝑢0 , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢0 , respectively.
 It is also assumed that the solution is sought in the time
interval from 0 to tf. In the solution time interval under
consideration, tf is subdivided into n equal time
increments Δt, and the integration scheme approximates
a solution at times 0, Δt, 2 Δt,….. , tf.
 The integration method calculates the solution at the
next required time increment based upon the solution
obtained at the previous time increment. Therefore,
algorithms can be derived to calculate the solution at
some time t+ Δt based upon the known solution at time t.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures
 Although there are several types of time-stepping
procedures, three of them are presented:
(1) Methods based on interpolation of the excitation
function (piece-wise linear representation of the excitation)
(2) Methods based on finite difference expressions of
velocity and acceleration (Central difference method),
(3) Methods based on assumed variation of acceleration.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

1) Piece-wise Linear Representation of the Excitation
If the forcing function can reasonably be represented by a
series of straight lines, it is possible to develop exact
formulas for integration of the equation of motion of a linear
system. Time dependent force p(t), given in the figure, is
applied to a linear system.

Over a sufficiently small interval of time Δt, the variation of

force with time can be assumed to be linear as shown by
the dashed line in the figure.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

Over the time interval ti ≤ t ≤ ti+1, the excitation function is given
by:

The time variable τ varies from 0 to Δti.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

Firstly, the system without damping is considered:

The response u(τ) over the time interval 0 ≤ τ ≤ Δti is the sum of
three parts:
(1) Free vibration due to initial displacement ui and velocity 𝑢𝑖 at
τ=0
(2) response to step force pi with zero conditions
(3) Response to ramp force (Δpi/Δti)τ with zero initial conditions

(1) (2) (3)

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

 τ = Δti gives the displacement ui+1 and velocity ui+1at time i+1.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

 Let’s write (pi+1 – pi) instead of Δpi and estimate
recurrence formulas:

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures
Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures
Piecewise exact recurrence formulas can be written and rearrange
for the ground motion dynamic load (Aydınoglu and Fahjan):
𝒖 𝒕𝒊+𝟏 = 𝑨𝟏𝟏 𝒖 𝒕𝒊 + 𝑨𝟏𝟐 𝒖 𝒕𝒊 + 𝑩𝟏𝟏 𝒖𝒈 𝒕𝒊 + 𝑩𝟏𝟐 ∆𝒖𝒈

𝒖 𝒕𝒊+𝟏 = 𝑨𝟐𝟏 𝒖 𝒕𝒊 + 𝑨𝟐𝟐 𝒖 𝒕𝒊 + 𝑩𝟐𝟏 𝒖𝒈 𝒕𝒊 + 𝑩𝟐𝟐 ∆𝒖𝒈

𝐄 = 𝒆−𝜻𝝎∆𝒕 𝐜𝐨 𝐬( 𝝎𝑫 ∆𝒕 𝐅 = 𝒆−𝜻𝝎∆𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒏(𝝎𝑫 ∆𝒕

𝜻𝝎 𝜻 𝑭
𝑨𝟏𝟏 =𝑬+ 𝑭=𝑬+ 𝑭 𝑨𝟏𝟐 = 𝑨𝟐𝟏 = −𝝎𝟐 𝑨𝟏𝟐
𝝎𝑫 𝟏−𝜻 𝟐 𝝎𝑫

𝜻𝝎 𝜻
𝑨𝟐𝟐 = 𝑬 − 𝑭=𝑬− 𝑭
𝝎𝑫 𝟏−𝜻 𝟐

𝑨𝟏𝟏 − 𝟏 𝑨𝟏𝟐 − 𝟐𝜻𝝎𝑩𝟏𝟏 − ∆𝒕

𝑩𝟏𝟏 = 𝑩𝟏𝟐 = 𝑩𝟐𝟏 = −𝑨𝟏𝟐
𝝎𝟐 𝝎𝟐 ∆𝒕
𝑩𝟏𝟏
𝑩𝟐𝟐 =
∆𝒕

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

2) Central Difference Method
This method uses standard central difference expressions to
relate the time derivatives of displacement, that is, velocity and
acceleration, to the displacement values at selected intervals of
time.

Substitute these approximate expressions into the EOM:

 ui and ui-1 are assumed known, thus transfer them to the

right side of the equation:

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

 or

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

By using central difference method, the solution ui+1 at i+1 is
determined from the equation of motion at time i, without using
the equation of motion at time i+1. However, in other direct
integration methods one of the three expressions used in the
solution procedure was the equation of motion written at time
point t = (n+1)Δt.
Methods that use the equation of motion at n+1 are called
implicit methods, while those that use the equation at n are
called explicit methods.
 In the case of MDOF system, use of an implicit method may
require much more computation than that needed for an
explicit method.
 While explicit methods are only conditionally stable, some of
implicit methods are unconditionally stable.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

At the beginning of the analysis, u0 and u-1 are required to
determine u1. To determine u-1, let’s consider i = 1:

Since u0 and u0 are known, u0 is estimated by using the EOM at

time 0:

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

The central difference method will give unreliable results if the
time step chosen is not enough. The specific requirement for
stability:

A much smaller time step should be chosen to obtain results that

are accurate. Thus, the given condition is never a constraint for
SDOF systems.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

Flow-chart of central difference method:

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

3) Newmark – β Method
In 1959, Newmark devised a series of numerical integration
formulas which are collectively known as Newmark’s β methods.

𝜸 = 𝟏/𝟐
Satisfactory
𝟏/𝟔 ≤ 𝜷 ≤ 𝟏/𝟒

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

Special Cases:

γ = 1/2 and β = 1/4 γ = 1/2 and β = 1/6

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures

 If the excitation is ground acceleration 𝑢𝑔 (𝑡), replace pi by −𝑚𝑢𝑔 (𝑡𝑖).
Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures
Newmark’s method is stable if: ∆𝒕 𝟏 𝟏
≤
𝑻𝒏 𝝅 𝟐 𝜸 − 𝟐𝜷

 For γ = 1/2 and β = 1/4, this condition becomes:

∆𝒕
<∞
𝑻𝒏
This implies that the average acceleration method is stable for
any Δt, no matter how large; however it is accurate only if Δt is
small enough.

 For γ = 1/2 and β = 1/6, this condition becomes:

∆𝒕
< 𝟎. 𝟓𝟓𝟏
𝑻𝒏
This condition has little significance in the analysis of SDOF
systems because a much shorter time step than 0.551Tn must be
used to obtain accurate results.
Assist. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer BÖREKÇİ Advanced Dynamics of Structures