Approximate Methods

P Chandramouli
Indian Institute of Technology Madras

October 26, 2015

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 1 / 27

1 Modeling Beams using FIC

2 Weighted Residual Methods

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 2 / 27

Flexibility Influence Coefficients

So far we have written the equations of motion as follows

I (−ω 2 M + K)X = F
This is called a stiffness based formulation
If we use flexibility which is the inverse of stiffness then
I X = K−1 F = aF
Now why do we need to use the idea of flexibility instead of
stiffness like what we have done so far?
I In some problems it is easier to formulate using flexibility
I One such case is solving beam vibration problems using discrete
models

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 3 / 27

Beam Lumped Model

We decide to solve the beam vibration problem

Instead of continuous system approach we decide to use lumped
modeling approach LumpedModel
We have lumped masses at 2 locations on the simply-supported
beam
L 2L
I At x = 3 and x = 3
The segments between the masses have only elasticity and no
mass associated
So how do we form the stiffness matrix for this system?

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 4 / 27

Elements of stiffness matrix

What is the meaning of a stiffness matrix element Kij

It is the force generated at i due a displacement at j
I Assuming that all other displacements are zero
I Kij = Fxji with xk = 0; ∀ k 6= j
In a beam if one applies a force at j displacements exist at all
points
Hence not so easy to enforce above condition to arrive at
stiffness matrix elements

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 5 / 27

Flexibility approach

In the case of a beam easier to use flexibility

I Inverse of stiffness
Now the flexibility matrix element αij has the following meaning
I It is the displacement generated at i due to a force applied at j
I αij = Fxij with Fk = 0; ∀ k 6= j
As can be seen from above it is easier to do this
We apply unit loads at each of the lumped mass locations one at
a time
I Calculate the displacements for each case to get αij

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 6 / 27

Simply Supported Beam

Let us now take the SS beam example Example

We start by applying a unit force at location 1 (x = L3 from left)
From simple strength of materials we calculate the moment
distribution (
2
3 x, 0 ≤ x ≤ L3
I M (x) =
− 13 x + 13 L, L3 ≤ x ≤ L
Following this integrate to get the displacements at L/3 and
2L/3
4L3
The displacements or flexibility coefficients are α11 = 243EI ,
7L3
α21 = 486EI

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 7 / 27

Simply Supported Beam

We now apply a unit load at location 2 (x = 2L

3
from left)
Once again we calculate the moment function
(
1
3 x, 0 ≤ x ≤ 2L
3
I M (x) =
− 23 x + 23 L, 2L
3 ≤ x ≤ L
Following this integrate to get the displacements at L/3 and
2L/3
7L3 4L3
The displacements are α12 = 486EI , α22 = 243EI

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 8 / 27

Matrices
The flexibility matrix is
" #
L3 8 7
α=
486EI 7 8

The stiffness matrix is the inverse

" #
486EI 8 −7
K=
15L3 −7 8

The mass matrix if we assume the entire mass is equally

distributed " #
0.5m 0
M=
0 0.5m

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 9 / 27

Natural frequencies

The natural frequencies are

q q
EI EI
I ω1 = 8.05 mL3 ; ω2 = 31.18 mL3
The exact values
q are q
EI EI
I ω1 = 9.87 mL3 ; ω2 = 39.48 mL3
So one can see that the predicted frequencies are lower than the
exact frequencies
This would imply that our mass is more in the lumped model
I Actually the beam segments close to the supports do not
participate in the vibration
I Effective mass participation is lower than the total mass

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 10 / 27

Energy Based Argument

Let us look at the kinetic energy associated with vibration

RL RL
I
0 ρl |ẇ|2 dx = 12 ρl ω 2 0 W (x)2 dx
For the first mode of vibration the overall kinetic energy is
1 2 L sin2 πx
R
2 ρl ω 0 L dx
I

L
Let us now look at the energy in [0, 6
] and compare it with
[ L6 , L3 ]
L
1 2 6 πx
sin2 = 0.007ρl ω 2
R
2 ρl ω 0 L dx
I

RL
I 1
2 ρl ω 2 3
L sin2 πx
L dx = 0.042ρl ω 2
6

Same values for [ 5L6

, L] and [ 2L
3
, 5L 6
]
The energy in [ L3 , 2L
3
] is 0.152ρl ω 2

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 11 / 27

Effective mass
Suppose we assume that the L/6 length segments close to the
supports do not contribute
Then the total mass is 2m/3 and mass matrix becomes
" #
m
3
0
M= m
0 3

The new natural frequencies are

q q
EI EI
I ω1 = 9.86 mL3 ; ω2 = 38.19 mL3
One can see that the first natural frequency is almost the same
as the exact frequency
The second one is now much closer to the exact frequency (3%
error)

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 12 / 27

Three DOF Lumped Model

We now look at a 3 DOF lumped model 3DOFLumping

To calculate the flexibility coefficients a unit load is applied first
at location 1 (x = L4 )
(
3
4 x, 0 ≤ x ≤ L4
I M (x) =
− 14 x + L4 , L4 ≤ x ≤ L
The flexibility coefficients are
3L3 11L3 7L3
I α11 = 256EI ; α21 = 768EI ; α31 = 768EI
L
Next we apply a unit load at x = 2

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 13 / 27

3 DOF Example


 1 x, 0 ≤ x ≤ L2
2
M (x) =
− 1 x + L , L ≤ x ≤ L
2 2 2
The flexibility coefficients are
11L3 L3 11L3
I α12 = 768EI ; α22 = 48EI ; α32 = 768EI
3L
Finally a unit load is applied first at x = 4
)
(
1
4 x, 0 ≤ x ≤ 3L
4
I M (x) =
− 34 x + 3L
4 , 3L
4 ≤ x ≤ L
The flexibility coefficients are
7L3 11L3 3L3
I α13 = 768EI ; α23 = 768EI ; α33 = 256EI

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 14 / 27

Matrices
The flexibility matrix is
 
9 11 7
3
L 
α= 11 16 11

768EI
7 11 9

The mass matrix if we assume the entire mass is equally

distributed m 
3
0 0
M =  0 m3 0 
 

0 0 m3
We invert the flexibility matrix and solve for the natural
frequencies

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 15 / 27

Natural Frequencies

The natural frequencies are

q q q
EI EI EI
I ω1 = 8.55 mL3 ; ω2 = 33.94 mL3 ; ω3 = 72.06 mL3
The exact values
q are q q
EI EI EI
I ω1 = 9.87 mL3 ; ω2 = 39.48 mL3 ; ω3 = 88.83 mL3
Once again one can observe that the effective mass is lower and
model needs to be modified
I So each lumped mass is now m/4 instead of m/3
We now solve for the natural frequencies to get
q q q
EI EI EI
I ω1 = 9.87 mL3 ; ω2 = 39.19 mL3 ; ω3 = 83.21 mL3

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 16 / 27

What about Mode shapes?

The corresponding mode shapes are

 1     1 
√ √
 2
  1 
    2
 
I 1 ; 0 and −1
 √1 
 −1
    √1 
 
2 2
If we compare with the exact mode shapes sin πx L
, sin 2πx
L
and
sin 3πx
L
at the lumped locations values are identical

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 17 / 27

Different Approach for Beams

Instead of a lumped mass approach we look at a continuous

system approach
We use approximation functions for the entire beam length
PN iωt
w(x, t) = m=1 qm ψm (x)e
I

Since ψm (x) is an approximate solution the governing equation

is not satisfied exactly
I There is a residue generated
Let us now apply this idea to solve beam vibration problems

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 18 / 27

Weighted Residual form

Recall the beam free vibration equation

4 w(x,t) 2 w(x,t)
I EI ∂ ∂x 4 + ρl ∂ ∂t 2 =0
We have shown earlier that this will reduce to the form
4 W (x)
I EI d dx 4 − ρl ω 2 W (x) = 0
We now substitute the approximation to W (x)
 
PN d 4 ψm (x)
I
m=1 qm EI dx 4 − ρl ω2ψ m (x) = R(x)

We now require that this residue be orthogonal to some

weighting function φm (x)
RL
I
0 φm (x)R(x)dx = 0

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 19 / 27

Galerkin Method

If we choose φm (x) = ψm (x) we get the Galerkin weighted

residual scheme
We now integrate by parts the first term in the residue
For each term m in the summation we have
R L d 2 ψn (x) d 2 ψm (x) 3 2
I
0 dx 2 dx 2 dx + ψn ddxψ3m |L0 − dψ n d ψm L
dx dx 2 |0

To eliminate boundary terms ψn (x) should satisfy geometric or

forced boundary conditions
dψn
I ψn = 0 and/or dx =0
This then leads to the form

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 20 / 27

Weak form

!
R Lh d 2 ψn (x) d 2 ψm (x)
PN i
2
m=1 qm 0 EI dx 2 dx 2
− ω ρl ψn (x)ψm (x) dx =0

The above can be rewritten as an eigenvalue problem

I Kq = ω 2 Mq
2 ψ (x) d 2 ψn (x)
EI d
RL m
I Kmn = 0 dx 2 dx 2 dx
RL
I Mmn = 0 ρl ψm (x)ψn (x)dx
The eigenvalues provide the natural frequencies and the
eigenvectors the constants for multiplying the ψm (x)

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 21 / 27

Clamped-Clamped Beam

Let us choose a two term representation

πx
I ψ1 (x) = sin2 L ; ψ2 (x) = sin2 ( πx πx
L ) cos( L )
Both these functions satisfy the forced boundary conditions of a
clamped-clamped beam
I w(0, t) = w(L, t) = 0; w 0 (0, t) = w 0 (L, t) = 0
The stiffness elements Kij are
4π 4 EI RL 2πx 2π 4 EI
I K11 = L4 0 cos2 L dx = L3
2π 4 EI RL 3 πx 2 πx πx
cos( 2πx
 
I K12 = L4 0 L ) 2 cos ( L )−7 sin ( L ) cos( L ) dx =0
I K21 = K12 = 0
π 4 EI R L 2 41π 4 EI
I K22 = L4 0 2 cos3 ( πx 2 πx πx
L ) − 7 sin ( L ) cos( L ) dx = 16L3

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 22 / 27

Mass matrix

The mass elements Mij are

RL πx R L 3−4 cos( 2πx )+cos( 4πx ) 3L
I M11 = ρl 0 sin4L dx = ρl 0
L
8
L
dx = 8 ρl
RL 4 πx πx
I M12 = M21 = ρl 0 sin L cos L dx = 0
RL
I M22 = ρl 0 sin4 ( πx 2 πx
L ) cos ( L )dx =
L
16

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 23 / 27

Natural frequency

q q
EI EI
ω1 = 22.79 mL3
; ω2 = 63.2 mL3
q q
EI EI
The exact values are ω1 = 22.4 mL 3 and ω2 = 61.7 mL3
You can see that the approximation leads to a slightly larger
value unlike the lumped case
This is true for such methods
The starting point for finite element methods is usually the
weighted residual method

Mouli (IIT Madras) ME 7360 Theory of Vibration October 26, 2015 24 / 27

Lumped Model

Back

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SS Beam example

Return

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Three DOF Lumping

Back

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