ECSS-E-HB-32-26A

19 February 2013
5.2.3.2 Response of the 1-DOF system
The response of the 1-DOF system of Figure 5-1 due to a harmonic excitation at frequency ω can be
expressed as follows:

 ui (ω )  − ω 2 Gii (ω ) Tij (ω )   Fi (ω ) 

 F (ω ) =    [5-2]
 j   − T ji (ω ) M jj (ω ) u j (ω )

revealing the three fundamental FRF:

Gii (ω ) dynamic flexibility (displacement/force)

Tij (ω ) = T ji (ω ) dynamic transmissibility for forces and displacements (identical according to

reciprocity theory)
M jj (ω ) dynamic mass (force/acceleration)

The solution of the equations of motion leads to:

1
Gii (ω ) = H k (ω ) [5-3]
k
Tij (ω ) = T ji (ω ) = Tk (ω ) 1 [5-4]

M jj (ω ) = Tk (ω ) m [5-5]

where the subscript k, in anticipation of the general case, designates the mode of the 1-DOF system.
We see that each FRF is the product of two terms:
1
• a static term – static flexibility , static transmissibility 1, and static mass m.
k
• a dimensionless complex-valued dynamic amplification which is a function of the circular
k c
natural frequency ωk = and the damping ratio ζ k = :
m 2 km
1
H k (ω ) = 2
dynamic amplification
ω  ω [5-6]
1 −   + i 2ζ k
 ωk  ωk
ω
1 + i 2ζ k
ωk
Tk (ω ) = 2
dynamic transmissibility [5-7]
ω  ω
1 −   + i 2ζ k
 ωk  ωk
The dynamic amplification functions H k (ω ) and Tk (ω ) are equal to 1 at ω = 0 (static case) and equal
1
to = Q k at f = f k (resonance). The shape of their amplitude forms a peak at the resonance
2ζk
whose sharpness (acuity) is directly related to the damping. This peak can therefore be used to
directly identify the two parameters of the system or mode (Single DOF or SDOF identification):
• natural frequency f k – approximately equal to the frequency of the maximum.

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1 fk
• damping ratio ζ k – approximately equal to Qk = = with ∆f k the half-power
2ζk ∆f k
frequency interval defined using the frequencies at the amplitude equal to the maximum
divided by 2.
These approximations can be refined by use of a suitable method.

5.2.3.3 Influence of the sweep rate

If the sweep rate is not sufficiently slow, the response is no longer stationary (steady-state) at each
instant of time, resulting in a modification of the response envelope due to transient behaviour [3].
In the following we consider exponential sweeps expressed in octaves/minute, where R
octaves/minute indicates that after each minute the excitation frequency is multiplied by 2 R . The
advantage of the exponential sweep is that all modes (with the same damping) are excited for the
same duration regardless of their frequencies.
As an example, response profiles of a 1-DOF system with f k = 20 Hz and Q k = 25 are plotted in
Figure 5-4 for two different exponential sweep rates (R = ±1 and ±4 octaves/minute) and compared to
the steady-state response (R = 0).

R=0 R=0

R = -1 R = +1 R = -4 R = +4
oct/min oct/min oct/min oct/min

ringing

f k = 20 Hz f k = 20 Hz
Qk = 25 Qk = 25

Figure 5-4: Effect of sweep rate on response profile

We see that the shape and position of the resonant peak are altered as a function of the sweep rate and
direction. Moreover a beat pattern or "ringing" following the peak may also appear. This ringing is a
result of the system responding at two frequencies of nearly the same value comprising the free
response at the natural frequency f k and the forced response at the swept excitation frequency.

These two phenomena, peak alteration and ringing, depend not only on the sweep rate and direction,
but also on the natural frequency f k and damping ζ k of the peak. These dependencies are described
below.
• A frequency sweep decreases the amplitude of the peak, shifts the position of the peak along the
direction of the sweep, broadens the peak width and distorts the shape of the peak (loss of
symmetry). The higher the sweep rate, the more these effects are pronounced.
• These effects are proportional to the sweep rate, R, and inversely proportional to the natural
frequency f k and (approximately) to the square of the damping ζ k2 . Therefore low-frequency

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and lightly damped modes are most sensitive to sweep rate effects. The dimensionless parameter
R ln(2) / 60
η= is often used to quantify sweep rate effects via formulas, tables and plots.
f k ζ k2

• The direction of the frequency sweep affects mainly the direction of the peak shift and has little
influence on the amplitude attenuation and ringing.
The effect of the sweep rate can be expressed in terms of the modal parameters associated with the
~
peak: natural frequency f k , damping ζ k and effective parameter Tk (see Section 5.3.2.2 for details).
These three modal parameters may be determined as follows.
• The natural frequency f k is estimated by using the frequency of the maximum peak amplitude
Ak . This approximation is perfectly valid for typical values of damping ( ζ k < 0.1 ).

• The damping factor ζ k is estimated by the half-power method. The maximum peak amplitude
Ak is used to determine the half-power level Ak / 2 and corresponding frequency interval
∆ fk
∆f k . The damping factor is given by ζ k = .
2 fk
~
• The modal effective parameter Tk is obtained from the maximum amplitude Ak and damping
~ ~
ζ k using the relation Tk = 2 ζ k Ak . For the steady-state response (R=0) we have Tk = 1 (unit
transmissibility).
Numerical simulation was used to determine the effect of an exponential sweep rate on the amplitude,
natural frequency, damping and effective parameter of a 1-DOF system (structural mode) using the
modal identification techniques described above. Both increasing and decreasing sweep directions
were considered.
The results are presented in the four graphs of Figure 5-5 with each graph pertaining to a modal
parameter. The relative error (in percent) of the modal parameter is plotted for four different values of
damping (Q = 10, 25, 50, 100) as a function of the frequency (Hz) divided by the sweep rate (oct/min).
For a sweep rate of R = 1 oct/min, the x-axis directly provides the frequencies. For other sweep rates
the values on the x-axis can be simply multiplied by R to obtain the corresponding frequency values.
The results for both positive (+) and negative (-) sweep rates are provided using solid and dashed lines
respectively. The differences between the two are small and often negligible especially with light
damping.
From Figure 5-5 we see that the damping (peak width) is much more affected by the sweep rate than
the frequency – although frequency shifts may be considered more critical. For example with a sweep
rate of 1 oct/min, a mode at 10 Hz with Q = 50 has 2 % error in frequency but over 70 % error in
damping.

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∆A + / Ak ∆f + / f k
∆A − / Ak ∆f − / f k
Q = 100 Q = 100
Q = 50 Q = 50
Q = 25 Q = 25
Q = 10 Q = 10

∆ζ + / ζ k ~ ~
∆T + / Tk
∆ζ − / ζ k ~ ~
∆T − / Tk
Q = 100 Q = 100
Q = 50 Q = 50
Q = 25 Q = 25
Q = 10 Q = 10

Figure 5-5: Effect of sweep rate on modal parameters

As another example, consider a mode at f k = 20 Hz with damping Q k = 50 and two different sweep
rates of 1 and 2 oct/min. From Figure 5-5 we obtain the errors shown in Table 5-1 associated with the
modal parameters:

Table 5-1: Example of sweep rate induced errors

Sweep Rate Relative Error in Modal Parameters
(oct/min) ∆A+ / Ak ∆f + / f k ∆ζ + / ζ k ~ ~
∆T+ / Tk
1 ~9% ~1% ~ 39 % ~ 26 %
2 ~ 16 % ~2% ~ 72 % ~ 45 %

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