Lecture 04

Eigenvalue Problem
and
Natural Frequencies
 Natural Frequencies and Modal Shapes
The general equations of motion of a general MDOF system is
M d2u/dt2 + C du/dt + K u = f(t) …...……….(2.23a)
The free vibration condition for the dynamic motion of MDOF system is obtained by setting f(t) = 0;
i.e. M d2u/dt2 + C du/dt + K u = 0 ………….….(2.23b)
In order to obtain the natural frequency of the undamped system, if C is also set equal to zero, the
equations of motion reduce toM d2u/dt2 + K u = 0 ……………………….(2.23c)
If displacement vector can be chosen as the summation of a number (equal to DOF) of variable
separable vectors
u(t) = qr(t) r ………...……………..(2.24)
= q1(t) 1 + q2(t) 2 + q3(t) 3 + ………..
where qr(t) is time-dependent scalar and r is a space-dependent vector.
d2u/dt2 = (d2qrdt2) r ……………………….(2.25)
= (d2q1dt2) 1 + (d2q2dt2) 2 + (d2q3dt2) 3 + ………..

With qr(t) = Ar e inrt = C1r cos (nrt) + C2r sin (nrt) …...........…(2.26)
 d2qrdt2 = nr2 {C1r cos (nrt) + C2r sin (nrt)} = nr2 qr(t)

Eq. (2.23c) can be written as  nr2 M qr(t) r + K qr(t) r = 0

 [K nr2 M] r = 0 ………………….……(2.27)
Since the vector r is not zero, Eq. (2.26) turns into the following eigenvalue problem
Knr2 M= 0 ………………….…....(2.28)
i.e. determinant of the matrix (Knr2 M) is zero.
Eq. (2.28) is satisfied for different values of the ‘natural frequency’ nr, which implies that there can be
several natural frequencies of a MDOF system. In fact, the number of natural frequencies of the system
is equal to the degrees of freedom of the system; i.e., size of the displacement vector. However,
consideration of only the first few can adequately model the structural behavior of a dynamic system.

There are several ways to solve the eigenvalue problem of Eq. (2.28), the suitability of which depends
on the size of the matrices and the number of eigenvalues required to represent the system accurately.

For each value of nr, the vector r is called a modal vector for the rth mode of vibration. Once a natural
frequency is known, Eq. (2.27) can be solved for the corresponding vector r to within a multiplicative
constant. The eigenvalue problem does not fix the absolute amplitude of the vectors r, only the shape
of the vector is given by the relative values of the displacements.

Thus the vector r (i.e. the eigenvectors, also called the natural mode of vibration, normal mode,
characteristic vector, etc.) physically represents the modal shape of the system corresponding to the
natural frequency. The relative values of the displacements in the vector r indicate the shape that the
structure would assume while undergoing free vibration at the relevant natural frequency.

The values Mr = rT M r and Kr = rT K r …….…....(2.29)

are called the Modal Mass and Modal Stiffness (respectively) of the rth mode of vibration.
Example 2.2
Calculate natural frequencies and determine natural modes of vibration of the 2-storied
building system shown in Fig. 2.5, whose governing equations of motion are given by
Eq. (2.23).
Assume, k1 = k2 = 25 k/ft, m1 = m2 = 1 k-sec2/ft, c1 = c2 = 0.5 k-sec/ft.

Solution
The mass, stiffness and damping matrices of the system are given by K and M as follows
Fig. 2.5

K M

[K nr2 M] r = 0
 Eigenvalue problem Eq. (2.27) is given by

Knr2 M= 0
So natural frequencies can be obtained from Eq. (2.28)
(50–nr 2) (25–nr2) – (–25) (–25) = 0
 1250 – 75 nr2 + nr4–625 = 0  nr2 = 9.55, 65.45  nr = 3.09, 8.09 rad/sec
Þ f nr = nr/2 = 0.492, 1.288 cycle/sec
Tnr = 1/f nr = 2.033, 0.777 sec
The two values of natural frequency indicate first and second natural frequency of the system.
n1 = 3.09 and n2 = 8.09 rad/sec for this system.
[Note that for a SDOF system with k = 25 k/ft and m = 1 k-sec 2/ft, the natural frequency n is
equal to 5 rad/sec (i.e., fn = 0.796 cycle/sec), which is greater than n1 but less than n2]
Once the natural frequencies are known, modal shapes can be determined from the eigenvalue
equation. For the first natural frequency, the eigenvalue equations are

from both these equations, 1.618 1,1 – 2,1 = 0 First Mode

 1,1 : 2,1 = 1: 1.618
For second natural frequency, the equations are

Second Mode
from both these equations, – 1,2 – 1.618 2,2 = 0 Fig. 2.6
 1,2 : 2,2 = 1: –0.618
Fig. 2.6 shows the first two modal shapes
Practice Problems on CAA, Natural Frequency and Modal Shape