Lecture 03

Equation of Motion
and
Numerical Solution
 Components of SDOF Dynamic System

Spring Force fS
fS = kur
k
Stiffness
ur
Relative Displacement
fv
Viscous Force
fV = cvr

c Damping

vr
Relative Velocity

Inertia Force fI

fI = ma
m Mass

a Acceleration
Single-Degree-of-Freedom (SDOF) Systems
 Equation of Motion for Seismic Vibration
Earthquake is a ground vibration that induces motion and inertia forces on the structure. To illustrate
that, the dynamic equations of motion for a SDOF system and a 2-DOF system are derived.

For the SDOF system subjected to ground displacement u g(t),

fS= Spring force =Stiffness× Relative displacement = k(uug) …….(2.1)
fV= Viscous force = Damping× Relative velocity = c(vvg) ……….(2.2)
fI = Inertia force = Mass× Acceleration = m a ……..…(2.3)
Combining them, equation of motion for a SDOF system is derived as
m a + c (vvg) + k (uug) = 0  m a + c v + k u = c vg + kug …..…..….(2.4)
Also m (a ag) + c (vr) + k (ur) = m ag  m ar + c vr + k ur= m ag ….………(2.5)
ur = uug is relative displacement of the system with respect to ground displacement; while (v r, ar) are
relative velocity and acceleration.

Eqs. (2.4) and (2.5) show that the ground motion appears on the right side of the equation of motion like
a time-dependent load. Therefore, although there is no body-force on the system, it is still subjected to
dynamic excitation by the ground displacement.
For a lumped 2-DOF system subjected to ground displacement u g(t), velocity vg(t) and acceleration
ag(t), the following equations are obtained in matrix form

Fig. 2.2: Forces in 2DOF System

…………..(2.6)

…………..(2.7)
Eqs. (2.6) and (2.7) can be easily extended to MDOF systems.
 Numerical Solution of SDOF Equation
Newmark- method is the most widely used numerical approach for solving dynamic problems. It is a
set of solution methods with different physical interpretations for different values of .

The total simulation time is divided into a number of intervals (usually of equal duration t) and the
unknown displacement (as well as velocity and acceleration) is solved at each instant of time.
a

ai ai+1
Dt t

Fig. 2.3: Accelerations in Numerical Analysis

The method solves dynamic equation of motion in the (i + 1) th time step based on results of the ith step.

The equation of motion for the (i +1)th time step is

m ai+1+ c vi+1+ k ui+1= f i+1 ……….....(2.8)
Þm ar(i+1) + c vr(i+1)+ k ur(i+1)=  m ag(i+1) ……….....(2.9)
Eq. (2.9) is a special case of Eq. (2.8) for seismic ground motions, where a r stands for relative
acceleration, vr for relative velocity and ur for relative displacement.

In the solution set suggested by Newmark- method, Constant Average Acceleration (CAA) method
is most popular because of stability of its solutions and simple physical interpretation of its
formulation.
This method assumes the acceleration to remain constant during each small time interval t, and this
constant is assumed to be the average of the accelerations at the two instants of time t i and ti+1.
Average relative accelerationar = (ar(i) + ar(i+1))/2 …….....…….…(2.10)
is assumed constant within the time interval Dt.
a

ai ai+1
Dt t

Fig. 2.3: Accelerations in Numerical Analysis

Thus CAA is a special case of Newmark- where equations for velocity and displacement become
vr (i+1) = vr(i) + (ar(i) + ar(i+1))t/2 …..…….…(2.11)
ur(i+1) = ur(i) + vr(i) t + (ar(i) + ar(i+1))t2/4 ……..….…(2.12)
and Eq. (2.9) takes the following form
(m + ct/2 + kt2/4)ar(i+1)
= –mag(i+1) – kur(i) – (c + kt)vr(i) – (ct/2+ kt2/4)ar(i) …………(2.13)

To obtain relative acceleration a r(i+1) at time ti+1 using Eq. (2.13), the values of uri, vri and ari (at previous
instant ti) have to be known.
Once ar(i+1) is obtained, Eqs. (2.11) and (2.12) can be used to calculate relative velocity v r(i+1) and relative
displacement ur(i+1) at time ti+1. All these values can be used to obtain the results at time t i+2. The method
can also be used for subsequent time-steps.
The simulation should start with two initial conditions, e.g. the displacement u 0 and velocity v0 at time
t0 = 0. The initial acceleration can be obtained from equation of motion at time t 0 = 0
a0 = (f0 – cv0 – ku0)/m = (–mag0 – cv0 – ku0)/m ……..…(2.14)
Example 2.1
For a damped SDOF system (with mass m = 1 k-s 2/ft,
stiffness k = 25 k/ft, damping c = 0.5 k-s/ft), calculate the
dynamic response when subjected to ground motion from
the El Centro earthquake (Fig. 2.4).
Results using the CAA Method (for time interval t = 0.01
sec) are shown in Table 2.1 and Table 2.2. Fig. 2.4: Ground Acceleration vs. Time
Table 2.1: Numerical Parameters
m (k-s2/ft) c (k-s/ft) k (k/ft) Dt (s) meff (k-s2/ft) ceff (k-s/ft) m1 (k-s2/ft)
1.00 0.50 25.00 0.010 1.0031 0.7500 0.0031

Table 2.2: Relative Acceleration, Velocity, Displacement

(for t = 0.01 sec)
i t ag fi ari vri uri
(s) (ft/s2) (kips) (ft/s2) (ft/s) (ft)
0 0.00 -0.2062 0.2062 0.2062 0.0000 0.0000
1 0.01 -0.1941 0.1941 0.1929 0.0020 0.0000
2 0.02 0.0171 -0.0171 -0.0194 0.0029 0.0000
3 0.03 0.2493 -0.2493 -0.2515 0.0015 0.0001
Fig. 2.5: Relative Displacement (ur) vs. Time
4 0.04 0.2219 -0.2219 -0.2229 -0.0009 0.0001
5 0.05 0.2214 -0.2214 -0.2209 -0.0031 0.0000
6 0.06 0.2159 -0.2159 -0.2132 -0.0053 0.0000
7 0.07 0.2084 -0.2084 -0.2032 -0.0073 -0.0001
8 0.08 0.2020 -0.2020 -0.1937 -0.0093 -0.0001
9 0.09 0.1981 -0.1981 -0.1862 -0.0112 -0.0003
10 0.10 0.1975 -0.1975 -0.1817 -0.0131 -0.0004
Fig. 2.6: Acceleration (a) vs. Time
Fig. 2.5: Relative Displacement (ur) vs. Time Fig. 2.6: Acceleration(a) vs. Time

c=0

m = 4 k-s2/ft

k = 100 k/ft