Use of Symbolic Mathematics in Teaching Vibration Analysis

Javed AlamCivil/Environmental and Chemical Engineering DepartmentYoungstown State UniversityYoungstown, Ohio, 44555

ABSTRACT

The vibration analysis and structural dynamics are senior and graduate level courses inCivil, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering programs. The course topic dealsextensively with higher level mathematics involving symbolic calculations. This paper demonstrates the use of an open source freely available symbolic mathematics packageMAXIMA to solve the problems related to the vibration analysis.

INTRODUCTION

The vibrations in structures can lead to severe usability problems and catastrophicfailures. Engineers learn about this subject matter in a vibration analysis or structuraldynamics course [1] offered in their senior year or at the graduate level within Civil,Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering programs. The subject matter deals with theresponses of the structural systems to the transient loading, idealized in the form of systems of both single degree and multi degree freedom systems. The solution to theseidealized structural problems involves higher level of mathematics including advancedcalculus, matrix operations and second order homogeneous and non-homogeneousdifferential equations.In their original form these equations are solved by using symbolic algebra or numericaltechniques. The solution in symbolic form provides a more general solution to this classof problems. There are many commercially available software packages such asMathematica, Maple and Mathcad [2] that can be used to solve the resulting equations.This approach allows solving a wider class of problems as compared to the old approachof manual solution techniques. These packages allows the instructors to tailor their lectures with more computer assisted course material and assign problems that are closer to the real life problems, However, these packages are not widely available at all theUniversities. Also, once the students leave the university they may not have access tothese packages at their workplace. Therefore, the use of an open source software programMAXIMA[3] that is widely available for Windows and Unix operating systems at zerocost to users by a simple download from the INTERNET is explored in solving problemsrelated to vibration analysis in symbolic algebra mode.

MAXIMA, a Computer Algebra System and its Use in Vibration Analysis

MAXIMA is a software package that allows solution of complex algebra problemssymbolically as well as numerically. It originated from the original Macysma system thatwas developed at MIT in 1960. The software is available free of cost on the INTERNETunder GPL license [4]. The software has extensive set of modules that allows the solutionof very complex algebraic problems. For vibration analysis the capabilities of symbolicdifferentiation, indefinite and definite integrals, matrix operations and the solution of second order homogenous and non-homogeneous differential equations are the mostrelevant. These capabilities will allow solving any vibration problem that has a closeform solution to be solved symbolically using this program. In addition to that numericalsolution can also be obtained by using the programming capabilities built into the program. This approach provides a good blend of symbolic algebra based calculationwith purely numerical techniques where they are needed to obtain the solution to thestructural vibration problems.Four representative problems from vibration analysis were chosen to demonstrate thecapabilities and the ease of use for MAXIMA program. The first problem uses thesymbolic integration capabilities of the MAXIMA to calculate the response of a singledegree of freedom system. The second problem uses the symbolic integration andsymbolic matrix operations to find frequencies of a tapered beam using Rayleigh-Ritzmethod. The third problem uses the symbolic ordinary differential equation solver to finda response to a single degree of freedom system under over-damped, critically dampedand under-damped conditions. Finally, the fourth problem uses the symbolic ordinarydifferential equation solver to find a response of a damped single degree of freedomsystem to a sinusoidal loading. The last problem demonstrates the capabilities of MAXIMA for dealing with non-homogeneous second order ordinary differentialequations with initial values.The next section provides the details of these problems, the maxima batch file and thesolution obtained using the MAXIMA program. A MAXIMA batch file is simply acomputer file in plain ASCII text format that contains all the necessary MAXIMAcommands needed to obtain the solution to the problem. The MAXIMA can also work inthe interactive mode where each command is typed separately. However, the use of batchfiles allows solving larger problems with easier debugging possibilities. The MAXIMAreference manual [5] provides the details of all the available commands within MAXIMA program.

Forced Vibration Response of an Undamped Single Degree of Freedom(SDOF)System Using Duhamel’s Integral

Figure 1. Idealized undamped SDOF and the applied loadingThe governing differential equation of the system is:

222

()()

dxtft xdtm



 

Where

k m





Where k represents the stiffness of the spring, m represents the attached mass and



represents the natural frequency of the system. The x(t) is the displacement response of the SDOF system.The Duhamel integral response for zero initial displacement and velocity for the systemis shown below:For t < t

()

t ftF t



And

1()()sin()

xtftd m

    

 



For t > t

()

ftF