CHAPTER(4(

Stability(of(the(Vibration(Equation(
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1.(Introduction(
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The!differential!equations!that!govern!the!vibration!system!is!given!by:!
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" + $" + %" = ' ( ! (1)!
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It! has! been! shown! in! the! preceding! analysis! that! the! solution! of! the! vibration!
equations! consists! of! two! parts;! the! complementary! solution! and! the! particular!
solution.!In!the!theory!of!vibration,!the!particular!solution!depends!on!the!external!
excitation.! In! the! special! case! of! free! vibration,! one! has! to! determine! only! the!
complementary! solution! which! contains! two! arbitrary! constants! that! can! be!
determined! from! the! initial! conditions.! As! was! shown! in! chapter! 2,! the!
complementary!solution!depends!n!the!roots!of!the!characteristic!equations.!These!
roots!depend!on!the!coefficients!of!the!displacement!and!its!time!derivatives!in!the!
differential! equation.! Consequently,! these! coefficients,! which! represent! inertia,!
damping,!and!stiffness!coefficients,!affect!the!form!of!the!complementary!function!and!
the!complete!solution!of!the!vibration!problem.!The!stability!of!the!system!depends!
on! the! roots! of! the! characteristic! equations,!)* and! !)+ .! In! terms! of! these! roots,! the!
general!form!of!the!complementary!solution!is!given!by!!
!
,," ( = -. /0 ! (2)!
!
If!we!substitute!with!Eq.!2!in!Eq.!1!we!will!get!the!following!characteristic!equation!
!
!)+ + $) + % = 0! (3)!
By!solving!Eq.!(3)!we!will!get!!
−$ + $ + − 4!%
,,,,,,)* = ! (4)!
2!
−$ − $ + − 4!%
,,,,,,)+ = ! (5)!
2!
The! general! solution! of! the! differential! equation,! provided! that! the! roots! of! the!
differential!equation!are!not!equal,!can!be!written!as!
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" ( = -* . /5 0 + -+ . /6 0 ! (6)!
!
where! -* !and! -+ !are! arbitrary! constants! and! )* and! ! )+ !are! the! roots! of! the!
characteristic! equation.!In! the! following,! we! examine! the! effect! of! the! roots! on! the!
stability!of!the!system.!
!
!
!

! 1!
Negative(Real(Roots(
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If!both!the!roots!)* and!!)+ !are!real!and!negative,!the!solution!" ( !approaches!zero!as!
time!(!becomes! large.! In! this! case,! the! solution! is! bounded! and! nonoscillatory.! The!
rate!at!which!the!solution!decreases!as!time!increases!depends!on!the!magnitude!of!
the!roots!p)* and!!)+ .!It!is!quite!usual!to!use!the!complex!plane!to!examine!the!stability!
of!the!system!as!shown!in!Fig.!4.1,!in!the!case!of!the!negative!real!roots,!the!roots!of!
the!characteristic!equations!)* and!!)+ !lie!on!the!negative!portion!of!the!real!axis.!The!
system!can!be!more!stable!by!increasing!the!magnitude!of!the!negative!roots.!This,!of!
course,!can!be!achieved!by!changing!the!inertia,!damping,!and/or!stiffness!parameter!
of!the!system.!!
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! !
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More!staple
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! !
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! p1! p2!
! ! !
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Fig.!4.1.!Time!response!of!a!stable!system!with!negative!real!roots.

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Positive(Real(Roots(
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If!one!of!the!roots!or!both!become!positive,!the!solution!is!non!oscillatory!and!grows!
without!bond!as!time!increases;!an!increase!with!time!depends!on!the!magnitude!of!
the!positive!roots.!As!the!root!magnitude!increases,!the!solution!grows!more!rapidly.!
This! behavior! happens,! because! of! the! exponential! form! of! the! solution.! Different!
combinations!that!lead!to!instability!are!shown!in!the!complex!plane!shown!in!Fig.!
4.2.!
!
Complex(Roots(
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In!this!case,!the!roots!)* and!!)+ !appear!as!a!complex!conjugates!which!can!be!written!
as!
,,,,,,)* = 7 + 89! (7)!
! !
,,,,,,)+ = 7 − 89! (8)!
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!

! 2!
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! !
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! p1! p2!
! ! !
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! !
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! !
! !
! !
! !
! !
! !
! p1! p2! ! p2! p1!
! ! ! ! ! !
! !
! !
! !
! !
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Fig.!4.2.!Time!response!of!a!unstable!system!with!one!or!two!positive!real!roots.

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Therefore,!the!solution!in!this!case!is!oscillatory!and!can!be!expressed!as!
!
" ( = :. ;0 sin, 9( + ? ! (9)!
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where!: !and!? !are! arbitrary! constants! which! can! be! determined! from! the! initial!
conditions.!As!shown!in!the!examples!presented!in!the!preceding!sections,!there!are!
3!possibilities!which!may!be!encountered.!First,!the!real!part!of!the!root!7!is!negative.!
In!this!case,!the!roots!)* and!!)+ !are!located!in!the!leftThand!side!o!!the!complex!plane,!
as!shown!in!Fig.! 4.3.!As!shown!in!Fig.!4.3,!the!solution!of!the!vibration!equation!is!
oscillatory! and! bounded,! with! an! amplitude! which! decreases! with! time.! The!
frequency!of!the!oscillation!depends!on!9!while!the!rate!of!the!decay!depends!on!the!
magnitude!of!the!real!part!7.!This!is!the!case!of!stable!system.!
The!second!possibility!occurs!when!the!real!part!7!is!identically!zero.!In!this!case,!the!
roots!)* and!!)+ !consist!of!only!imaginary!parts,!as!shown!n!Fig.!4.4.!In!this!case,!the!
solution!is!a!harmonic!oscillation!which!has!a!frequency!equal!to!9,!as!shown!in!Fig.!
4.4.!In!this!case,!the!system!is!called!critically!stable!since!the!solution!is!bounded,!but!
the!amplitude!does!not!increase!or!decrease!as!time,(!increases.!

! 3!
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! !
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! p1!
! !
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! p2!
! !
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! !
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Fig.!4.3.!Time!response!of!a!stable!system!with!complex!roots.

! !
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! p1!
! !
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! p2!
! !
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Fig.!4.3.!Time!response!of!a!critically!stable!system!with!complex!roots.!

! !
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! p1!
! !
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! p2!
! !
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! !
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Fig.!4.4.!Time!response!of!an!unstable!system!with!complex!roots.

! 4!
The! third! possibility! occurs! when! the! real! part!7!is! positive.! In! this! case,! the! roots!
)* and!!)+ !!are!located!in!the!rightThand!side!of!the!complex!plane,!as!shown!in!Fig.!4.5.!!
The!solution,!in!this!case,!is!a!product!of!an!exponential!function!which!grows!with!
time! and! a! harmonic! function! which! has! a! constant! amplitude.! The! result! is! an!
oscillatory!motion!with!an!amplitude!that!increases!as!time!increases,!as!shown!in!
Fig.!4.5,!this!is!the!case!of!unstable!system.!
It!is!clear!from!the!analysis!presented!in!this!section,!that!the!stability!of!motion!is!
achieved!if!the!roots!)* and!!)+ !of!the!characteristic!equations!lie!in!the!rightThand!side!
of!the!complex!plane.!If!any!of!the!roots!lie!in!the!rightThand!side!of!the!complex!plane,!
the! system! becomes! unstable.! Furthermore,! the! degree! of! stability! or! instability!
depends!on!the!magnitude!of!the!roots.!The!location!of!the!roots!of!the!characteristic!
equations!can!be!altered!by!changing!the!physical!parameters!of!the!system,!such!as!
the!inertia,!damping,!and!stiffness!coefficients.!

! 5!