CE 501 Fall 2016 Homework 4

Shant Danielian Name:

Question: 1 2 3 Total
Points: 30 30 40 100
Score:

Objectives: By the end of this assignment, you will have calculated the natural frequencies
and modes of vibration using the basic features of Matlab’s Symbolic Toolbox, studied the
qualitative features of the mass-spring-damper system, derived the equations of motion for
an one-story asymmetric structure, and simulated the system using Matlab.
1. (30 points) Consider the rigid rod of mass m and length L supported at the ends by
springs

k 2k

In class we derived the equations of motion to be

kL
mÿ + 3ky + θ=0
2
kL 3kL2
I θ̈ + y+ θ=0
2 4
Recall that y and θ are the position and rotation at the center of mass of the rod. Now,
in matrix form the above equations are written as,

3k kL
       
m 0 ẍ 2 x 0
+ kL 3kL 2 =
0 I θ̈ 2 4
θ 0

(a) Determine the natural frequencies symbolically using Matlab. You will need to look
at the help file under syms. This will show you how to define symbolic variables
(e.g. scalars and matrices) in Matlab. You can then perform scalar and matrix
operations symbolically, for example, addition, multiplication, or even calculating
the determinant of a symbolic matrix. The general approach is to identify what
variables you want to be defined symbolically (e.g. m, k, or I) and then define other
things in terms of them.
(b) Using the function subs to substitute the values m = 10, L = 10, and k = 5
into the results from part (a). Next, substitute the symbolic values for the natural
 frequencies (with m = 10, k = 5, I = 2.5) from part (a) into the matrix K − ωn2 M
and use eig to determine the natural modes. Note that the same function eig
calculates the eigenvalues/eigenvectors for a numeric matrix and for a symbolic
matrix. Make sure to you’re looking at the right page of the help file.
(c) Using the results from part (b) construct the modal matrix, Φ, and the spectral
matrix Ω2 .
(d) (Optional) Create a function which takes as inputs a symbolic mass matrix M and
a symbolic stiffness matrix K and outputs the natural frequencies and modes. Use
parts (a)-(c) together to do this.

2. (30 points) The motion of a damped harmonic oscillator, that is, a mass-spring-damper
system, is governed by the differential equation

mẍ + cẋ + kx = 0,

where c > 0 is the damping constant and k > 0 is the stiffness of the spring.
(a) Rewrite the equation as a two dimensional linear system.
(b) Determine the fixed point and classify its stability.
(c) Sketch the phase portrait. Be sure to show all the different cases that can occur,
depending on the relative sizes of the parameters.
(d) How does your results relate to the standard notions of overdamped, critically
damped, and underdamped vibrations?

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 3. (40 points) Consider a one-story structure, having four columns in each corner, each
with different stiffness, k1 , k2 , k3 , and k4 .

3 4%

1 2

Figure 1: Plan view of one-story structure with rigid deck.

We can model the one story frame by replacing each column with two springs, which
provide stiffness in the x and y directions.

y$

y3,$y4$
3 4
x1,$x3$ x2,$x4$
C.M.$ x$
y1,$y2$

1 2

Figure 2: Idealized model of structure with each column replaced by two springs in the x
and y directions

This structure has three degrees of freedom, translation in the x and y directions and
rotation θ about the z-axis. The distances xi and yi , i = 1, . . . , 4 are the perpendicular
distances from the center of mass to each spring, which have an associated sign depending
on their direction.

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(a) Show using the Euler-Lagrange equations that the equations of motion are

mẍ + Kx (x − ey θ) = 0
mÿ + Ky (y + ex θ) = 0
Icm θ̈ − Kx ey x + Ky ex y + Kθ θ = 0

where
4
X
4
kix yi
X i=1
Kx = kix and ey = ,
i=1
Kx
4
X
kjy xj
4
X j=1
Ky = kjy and ex = ,
j=1
Ky

and
4
X 4
X
Kθ = kix yi2 + kjy x2j .
i=1 j=1

Notice that the equations of motion above can easily accommodate new columns
by updating the above formulas for Kx, Ky, etc.
(b) The equations of motion derived in part (a) can be written in matrix form

M ü + Ku = 0,

where    
x m 0 0
u = y ,
 M = 0 m 0 ,
θ 0 0 Icm
and  
Kx 0 −Kx ey
K= 0 Ky Ky e x  .
−Kx ey Ky ex Kθ
Notice that we have not incorporated damping yet into the system. The reason
for this is because it is generally difficult to determine what sort of damping the
structure will have and there are many different models which give different damping
matrices, C. One such model is known as Rayleigh damping given as

C = a0 M + a1 K

where a0 and a1 are coefficients depending on the natural frequencies at different

modes. For this problem, take a0 = ξωn and a1 = ωξn , where ωn is the first modes
natural frequency and ξ is the damping ratio.

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If we wanted to incorporate damping and ground motion into the above system we
the equations would become

M ü + C u̇ + Ku = −M üg ,

where  
üx
üg = üy  .

üθ
To model the above system in Matlab, we write the above system in state-space
form,
ż = Az + E üg
where      
u 0 I 0
z= ,A = ,E = −
u̇ −M −1 K −M −1 C I
and  
ügx
üg = ügy  .

ügθ
Note that 0 and I in the above matrices are the zero and identity matrices.

Using the above formulation, simulate the above system using Matlab with a =
 T
b = 10, m = 2.25, Kx = Ky = 40, üg = 0 0 0 and having initial condition
 T
z(0) = 1 0 0 0 0 0 . Also, let ξ = 0.05, that is, 5% critical damping. In
addition, consider the case where there are four columns each at the four corners of
the structure. Using subplots, plot the x, y and θ vs time graphs. What do you
observe about ex , ey and θ? Does this make sense in terms of how many columns
we have and where they are placed? What does this say about when torsion will
be present in a structure?

Note that you should directly model the above system in state-space form in Mat-
lab, that is, instead of defining each entry of du, define the matrices and vectors
above and write du in terms of them.

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(c) Using the same initial conditions above, now place a fifth column in the between
the lower line of columns, see the figure below. Use Matlab to solve the system and
using subplots to plot the x, y and θ vs time graphs. What do you observe about
ex , ey and θ? Does this make sense with the number and placement of columns?

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