Multi-Degree of Fredom System

Mechanical Vibration
Multi-degree-of-Freedom
Systems
Dr. Shivdayal Patel

IIITDM Jabalpur
Dr. Shivdayal Patel Assistant Professor Department Mechanical Engineering IIITDM Jabalpur (M.P.)
Introduction
•Most engineering systems are continuous and have an infinite number of
degrees of freedom.
•The analysis of a multidegree of freedom system requires the solution of a
set of ordinary differential equations and not the partial differential
equation, which are quite complex. Hence, for simplicity of analysis,
continuous systems are often approximated as multidegree-of-freedom
systems.
•There are n natural frequencies, each associated with its own mode shape,
for a system having n degrees of freedom.
•The concepts in this chapter are an extended cases introduced in the
previous chapters which can be derived from Newton’s second law of
motion or by influence coefficients and Lagrange’s method.
Modeling of Continuous Systems as Multidegree-
of-Freedom Systems
•A simple method to approximate a continuous system as a multidegree-of-
freedom system is to replace the distributed mass or inertia of the system
by a finite number of lumped masses or rigid bodies.
•The lumped masses are assumed to be connected by massless elastic and
damping members. Such models are called lumped-parameter or lumped-
mass or discrete-mass systems.
•The minimum number of coordinates necessary to describe the motion of
the lumped masses and rigid bodies defines the number of degrees of
freedom of the system.
•Naturally, the larger the number of lumped masses used in the model, the
higher the accuracy of the resulting analysis.
Using Newton’s Second Law to Derive Equations
of Motion
1. Set up suitable coordinates to describe the positions of the various point masses and rigid
bodies in the system. Assume suitable positive directions for the displacements,
velocities, and accelerations of the masses and rigid bodies.
2. Determine the static equilibrium configuration of the system and measure the
displacements of the masses and rigid bodies from their respective static equilibrium
positions.
3. Draw the free-body diagram of each mass or rigid body in the system. Indicate the
spring, damping, and external forces acting on each mass or rigid body when positive
displacement and velocity are given to that mass or rigid body.
4. Apply Newton s second law of motion to each mass or rigid body shown by the free-
body diagram as
Where ©j Fij denotes the sum of all forces acting on mass mi and ©j Mij indicates the sum of
moments of all forces (about a suitable axis) acting on the rigid body of mass moment of
inertia Ji.
Example: Derive the equations of motion of the spring-mass-
damper system shown in Figure.
Solution: Draw the free body diagram of masses and apply Newton’s
second law of motion. FRB for ith mass is shown below
The application of Newton s second law of motion to mass mi gives
The equations of motion of the masses m1 and mn can be derived from
equation 1 by setting i = 1 along with x0 = 0 and i = n along with xn+1 = 0,
respectively:
The above equations of motion can be expressed in matrix form as
where [m], [c], and [k] are called the mass, damping, and stiffness
matrices, respectively, and are given by
and and are the displacement, velocity, acceleration, and force
vectors, given by
For an undamped system (with all ci = 0, i = 1, 2 . . . n + 1), the equations of

motion reduce to
The spring-mass-damper system considered above is a particular case of a
general n-degree-of-freedom spring-mass-damper system. In their most
general form, the mass, damping, and stiffness matrices are given by
Following points to be noted
• If the mass matrix is not diagonal, the system is said to have mass or inertia
coupling.
• If the damping matrix is not diagonal, the system is said to have damping or
velocity coupling.
• Finally, if the stiffness matrix is not diagonal, the system is said to have
elastic or static coupling.
• Both mass and damping coupling are also known as dynamic coupling.
• The differential equations of the spring-mass system considered can be seen
to be coupled; each equation involves more than one coordinate. This means
that the equations cannot be solved individually one at a time; they can only
be solved simultaneously.
• The system can be seen to be statically coupled, since stiffnesses are
coupled that is, the stiffness matrix has at least one nonzero off-diagonal
term.
• If the mass matrix has at least one off-diagonal term nonzero, the system
is said to be dynamically coupled.
• If both the stiffness and mass matrices have nonzero off-diagonal terms,
the system is said to be coupled both statically and dynamically.
Potential and Kinetic Energy Expressions in
Matrix Form
Let xi denote the displacement of mass mi and Fi the force applied in the
direction of xi at mass mi in an n-degree-of-freedom system as shown in
Figure.
The elastic potential energy (also known as strain energy or energy of

deformation) of the ith spring is given by
The total potential energy can be expressed as
Since,
Eq. (6.27) becomes
Equation (6.29) can also be written in matrix form as kij = kji
where the displacement vector and the stiffness matrix are given by
The kinetic energy associated with mass mi is, by definition, equal to
The total kinetic energy of the system can be expressed as
which can be written in matrix form as
where the velocity vector is given by
and the mass matrix [m] is a diagonal matrix given by
If generalized coordinates(qi) are used instead of the physical displacements

(xi), the kinetic energy can be expressed as
Where is the vector of generalized velocities, given by
with mij = mji.
Things to note
• The potential energy is a quadratic function of the displacements.
• The kinetic energy is a quadratic function of the velocities.
• Kinetic energy are called positive definite quadratic forms and the mass
matrix [m] is called a positive definite matrix.
• The potential energy expression is a positive definite quadratic form, but
the matrix [k] is positive definite only if the system is a stable one.
• A system for which [k] is positive and [m] is positive definite is called a
semidefinite system.
Prob. Modeling of a milling machine on a flexible floor
EXAMPLE 7.5 System with a translating mass
attached to an oscillating disk
Prob.1 Consider the rigid bar shown in Figure 7.5a. The generalized coordinates are
y and u, which are located at the center of gravity of the beam. We shall use
Lagrange’s equations to obtain the governing equations of motion of this two
degree-of-freedom system.
FIG. 7.5 (a) Rigid body in the plane constrained by springs and dampers
Undamped Systems: Properties of Mode Shapes
Example: The arrangement of the compressor, turbine, and generator in a
thermal power plant is shown in Figure. This arrangement can be
considered as a torsional system where Ji denote the mass moments of
inertia of the three components (compressor, turbine, and generator), Mti
indicate the external moments acting on the components, and kti represent
the torsional spring constants of the shaft between the components, as
indicated in Figure. Derive the equations of motion of the system using
Lagrange’s equations by treating the angular displacements of the
components θi as generalized coordinates.
Solution: Here q1 = θ1, q2 = θ2, and q3 = θ3, and the kinetic energy of the
system is given by
For the shaft, the potential energy is equal to the work done by the shaft as
it returns from the dynamic configuration to the reference equilibrium
position. Thus if θ denotes the angular displacement, for a shaft having a
torsional spring constant kt, the potential energy is equal to the work done
in causing an angular displacement θ of the shaft:
Thus the total potential energy of the system can be expressed as
There are external moments applied to the components, so generalised force

equation gives
Substituting Eqs. (E.1), (E.3), and (E.5) in Lagrange s equations, Eq. (6.41), we
obtain for the equations of motion
Example: Derive the equations of motion of the trailer
compound pendulum system shown in Figure.
Solution: The displacement components of point C can be expressed as
Differentiating with respect to time gives the velocities of point C as
The kinetic energy of the system, T, can be expressed as
where
The potential energy of the system, V, due to the strain energy of the springs
and the gravitational potential, can be expressed as
where the lowest position of point C is taken as the datum. Since there are
nonconservative forces acting on the system, the generalized forces
corresponding to x(t) and θ(t) are to be computed. The force, X(t), acting in
the direction of x(t) can be found as
where the negative sign for the terms and indicates that the damping
forces oppose the motion. Similarly, the force acting in the direction of
θ(t) can be determined as
Where q1 = x and q2 = θ.
By differentiating the expressions of T and V and substituting the resulting
expressions, we obtain the equations of motion of the system as
Equations of Motion of Undamped Systems in
Matrix Form
We know that
where Fi is the nonconservative generalized force corresponding to the ith

generalized coordinate xi and is the time derivative of xi (generalized
velocity). The kinetic and potential energies of a multidegree-of-freedom
system can be expressed in matrix form as
From the theory of matrices, we obtain, by taking note of the symmetry of
[m],
where δji is the Kronecker delta (δji = 1 if j = i and = 0 if j ≠ i), is the

column vector of Kronecker deltas whose elements in the rows for which
are j ≠ i equal to zero and whose element in the row i = j is equal to 1, and
is a row vector which is identical to the ith row of the matrix [m].
since the mass matrix is not a function of time. Further, the kinetic energy is
a function of only the velocities, so
Similarly,
where is a row vector identical to the ith row of the matrix [k]. Using
the above relations, we obtain the desired equations of motion in matrix
form
where, F is a column matrix of all forces

Note that if the system is conservative, there are no nonconservative forces
Fi, so the equations of motion become
Note also that if the generalized coordinates xi are same as the actual
(physical) displacements, the mass matrix [m] is a diagonal matrix.
Eigenvalue Problem
We have,
The solution of the equation corresponds to the undamped free vibration of

the system. In this case, if the system is given some energy in the form of
initial displacements or initial velocities or both, it vibrates indefinitely,
because there is no dissipation of energy.
Let us assume a solution
where Xi is a constant and T is a function of time t. Equation shows that the

amplitude ratio of two coordinates is independent of time.
Physically, this means that all coordinates have synchronous motions. The
configuration of the system does not change its shape during motion, but its
amplitude does.
The configuration of the system, given by the vector is known as the mode
shape of the system.
The above equation can be written in scalar form as n separate equations
from which we can obtain the relations
Since the left side of equation is independent of the index i, and the right
side is independent of t, both sides must be equal to a constant. By
assuming this constant as ω2, we can write as
The constant is assumed to be a positive number, so as to obtain a harmonic

solution to the resulting equation. Otherwise, the solution of T(t) and hence
that of x(t) become exponential, which violates the physical limitations of
finite total energy.
The solution of equation can be expressed as
Where C1 and Φ are constants, known as the amplitude and the phase
angle, respectively.
The equation represents what is known as the eigenvalue or characteristic value
problem. The above equation represents a set of n linear homogeneous
equations in the unknowns Xi(i = 1, 2, . . . , n), the trivial solution is X1 = X2 =
. . . = Xn = 0. For a nontrivial solution of this equation, the determinant of the
coefficient matrix must be zero. That is,
The above equation is called the characteristic equation, ω2 is known as the

eigenvalue or the characteristic value, and ω is called the natural frequency of
the system.
The expansion of the equation leads to an nth-order polynomial equation in ω2.
The solution (roots) of this polynomial or characteristic equation gives n values
of ω2. It can be shown that all the n roots are real and positive when the
matrices [k] and [m] are symmetric and positive definite, as in the present case.
If denote the n roots in ascending order of magnitude, their
positive square roots give the n natural frequencies of the system
The lowest value (ω1) is called the fundamental or first natural frequency. In
general, all the natural frequencies ωi are distinct, although in some cases two
natural frequencies might possess the same value.
Solution of the Eigenvalue Problem
We have
where,
Premultiplying by we obtain
or
where [I] is the identity matrix and
is called the dynamical matrix. The eigenvalue problem of equation is

known as the standard eigenvalue problem. For a nontrivial solution, the
characteristic determinant must be zero. The eq. gives an nth-degree
polynomial in λ known as the characteristic or frequency equation.
Equations of Motion of a Three-Degree-of-
Freedom System
Example: State the free-vibration equations of motion of the
system shown in Figure. Find the natural frequencies and mode
shapes of the system for k1 = k2 = k3 = k and m1 = m2 = m3 =
m.
Solution: The equations of motion of the system for forced vibration can be
obtained from
Setting ci = 0, n = 3 and kn+1 = 0 for i = 1, 2, . . . , n, n + 1, we get
By setting the free-vibration equations can be obtained as
The dynamical matrix is given by
where the elements of the flexibility matrix can be obtained by setting ki =

k, i = 1, 2, 3 and the mass matrix can be obtained by setting mi = m, i = 1,
2, 3 in the [m]
Thus,
By setting the characteristic determinant equal to zero, we obtain the

frequency equation
By dividing throughout by λ,
The roots of the cubic equation are given by
Once the natural frequencies are known, the mode shapes or eigenvectors
can be calculated from
denotes the ith mode shape.
The procedure is outlined below.
• First Mode: By substituting the value of ω1,
Replacing one of the unknown in terms of other,
We get,
Thus , the 1st mode shape is
• Second Mode: The substitution of the value of ω2,
The solution leads to
Thus the second mode shape can be expressed as
• Third Mode: To find the third mode, we substitute the value of ω3,
Hence the third mode shape can be written as
Orthogonality of Normal Modes
The natural frequency ωi and the corresponding modal vector satisfy
such that
Also, for ωj,
Premultiplying, we get
By subtracting, we obtain
In general, so
The above equations indicate that the modal vectors are orthogonal with
respect to both mass and stiffness matrices.
When i = j, the left sides of eqs. are not equal to zero, but they do yield the
generalized mass and stiffness coefficients of the ith mode:
where [X] is called the modal matrix, in which the i th column corresponds
to the ith modal vector:
In many cases, we normalize the modal vectors such that
is,
In this case the matrix reduces to
Note: If an eigenvector satisfies the eq., it is said to be orthonormal with

respect to the mass matrix [m].
Orthonormalization of Eigenvectors
Multiply each eigenvector by a constant and find its value from the relation
Thus for i = 1, the equation leads to
Similarly, for i = 2 and i = 3,
Repeated Eigenvalues
When the characteristic equation possesses repeated roots, the
corresponding mode shapes are not unique. To see this, let
be the mode shapes corresponding to the repeated eigenvalue
and let be the mode shape corresponding to a different eigenvalue λ3.
By multiplying 1st eq. by a constant p and adding to 2nd, we obtain
Example: Determine the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a
vibrating system for which
Solution: The eigenvalue equation can be written in the form
The characteristic equation gives
So
Eigenvector for λ3 = 4:
If is set equal to 1, 3rd equation give the eigenvector
Eigenvector for λ1 = λ2 = 0: The value λ1 = 0 or λ2 = 0 indicates that the
system is degenerate. Using λ1 = 0 in 1st Eq., we obtain
All these equations are of the form
Thus the eigenvector corresponding to λ1 = λ2 = 0 can be written as
If we choose we obtain
If we select we get,
Expansion Theorem
The eigenvectors, due to their property of orthogonality, are linearly
independent (A set of vectors is called linearly independent if no vector in
the set can be obtained by a linear combination of the remaining ones).
Hence they form a basis in the n-dimensional space (Any set of n linearly
independent vectors in an n-dimensional space is called a basis in that
space). This means that any vector in the n-dimensional space can be
expressed by a linear combination of the n linearly independent vectors.
If is an arbitrary vector in n-dimensional space, it can be expressed as
where ci, are constants. By premultiplying throughout by the

value of the constant ci can be determined as
where Mii is the generalized mass in the ith normal mode. If the modal
vectors are normalized, ci is given by
The above equation represents what is known as the expansion theorem. It

is very useful in finding the response of multidegree-of-freedom systems
subjected to arbitrary forcing conditions according to a procedure called
modal analysis.
Unrestrained Systems
An unrestrained system is one that has no restraints or supports and that can
move as a rigid body. It is not uncommon to see, in practice, systems that
are not attached to any stationary frame. A common example is the motion
of two railway cars with masses m1 and m2 and a coupling spring k. Such
systems are capable of moving as rigid bodies, which can be considered as
modes of oscillation with zero frequency.
Consider the equation of motion for free vibration in normal coordinates:
For ω = 0, the solution can be expressed as
where α and β are constants. Equation represents a rigid-body translation.

Let the modal vector of a multidegree-of-freedom system corresponding to
the rigid body mode be denoted by .The eigenvalue problem can be
expressed as
With ω = 0,
If the system undergoes rigid-body translation, not all the components

are zero. Hence, the determinant of [k] must be zero.
Thus the stiffness matrix of an unrestrained system (having zero natural
frequency) is singular. If [k] is singular, the potential energy is given by
The mode is called a zero mode or rigid-body mode.
Natural Frequencies of a Free System
Example: Three freight cars are coupled by two springs, as shown in
Figure. Find the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the system for m1
= m2 = m3 = m and k1 = k2 = k.
Solution: The kinetic energy of the system can be written as
The elongations of the springs k1 and k2 are (x2 - x2) and (x3 - x2),
respectively, so the potential energy of the system is given by
To find the natural frequencies and the mode shapes of the system, we
express the eigenvalue problem as
Since [k] is singular, we cannot find its inverse and the dynamical
matrix Hence we set the determinant of the coefficient
matrix of equal to zero. For m1 = m2 = m3 = m and k1 = k2 = k, this
yields
The expansion of the determinant leads to
By setting
As m ≠ 0, the roots are
For ω1 = 0,
By fixing the value of one component,
Thus the first (rigid-body) mode corresponding to ω1 = 0 is given by
Note that the mode shape represents the rigid-body translation of the system
(all masses undergo the same displacement). Although the natural frequency
ω1 (or the eigenvalue ω12) is zero, the corresponding mode shape (or
eigenvector) is not zero.
For
Fixing the value of one component
The second mode corresponding to ω2 is
For
Fixing the value of one component,
Thus the third mode is
Free Vibration of Undamped Systems
The equation of motion for the free vibration of an undamped system can be
expressed in matrix form as
The most general solution can be expressed as a linear combination of all

possible solutions given by
The constants Ai and Φi (i = 1, 2, . . . , n) can be evaluated from the

specified initial conditions of the system. If
denote the initial displacements and velocities given to the system
Equations represent, in scalar form, 2n simultaneous equations which can
be solved to find the n values of and n Ai (i = 1, 2, . . . , n) values of Φi(i =
1, 2, . . . , n).
Free-Vibration Analysis of a Spring-Mass System
Example: Find the free-vibration response of the spring-mass
system shown in Fig. 6.12 corresponding to the initial
conditions
Assume that ki = k and mi = m for i = 1, 2, 3.
Solution: The natural frequencies and mode shapes of the system are given
by
where the first component of each mode shape is assumed as unity for
simplicity. The application of the initial conditions leads to
A1 = 0.1076x10, A2 = 0.5431x10, A3 = 0.3493x10,
Φ1 = 0, Φ2 = 0, Φ3 = 0.
Thus the free-vibration solution of the system can be expressed as

Multi-Degree of Fredom System

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Mechanical Vibration

Dr. Shivdayal Patel

The application of Newton s second law of motion to mass mi gives

The above equations of motion can be expressed in matrix form as

For an undamped system (with all ci = 0, i = 1, 2 . . . n + 1), the equations of

The elastic potential energy (also known as strain energy or energy of

The total potential energy can be expressed as

Eq. (6.27) becomes

Equation (6.29) can also be written in matrix form as kij = kji

The total kinetic energy of the system can be expressed as

which can be written in matrix form as

where the velocity vector is given by

If generalized coordinates(qi) are used instead of the physical displacements

Where is the vector of generalized velocities, given by

with mij = mji.

Thus the total potential energy of the system can be expressed as

There are external moments applied to the components, so generalised force

Differentiating with respect to time gives the velocities of point C as

The kinetic energy of the system, T, can be expressed as

where Fi is the nonconservative generalized force corresponding to the ith

where δji is the Kronecker delta (δji = 1 if j = i and = 0 if j ≠ i), is the

where, F is a column matrix of all forces

The solution of the equation corresponds to the undamped free vibration of

where Xi is a constant and T is a function of time t. Equation shows that the

The above equation can be written in scalar form as n separate equations

from which we can obtain the relations

The constant is assumed to be a positive number, so as to obtain a harmonic

The above equation is called the characteristic equation, ω2 is known as the

where [I] is the identity matrix and

is called the dynamical matrix. The eigenvalue problem of equation is

Setting ci = 0, n = 3 and kn+1 = 0 for i = 1, 2, . . . , n, n + 1, we get

By setting the free-vibration equations can be obtained as

The dynamical matrix is given by

where the elements of the flexibility matrix can be obtained by setting ki =

By setting the characteristic determinant equal to zero, we obtain the

denotes the ith mode shape.

Replacing one of the unknown in terms of other,

Thus , the 1st mode shape is

The solution leads to

Thus the second mode shape can be expressed as

Hence the third mode shape can be written as

Also, for ωj,

In this case the matrix reduces to

Note: If an eigenvector satisfies the eq., it is said to be orthonormal with

Similarly, for i = 2 and i = 3,

By multiplying 1st eq. by a constant p and adding to 2nd, we obtain

The characteristic equation gives

If is set equal to 1, 3rd equation give the eigenvector

All these equations are of the form

Thus the eigenvector corresponding to λ1 = λ2 = 0 can be written as

where ci, are constants. By premultiplying throughout by the

The above equation represents what is known as the expansion theorem. It

For ω = 0, the solution can be expressed as

where α and β are constants. Equation represents a rigid-body translation.

If the system undergoes rigid-body translation, not all the components

The mode is called a zero mode or rigid-body mode.

The expansion of the determinant leads to

By fixing the value of one component,

Thus the first (rigid-body) mode corresponding to ω1 = 0 is given by

Fixing the value of one component

The second mode corresponding to ω2 is

Fixing the value of one component,

Thus the third mode is