Lecture Notes: RANDOM VIBRATION OF STRUCTURES / SPRING 2009 / Page: 1

Lecturer: Prof. APOSTOLOS S. PAPAGEORGIOU

PREFACE

PREFACE
Random Vibration (or Probabilistic Structural Dynamics) is now a firmly established
subject area of dynamic analysis of mechanical systems, civil engineering structures, and
aerospace structures.

The focus is on the determination of response levels for dynamical systems excited by
forces that can be modeled as stochastic processes.

Because many students will be new to the subject, our primary goal is clarity, particularly
regarding the fundamental principles and relationships. At the same time, we seek to make
the presentation sufficiently thorough and rigorous that the student will be able to move on
to more advanced work.

An in-depth understanding of the theory of random vibration and the development of the
ability to analyze real dynamic phenomena of engineering systems require two important
ingredients: a solid grounding in mathematical theory of probability and stochastic
processes, and a good grasp of the engineering applications of this theory in order to
produce results of practical significance.

We have made an effort to make these notes sufficiently self-contained. We begin with a
fairly extensive review of probability, random variables, and stochastic processes before
proceeding to the analysis of dynamic problems. We do presume that the student has a
background in deterministic structural dynamics or mechanical vibrations.

We do always try to give mathematically rigorous definitions and results even when
mathematical details are omitted. This approach is particularly important for the student who
wishes to pursue further study.

REFERENCES

NIGAM, N.C. (1983), Introduction to Random Vibration, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge,

Massachusetts.

SOONG, T.T. and M. GRIGORIU (1993), Random Vibration of Mechanical and

Structural Systems, PTR-Prentice-Hall, Inc

LUTES, L.D. and S. SARKANI (2004), Random Vibrations: Analysis of Structural

and Mechanical Systems, Elsevier