2.

Equations of motion for a single degree-of-freedom system

Degrees of freedom
The minimum number of independent coordinates along which the
displacement of a system must be specified to completely determine its
position is referred to as the degrees of freedom (dof) of the system

Examples
A bee (that can be thought of as a point) crawling along the surface of a board
represents a system with two degrees of freedom. For example, the distances
of the bee measured in the x and y directions from a selected origin can be
used as the two dof
Examples of dof
• A rectangular eraser moving on a board has three dof,
displacements along x and y coordinates and rotation
about z axis
• A 3-dimensional object moving in space has 6 dof: 3
displacements and 3 rotations
Forces acting on a single dof freedom dynamic system
Consider a rigid body of mass m constrained to move along the x axis in the plane of
the paper, as shown in the figure. It is attached to a fixed support by a spring and a
damper. It has a single dof of freedom, the displacement in the x direction.
The rigid body shown is acted upon by three forces, namely
• Inertia force fI
• Spring force fS
• Damping force fD

Forces on a
single-degree-of-
freedom system
Inertia Forces
 Newton’s second law of motion states that the force applied on an object is
equal to the rate of change of momentum

where Q is the force, m is the mass of the object, u is its displacement and t is
the time
The mass can be assumed to be constant for the type of objects we consider,
so that

Quantity has the units of force. Defining an inertia force as the product of
mass and acceleration acting in the negative direction of acceleration, we can
view the foregoing equation as an equation of equilibrium
Inertia Forces

 Representation of
as a force is referred to as d’Alembert’s principle. It converts the
problem of dynamic response to an equivalent static equilibrium problem

Inertia force on a moving mass

Resultant of Inertia Forces acting on a rigid body
The inertia forces in a 3D system can be represented by three forces and three moments. For a
2D system there are two resultant forces and a single moment.
Consider for example a rigid massless rod lying in a plane. Point masses m1 and m2 are attached
to its ends.
The resultant inertia forces and moments acting at the centre of mass are shown in the figure
for translation in x direction, translation in y direction and rotation about the centre of mass.

Resultant of inertia
forces on a rigid body
Resultant of inertia forces on a rigid body
 Now consider a uniform rigid bar with mass per unit length moving in the y direction with
an acceleration . The resultant of the inertia forces acting on the bar passes through the
centre of mass and is given by

The resultant moment about CM is zero.

Inertia force on a uniform

rigid bar for translation in y
direction
Resultant of inertia forces on a rigid body
 Next consider a rotation of the rigid bar about its centre of mass. The inertia force on an
infinitesimal section at distance x from the centre of mass is shown. The resultant inertia
force is given by

The moment about the centre of mass is given by

where , termed the mass moment of inertia given by and m is the total mass

Uniform rigid bar rotating

about CM
Resultant Inertia forces

Uniform rectangular plate,

mass m

Uniform circular plate,

mass m
Spring forces
 An elastic body undergoing deformation sets up internal forces that oppose the
deformation. Such forces are termed spring forces and are given by

where k is the spring constant or spring rate measured as force per unit displacement. For
the helical spring shown in Fig. a the relationship between applied force and displacement
is as shown Fig. b, where k is the slope of the curve. The force displacement diagram is
linear when u is small but might become nonlinear for large u.

Force displacement
relation for a helical
spring
 Spring forces

  𝑘 = 𝑃 = 3 𝐸𝐼  𝑘 = 24 𝐸𝐼
𝑢 3
𝐿 3
𝐿
Damping forces

 A moving body encounters resistance owing to many different sources. For example, motion
through air or other fluids produces a resisting force given by

where c is damping constant expressed as force per unit velocity. This equation is valid for
small values of velocity, for large velocity the force becomes proportional to the square of
velocity.
Damping that is dependent on the velocity of motion is termed viscous damping and is
commonly adopted in dynamic analysis

Viscous damping force

Damping forces

Damping forces that oppose motion may also arise from dry friction along a non-
lubricated surface. Such force is referred to as force produced by Coulomb friction. It is a
force of constant magnitude equal to the product of the coefficient of friction and the force
normal to the mating surfaces. However, the direction of the force is always opposed to the
direction of motion

Another source of damping force is produced by imperfect elasticity or internal friction

within the body. It exists even when the stresses have not exceeded the elastic limit. Force
of this nature is not dependent on the velocity but is proportional to displacement. It is
referred to as hysteretic or structural damping

Damping forces are complicated in nature. Viscous damping is the easiest to treat
mathematically and produces reasonable results. It is therefore most commonly used in
the analysis
Principle of Virtual Displacement

 As stated earlier the equations governing the motion of a body can be treated as equations
of static equilibrium between the inertia forces, damping forces, spring forces and the
applied forces. These equations can be formulated by using the standard methods of vector
mechanics. However, often an alternative method based on energy may greatly simplify the
problem. This method is based on the principle of virtual displacement.

The principle of virtual displacement states that if a system in equilibrium under a set of
externally applied forces and forces of constraints, such as reactions at the supports, is given
a virtual displacement that is compatible with the constraints, the sum of the work done by
the external forces, , is zero. This is a direct result of the principle of the conservation of
energy. Thus
Principle of Virtual Displacement
 As a simple example of the application of the principle of virtual displacement consider
particle constrained to move in a horizontal direction in a plane and attached to a fixed
support by a spring of stiffness k. The particle is subjected to an external force F as shown in
the figure which also shows all the forces acting on the particle. Suppose now the particle is
given a virtual horizontal displacement . The work done by the applied force is The work
done by the internal force applied by the spring is . The virtual work equation is given by

Definition of virtual work

Principle of Virtual Displacement

 The force –ku acting on the particle is matched by an equal and opposite force ku
acting on the spring. The work done by this latter force as it rides through the virtual
displacement is referred to as the work done on the internal element and is denote by .
The virtual work equation can be stated in the following alternative form

Definition of virtual work

Formulation of the Equations of Motion

It is convenient to classify the system into the following categories

1. Localized mass and localized stiffness
2. Localized mass but distributed stiffness
3. Distributed mass but localized stiffness
4. Distributed mass and distributed stiffness
Localized mass localized stiffness systems

Dynamic equilibrium of a simple

single-degree-of-freedom system

 𝑓 𝐼 +𝑓 𝐷 +𝑓 𝑆 = 𝑝

 where
is the inertia force
is the damping force
is the spring force
Distributed mass localized stiffness system
 Consider a massless cantilever beam with flexural rigidity EI but axially rigid. It
has a point mass attached to its end. It has a single degree-of-freedom as shown

The equation of motion is given by

Vibration of a point mass attached to a light cantilever beam

Distributed mass localized stiffness system

 The system shown in Figure (a) has a single d.o.f.

z as shown. The forces of inertia and damping,
the spring force and the applied force are shown
in the figure. Taking moments about the hinge
support we get

or

where m is the total mass of the bar and

is the mass moment of inertia
Distributed mass distributed stiffness system, axial vibrations of a rod

The system shown in the figure

can be idealized by dividing into a
number of sections. The mass of
each section is lumped in a point
mass at the centre of the section
as in Fig. (b); the remaining
portion of the section is massless
but has an axial rigidity EA.
Axial vibration of a bar
An alternative modelling is shown
in Fig. (c). In each case, the
system now has 6 dof as shown
Distributed mass distributed stiffness system, axial vibrations of a rod

 Continuing with our example of the axial vibration of a bar, note that the displacement is
function of both x and t. It can be expressed as

where is a function of time and a function of the spatial coordinate x. If we choose an

appropriate function for , the only unknown is and the system becomes a single-degree-of-
freedom system
Distributed mass distributed stiffness system, axial vibrations of a rod

 The forces acting on a small section of the bar are shown in the figure. The inertia force is
given by

and acts in the negative direction of x.

The elastic force is obtained from
Distributed mass distributed stiffness system, axial vibrations of a rod

 If a distributed force per unit length acts on the bar there is an additional force on the
section acting in the positive direction of x.
We now give an admissible virtual displacement to the rod. Note that such displacement
should be small and must satisfy the constraints on the system, that is, it should give a zero
displacement at the fixed end. Now suppose that was selected such as to satisfy a similar
constraint, then is an admissible virtual displacement.
The virtual work done by the inertia force acting on the section is

Integrating over the length we get the total virtual work done by the inertia force is
 Distributed mass distributed stiffness system, axial vibrations of a rod

 The work done by the external applied force acting on the section is

Integrating over the length we get

The elongation of the small section associated with the virtual displacement is

The virtual work done by the elastic force acting on the section is
Distributed mass distributed stiffness system, axial vibrations of a rod

 Integrating over the length we get the total virtual work done by the elastic force
becomes

The virtual elongation at the end of the bar is . Hence the virtual work done by the tip
force is

We can now write the equation of virtual work

Distributed mass distributed stiffness system, axial vibrations of a rod

 The equation of motion becomes

where
 Distributed mass distributed stiffness system, flexural vibrations of a beam
Next consider the flexural vibrations of a beam as shown in the Figure

(a) Flexural vibrations of a beam

 As in the case of axial vibrations of a rod, we denote the

vertical deflection as a function of x and t where x is the
horizontal distance from the left support.

We select an appropriate function to represent the

deflected shape. Now the only unknown is and the system
becomes a single-degree-of-freedom system

(b) Forces acting on a section

 Distributed mass distributed stiffness system
system, flexural vibrations of a beam

 The forces acting on a small section of the beam are

shown in Fig. (b). They comprise the following

Applied force
Inertia force
Sectional moment
There may also be concentrated forces as shown in
(b) Forces acting on a section Fig. a.

There could also be distributed stiffness fS and distributed damping forces fD, we will not
consider them. Note that shear forces act on the two ends of the section. For normal cross-
sectional dimensions the work done by these forces is small as compared to that done by
other forces, and we will neglect it
Distributed mass distributed stiffness system
system, flexural vibrations of a beam

 As in the case of axial vibrations of a rod we give a virtual displacement that is compatible
with the support conditions and assume that satisfies such conditions, so that is an
appropriate virtual displacement. The virtual work expressions are as follows for the
section

External force:
Inertia force:

To find the virtual work done by the elastic force, moment in this case, acting on the beam
section we note that the two sides of the section rotate with respect to each other
through an anticlockwise angle of , so that the virtual work becomes
Distributed mass distributed stiffness system, flexural vibrations of a beam

 Integration over the length of the beam gives the total virtual work.

External forces
Inertia forces
Elastic forces

The work done by concentrated forces can easily be shown as

Distributed mass distributed stiffness system, flexural vibrations of a beam

 The virtual work equation can now be written as

where
Distributed mass distributed stiffness system
 The success of the procedure to represent a continuous system by a SDOF depends on an
appropriate choice for the shape function . This function should satisfy the boundary
conditions in the problem

The boundary conditions are of two types: essential or geometric and natural or force. As the
name implies geometric is related to slope and deflection, while the force boundary
conditions deal with reaction, shear, and moment. As a minimum, the shape function must
satisfy the geometric boundary conditions

Consider for example the axial vibrations of a rod. The essential boundary condition in this
case is that the axial displacement at the fixed end should be zero, The force bc requires that
the axial force at the tip should be zero, or at x = L
Distributed mass distributed stiffness system
 A beam vibrating in flexure has four boundary conditions. Consider, for example, a simply
supported beam. In this case there are two geometric bc, namely that the displacement at
each end should be zero: and .

There are also two force conditions, namely that the moment at each end should be zero,
which means that at x = 0 and at x = L

Other combinations of bcs are possible. For example in a cantilever beam there are two
geometric boundary conditions, displacement and slope zero at x = 0, or and The two force
bcs are moment and shear zero at x = L, that is

 ,

For a fix ended beam all four bcs

are geometric, displacement and
slope being zero at each end
 Distributed mass distributed stiffness system

 The shape function should also satisfy certain conditions of continuity. We should note
that the derivation of the equations of motion requires the integration of the shape
function and its derivative. For example, in the case of axial vibration the highest order
derivative appearing in integration is , which must be continuous for the integration to
proceed. For the flexural vibration of a beam the highest order appearing in the
integration is , which must be continuous.

𝜓   A continuous function of x has a single for each value of x,

as shown for in the diagram.

x A discontinuous function of x would have more than one

value at the point of discontinuity, as shown in the diagram
  ′
𝜓 for
x
Effect of gravity load
In forming the equations of motion we have thus far ignored the displacements produced by
the gravity loads. This implies that the displacements obtained by solving the equations of
motion are over additional to those under gravity loads, and if the total displacements are
required the two should be added.
 Consider for example the system shown in the figure. The mass m
is vibration under the action of a dynamic load p(t). The forces
acting on the mass including the gravity load are shown. The mass
undergoes a static displacement under gravity. It then vibrates
about the displaced position experiencing a dynamic displacement
u. The total displacement is . The equation of motion is

The gravity load does not appear in the equation, but u is the
displacement relative to the displaced position under gravity
Effect of Gravity Load
 In some cases the gravity load must be considered in formulating the equations. Consider for
example the pendulum shown in the figure. As it swings about point of suspension it is
subjected to the forces shown in the figure. They include tension T in the string used to suspend
the mass m, the inertia force directed along the tangent and the gravity load mg. Taking
moment about the point of suspension

For small values of , and the equation becomes

 The inverted pendulum shown

presents another example where
gravity load must be considered.
For small it is easily shown that
Axial Force Effect
In the examples related to gravity load effects, gravity effectively reduced the stiffness of
the system, making it softer. Axial force when it is perpendicular to the direction of
displacement may have a similar effect, sometimes leading to buckling.
 Consider the vibrations of a rigid bar shown in Fig. a. It
is subjected to an axial force S. The forces acting on the
bar, including the inertia and spring forces are shown in
Fig. b. Assuming that is small and taking moments
about the hinge, we get

Substituting and

or

where is referred to as the geometric stiffness

Axial Force Effect
 The effect of axial force on the motion of distributed parameter system can be accounted for
in a similar manner. Consider the flexural vibrations of a beam referred to earlier. An axial
force acts on the beam. The small section of the beam is drawn again in the figure with just
the axial force shown. The virtual displacement imposed on the beam will cause the section
to rotate so that the forces will closer by a distance obtained from

 The displacement of the beam is , so that the slope

is given by and . The virtual work done by is given
by

or
Axial Force Effect

 On integrating over the length of the beam we get

The geometric stiffness is now given by

And the equation of motion becomes

Effect of Support Motion

 Dynamic systems are at times excited by the motion of their support. Earthquake motion is
one example of the motion of support. A model of SDOF system excite by support motion is
shown in the Figure. The total motion of the mass is denoted by , while the motion relative
to the support is represented by If the support motion is we have

 Now the equilibrium of the forces shown

in Fig. b gives

or

Thus, the term acts as an exciting force