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EXAMPLE 6-005
LINK DAMPER ELEMENT UNDER HARMONIC LOADING
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
In this single degree of freedom example a spring-mass-damper system is
subjected to a harmonic load. The frequency of the harmonic load is chosen to be
equal to the frequency of the spring-mass-damper system. The damper is
assumed to provide 5% of critical damping. The displacements of the springmass-damper system at various arbitrary times and the steady-state deformation
of the system are compared with results that are hand calculated using formulas
presented in Chopra 1995.
The SAP2000 model consists of a single joint, labeled joint 1, and two link
elements. One of the link elements is a linear spring element and the other is a
damper element.
The model is created in the XZ plane. Only the Uz degree of freedom is active for
the analysis. The link elements are modeled as single-joint link elements at joint
1. This means that one end of the link element is connected to the ground and the
other end is connected to joint 1. The link elements are oriented such that their
positive local 1 axes are parallel to the positive global Z axis. This is the default
orientation of single joint link elements. Only U1 degree of freedom properties
are defined for the link elements. The stiffness of the linear link element is 100
k/in. For linear analyses, the damper element has zero stiffness and damping
properties, and for nonlinear analyses its stiffness is 10,000 k/in and its damping
coefficient, c, is 1 kip-sec/in. The damping exponent is set equal to 1, meaning
that the force versus velocity characteristics of the damper are linear. The
derivation of those properties for the damper element is presented later in this
example.
A 1 kip-sec2/in translational mass in the Uz direction is assigned to joint 1. Also a
10 kip point load is assigned to joint 1 in the positive Uz direction.
A nonlinear time history analysis must be performed to obtain the desired
damper element behavior. For this example both a modal time history analysis
case named NLMHIST1 and a direct integration time history analysis case
named NLDHIST1 are used. A sine wave function that defines the variation of
the 10 kip point load over time is created for use in these analysis cases.

EXAMPLE 6-005 - 1

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Both the NLMHIST1 and the NLDHIST1 analysis cases use an output step time
size of 0.01 second and 2,550 total output steps, yielding results for 25.5 seconds,
which is just over 40 cycles of loading. The sine wave function is defined for 41
cycles of loading.
GEOMETRY, PROPERTIES AND LOADING

p(t) = posinwnt
u(t)

m
Linear spring
link element

cd
ks

kd

Harmonic load, p(t), is

applied with a frequency,
wn, equal to the natural
frequency of the system
Damper element (dashpot
in series with a spring)
properties are set to provide
pure damping at a level
equal to 5% of critical
damping ( = 0.05)

Linear Link Properties (U1 DOF)

Linear ks = 100 k/in
Damper Properties (U1 DOF)
Linear kd
= 0 k/in
= 0 k-sec/in
Linear cd
Nonlinear kd = 10,000 k/in
Nonlinear cd = 1 k-sec/in
Joint Mass
m = 1 k-sec2/in
Loading
po = 10 k
wn = 10 radians/sec
Active Degrees of Freedom
Uz only

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DERIVATION OF DAMPER ELEMENT PROPERTIES

The natural frequency, n, of the system is calculated as:

n =

ks
100
=
= 10 radians/sec
m
1

The damping coefficient for the damper, cd, is calculated as:

c d = 2 n m = 2 * 0.05 * 10 * 1 = 1 kip-sec/in
If pure damping behavior is desired from the damper element, as is the case in
this example, the effect of the spring can be made negligible by making its
stiffness, kd, sufficiently stiff. The spring stiffness should be large enough so that
the characteristic time of the spring-dashpot damper element, given by = cd/kd,
is approximately two to three orders of magnitude smaller than 1/n. Care must
be taken not to make kd excessively large because numerical sensitivity may
result.
For this example the spring stiffness is initially based on being three orders of
magnitude smaller than 1/n. Thus can be expressed as:

cd 1 n
=
k d 1,000

Solving for kd yields:

k d = 1,000 n c d = 1,000 * 10 * 1 = 10,000 k/in
TECHNICAL FEATURES OF SAP2000 TESTED
Damper element links
Linear link elements
Nonlinear modal time history analysis
Nonlinear direct integration time history analysis
Joint force loads

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RESULTS COMPARISON
Independent results are hand calculated using equation 3.2.6 on page 70 in
Chopra 1995.
Results for Model A
Output
Parameter

Analysis
Case

SAP2000

Uz (jt 1) displ
at t = 0.50 sec
in

NLMHIST1

-0.10488

NLDHIST1

-0.10480

Uz (jt 1) displ
at t = 5.00 sec
in

NLMHIST1

-0.88875

NLDHIST1

-0.88814

-0.05%

Uz (jt 1) displ
at t = 11.00 sec
in

NLMHIST1

0.99453

-0.04%

NLDHIST1

0.99459

Steady-state
deformation
in

NLMHIST1

0.99971

Independent

Percent
Difference
0%

-0.10488
-0.08%
+0.02%
-0.88858

0.99497
-0.04%
-0.03%
1.00000
NLDHIST1

0.99964

-0.04%

Model B is created to demonstrate that the steady-state results can also be

obtained using a steady-state analysis case. Because the steady-state analysis case
is a linear analysis case and the damper element behaves differently for linear
analyses and nonlinear analyses the damper element properties are different in
Models A and B.
The figure to the right illustrates the damper element properties used for
nonlinear and linear analyses. For
nonlinear analyses the damper element
cnonlinear
acts as a spring in series with a dashpot
and uses the specified nonlinear spring
klinear
clinear
knonlinear
stiffness and damping coefficient for the
damper. In contrast, for linear analyses,
Damper Properties
Damper Properties
the damper element acts as a spring in
for
for
parallel with a dashpot and uses the
Nonlinear Analyses
Linear Analyses
specified linear spring stiffness and

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damping coefficient for the damper. This difference in nonlinear and linear
behavior occurs for most types of link elements.
Model B uses only a damper link element. The linear link element is not used.
The linear spring stiffness for the damper is set to 100 k/in and the damping
coefficient is set to 1 k-sec/in. The steady-state analysis case is defined with no
hysteretic damping. If hysteretic damping were defined in the steady-state case, it
would be used instead of the damping specified for the damper element.
The following table presents the results obtained for Model B. The comparison
with the independent results is exact.
Results for Model B
Output
Parameter

Analysis
Case

SAP2000

Independent

Percent
Difference

Steady-state
deformation at
freq = 1.5915 sec
in

SS1

1.00000

1.00000

0%

COMPUTER FILES: Example 6-005a, Example 6-005b

CONCLUSION
The SAP2000 results show an acceptable comparison with the independent
results.

EXAMPLE 6-005 - 5

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HAND CALCULATION

EXAMPLE 6-005 - 6

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EXAMPLE 6-005 - 7

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EXAMPLE 6-005 - 8