Class note

es 

Examp
ple

A simple single degreee of freedom

m system (a mass,
m M, on a spring of stiffness k, forr example) has
the follow
wing equation
n of motion:

where
w is the accelerration (the do
ouble derivattive of the dissplacement) and x is the
displacement
d t.
Iff the loading F(t) is a Hea
aviside step function
f (the sudden appllication of a cconstant load
d),
th
he solution too the equatioon of motion is:

where and the

t fundamental natural ffrequency, .
The static
s deflection of a singlle degree of ffreedom sysstem is:

so you ca
an write, by combining
c the
e above form
mulae:

This gives the (theoretical) tim

me history of the structure
e due to a loa
ad
F(t), where
w the false assumptiion is made tthat there is no damping.
Altho
ough this is to
oo simplistic to apply to a real structurre, the Heaviiside
Step Function is a reasonable e model for thhe application of many re eal
loads
s, such as the e sudden add dition of a pie
ece of furnitu
ure, or the
remooval of a propp to a newly ccast concretee floor. Howe ever, in realityy
loads
s are never applied
a instan
ntaneously - they build up p over a perio od of
time (this may be very short inndeed). This time is called d the rise tim
me.
As th
he number off degrees of ffreedom of a structure inccreases it very
quick
kly becomes too difficult t o calculate th
he time histo
ory manually - real
struc
ctures are ana
alysed using non-linear fiinite elementt
analy
ysis software
e.