Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation

Page 1
Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary
Excitation

Objectives
The objectives of this lecture are: (i) to learn about the vibration of simple structures; (ii)
to learn about the structural resonance and damping; (iii) to learn about the structural
response to a periodic and arbitrary forces.
Free vibration of a simple structure
We are interested in understanding the vibration of an engineering structure which is
subjected to a lateral (horizontal) ground motion due to an earthquake. We call a structure
simple if it can be idealised as a concentrated/lump mass(es) m supported with a massless
structural elements with stiffness k. Such an idealisation is appropriate for a heavy
horizontal roof supported with a light vertical columns, or for a water storage tank sitting
on the top of a concrete tower (see Figures 4.1).



Figure 4.1. Examples of SDOF structures.

In the absence of any external excitation the lateral displacement ( ) u t is the solution of the
following differential equation

0 mu cu ku + + = . (4.1)

This is the equation for a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system with damping c that
enables to dissipate the vibrational energy of the system. Schematically, this system can
be represented as shown in Figure 4.2. We consider the dynamic excitation which is
caused by the ground motion which is translated to the mass of the system via the
supporting elastic frame. The internal force resisting any external force or resisting the
deformation ( ) u t is equal and opposite to the external force which can be applied to the
system, e.g. in the case of an earthquake.
Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation
Page 2


Figure 4.2. Types of excitation of a SDOF structure: (a) force applied to the mass; (b) earthquake-
induced ground excitation.

If the system is linear, then the relationship between the lateral force
s
f and resulting
deformation ( ) u t is also linear, i.e.

( ) ( )
s
f t ku t = . (4.2)

This relationship stands only for relatively small deformations, i.e. when the system
stiffness k is independent of the value of the displacement u. In the case of a simple
system consisting of a mass sitting on an infinitely rigid beam and supported with N
elastic columns the overall stiffness of the frame is found as

3
1
12
N
n n
n
E I
k
h
=
=

(4.3)
where
n
E is the elastic modulus of the material of column n,
n
I is the second moment of
the cross-sectional area of the column n and h is the column height. For example, the
lateral stiffness of the system depicted in Figure 4.2 will be
3
24EI
k
h
= . We note that the
lateral stiffness of the frame is independent of the beam length in the case when the mass-
supporting beam is infinitely rigid. The lateral stiffness of the frame with an intermediate,
finite value of stiffness can be calculated by standard procedures of static analysis. In the
case of the system depicted in Figure 4.2 the stiffness matrix of the frame is formulated
with respect to three degrees of freedom: (i) the lateral displacement u and the rotations of
the two beam joints as shown in Figure 4.3. As an example, the lateral stiffness of the
frame with the beam length 2 L h = and
c b
EI EI = is
3
96
7
c
EI
k
h
= .

Figure 4.3. Displacements and forces in SDOF structure with various beam-to-column stiffness
ratios.

Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation
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Forced vibration of a simple structure
When a structure is exposed to a dynamic external force ( ) f t , e.g. an earthquake or wind
blast, internal dynamic forces resist deformation (elastic force or stiffness,
S
f ), velocity
(damping force,
D
f ) and acceleration (inertia force,
I
f ). The balance equation for these
forces becomes

0
S D I
f f f f = . (4.4)

In this case equation of motion (4.1) becomes

( ) mu cu ku f t + + = (4.5)

Equation (4.5) is general for the displacement, ( ) u t , of any idealised, linearly elastic
structure exposed to external excitation. If a structure is inelastic, i.e. the stiffness of its
elements depend upon the displacement, ( ) u t , and velocity, ( ) u t , then equation of motion
(4.5) becomes

( , ) ( ) mu cu g u u f t + + = (4.6)

where ( , ) g u u is the function describing the non-elastic behaviour of the frame.


Figure 4.4. Earthquake-type excitation of a SDOF structure.

In earthquake-prone regions the principal concern to engineers is the behaviour of a
structure subjected to earthquake-induced ground motion at its base. When an earthquake
strikes, the ground displacement occurs resulting in the dynamic deformation of the
structural elements of the frame supporting a mass as illustrated in Figure 4.4. The top
mass resists the displacement because of the inertia exerting a force on the elastic frame.
The frame tends to drag the mass towards the direction of the ground displacement with
some lag due to its finite stiffness resulting in the vibration of the mass on the top of the
frame.

Let us consider a SDOF structural frame loaded with a top mass (see Figure 4.4). We
define the ground displacement by ( )
g
u t and the absolute displacement of the top mass by
( )
t
u t . At any moment these displacement are related by

( ) ( ) ( )
t g
u t u t u t = + , (4.7)

Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation
Page 4
where ( ) u t is the relative displacement between the ground and the top mass. We note that
the absolute mass and ground displacements belong to the same inertial frame of
reference (system of co-ordinates) and their positive directions coincide. In this case it is
possible to derive the equation of motion for the SDOF system illustrated in Figure 4.4 by
making use of the dynamic equilibrium equation, i.e.

0
I D S
f f f + + = (4.8)

In the case of the ground excitation it is the relative motion (frame deformation, ( ) u t )
between the mass and the base which produces the elastic and damping forces within the
system. On the other hand, the inertia force is related to the absolute acceleration of the
top mass, i.e.


I t
f mu = . (4.9)

Making use of equations (4.7)-(4.9) it is possible to demonstrate that the final form of the
equation of motion for such a system will take the following form

( )
g
mu cu ku mu t + + = (4.10)

From equation (4.10) it can be noted that the force to which a structure is subjected is
proportional to the ground acceleration. This means that the relative displacement or
acceleration of this structure due to the ground acceleration ( )
g
u t would be identical to the
ground displacement of the same structure if its base were stationary and if it were
subjected to the external force, ( )
g
mu t . Therefore, the ground motion causing the
disturbance can be replaced by the effective earthquake force

( ) ( )
eff g
f t mu t = , (4.11)

which is proportional to the ground acceleration and mass of the structure. It is clear from
equations (4.10) and (4.11) that the earthquake-induced effective force acting on the
structure increases with the increased mass.

Response of damped structure to a harmonic excitation
If the ground displacement given by a periodic function, e.g.
0
( ) cos( )
g
u t u t = or
0
( ) sin( )
g
u t u t = , then equation (4.10) becomes

2 2
0
2 cos( )
n n
u u u u t + + = (4.12a)
or
2 2
0
2 sin( )
n n
u u u u t + + = , (4.12b)
respectively. Here
2
c
km
= is the damping ratio and
n
k
m
= is the natural
(resonance) frequency of the SDOF system.

Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation
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The general solution of equations (4.12) is the sum of the solution of homogenous
equation (4.1), ( )
h
u t , and particular solution of inhomogeneous differential equation
(4.12), ( )
s
u t , so that ( ) ( ) ( )
h s
u t u t u t = + . From Lecture 02 of the Engineering Vibration
module (ENG4080M) we learn that the solution of equation (4.1) is

( )
( )
2 2
1 1
1 2
1 2
2
1 2
, 1(for overdamped system)
( ) , 1(for a critically damped system)
cos( 1 ) sin 1
n
n
t t t
t
h
t
n n
e a e a e
u t e a a t
e a t a

+ >
= + =
+
( ) ( )
2
, 1(for underdamped system) t

<

,
(4.13)

where
1
a and
2
a are some coefficients which are determined from the initial conditions,
(0)
h
u and (0)
h
u . Solution (4.13) is also called the transient solution and the behaviour
of ( )
h
u t is graphically illustrated in Figure 4.5 for the three classical cases of damped
systems.

The particular solution of inhomogeneous differential equation (4.12) is called the steady
state solution and it found in the following general form

( ) sin cos
S
u t C t D t = + . (4.14)

If the ground excitation is given by
0
( ) cos( )
g
u t u t = , when the coefficients in formula
(4.14) are
| |
( ) ( )
2 2
0 2
2
2
2 / /
1 / 2 /
n n
n n
C u


=
(
( +


(4.15a)
and
( )
( ) ( )
2
2 2
0 2
2
2
/ 1 /
1 / 2 /
n n
n n
D u


(

=
(
( +


. (4.15b)

If the ground excitation is
0
( ) sin( )
g
u t u t = , then the above coefficients become

( )
( ) ( )
2
2 2
0 2
2
2
/ 1 /
1 / 2 /
n n
n n
C u


(

=
(
( +


(4.16a)
and

| |
( ) ( )
2 2
0 2
2
2
2 / /
1 / 2 /
n n
n n
D u

=
(
( +


. (4.16b)

Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation
Page 6
A majority of civil engineering structures, e.g. buildings, bridges, dams, offshore
platforms, represent the case of underdamped system for which 1 < . In this case, the
only useful form of equation (4.13) is

(0) (0)
( ) (0) cos sin
n
t n
h D D
D
u u
u t e u t t

( +
= +
(

, (4.17)

where
2
1
D n
= is the natural frequency of the underdamped system. The above
equation indicates that the natural frequency of underdamped vibration is always
D n
<
. The natural period of underdamped vibration is 2 /
D D n
T T = > and it is related to the
period of undamped vibration 2 /
n n
T = by
2
/ 1
D n
T T = .



Figure 4.5. Free vibrations of underdamped, critically damped and overdamped systems.

The full solution of equation (4.12) can be written by combining equations (4.14) and
(4.17) in a single expression

( ) ( ) cos sin sin cos
n
t
D D
u t e A t B t C t D t

= + + + , (4.18)

where (0) A u = ,
(0) (0)
n
D
u u
B

+
=

and the coefficients C and D are given by equations
(4.15) or (4.16), depending upon the selected type of harmonic excitation function. The
relative displacement, ( ) u t , of a SDOF system (see Figure 4.4) excited by
0
( ) sin( )
g
u t u t = has been calculated using equation (4.18) for 89 k = N/m, 0.25 m = kg,
0
5 u = mm and 0.05 = . The initial conditions assumed here are (0) 0 u = and
0
(0) u u = .
The results for / 0.2
n
= and / 0.9
n
= are shown in Figure 4.6. This figure
illustrates that the relative displacement of a SDOF system is relatively small when the
ratio / 1
n
<< . In this case, the initial higher frequency oscillations (transients) caused
by a sudden application of a sinusoidal excitation with the finite ground velocity,
0 0
v u =
, quickly damped and the mass oscillates at the driving frequency . When the driving
frequency is close to the natural frequency of the system, / 1
n
, then the relative
displacement of mass can significantly exceed the driving ground displacement. In the
Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation
Page 7
particular case when / 0.9
n
= , a 4-fold displacement amplification is attained in the
system (see the bottom graph in Figure 4.6).

Figure 4.6. The response of a SDOF system to periodic excitations.


Response of a damped structure to an arbitrary excitation

In reality structures are exposed to ground vibration which are not purely harmonic but
vary arbitrarily with time. In order to determine the response of a structure to an arbitrary
force, ( ) f t , it is common to represent this force as a sequence of infinitesimally short
impulses for each of which the system impulse response ( ) h t is known. If we assume that
the duration of each of the short impulses is d , then the displacement caused by this
impulse is

( ) ( ) ( ) du t f h t d = (4.19)

By setting 0 d and integrating equation (4.19) over time we obtain the so-called
convolution integral

0
( ) ( ) ( )
t
u t f h t d =

(4.20)

which can be used to determine the relative displacement of a structure with the impulse
response ( ) h t and excited by the force ( ) f t . The impulse of a SDOF structure with
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
Time [sec]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

[
m
m
]
Excitation frequency, f = 0.6 Hz (/
n
= 0.2)
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
Time [sec]
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

[
m
m
]
Excitation frequency, f = 2.7 Hz (/
n
= 0.9)
Full solution
Steady-state solution
Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation
Page 8
damping is ( )
1
( ) sin
n
t
D
D
h t e t
m

= , if the initial conditions are (0) 0 u = and (0) 0 u = .
In this case, integral (4.20) becomes the so-called Duhamels integral

( )
0
1
( ) ( ) sin( ( ))
n
t
t
D
D
u t f e t d
m

. (4.21)

We use the Dunamels integral to determine the displacement of a SDOF system with
stiffness k which is subjected to the step force excitation,
0
f , at t = 0, i.e.

0
, 0
( )
0, 0
f t
f t

=

<

(4.22)


Figure 4.7. The relative displacement of a SDOF system with damping subjected to a step force
equivalent to a 5mm ground displacement.

The substitution of (4.22) into Duhamels integral (4.21) yields the following expression
for the displacement response

0
2
( ) / 1 cos sin
1
n
t
D D
u t f k e t t

(
| |
( | = +
|
(

\ .

. (4.23)

The displacement of a SDOF system with 3
n
f = Hz subjected to a ground force
equivalent to a 5mm ground displacement has been calculated for two values of damping
ratio ( 0.05 = and 0.2 = ) and it is illustrated graphically in Figure 4.7. It can be noted
that the maximum displacement in this case can substantially exceed the maximum
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Time [sec]
R
e
l
a
t
i
v
e

d
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

[
m
m
]
f
n
= 3 Hz
= 0.05
= 0.2
Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation
Page 9
ground displacement (e.g. at (0.17) 9 u mm for 0.05 = vs 5
g
u = mm). The maximum
displacement does not reduce considerably with the increase in damping. The red line in
Figure 4.7 illustrates that the maximum displacement at this time point reduces by only
around 20% if the damping ratio of the system is quadrupled (i.e. 0.2 = instead of the
original 0.05 = ).

The Duhamels integral can also be used to determine the relative displacement of a
SDOF system (see Figure 4.4) which is subjected to the ground acceleration with a more
complex, realistic time history, e.g. the ground acceleration recorded at the time of El
Centro 1940 earthquake in California (see the top graph in Figure 4.8). The corresponding
displacement of a SDOF structure with 3
n
f = Hz and 0.05 = is shown in the bottom
graph in Figure 4.8. This result illustrates that the maximum sustained displacement is
associated with sudden movements of the ground and occurs at the natural period of the
system of 0.3
n
T s (e.g. at t = 4.5 s). Slower changes in the ground acceleration
movements are simply translated here into structural displacements with similar time
histories (e.g. at t = 2 s and t = 37 s).


Figure 4.8. On the application of the Duhamels integral for the calculation of the displacement of a
SDOF system subjected to the ground acceleration caused by the El Centro 1940 earthquake in
California.

Glossary
Elastic behaviour of a structure: elastic behaviour assumes that the stiffness of a structural
element is independent of its displacement.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
Time [sec]
G
r
o
u
n
d

a
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n

[
m
m
/
s
2
]
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
Time [sec]
R
e
l
a
t
i
v
e

d
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

[
m
m
]
El Centro 1940 earthquake applied to a SDOF with f
n
= 3 Hz, = 0.05
Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation
Page 10
Effective earthquake force: force exerted on a structure of mass m and caused by the ground
displacement, i.e. ( ) ( )
eff g
f t mu t = , where ( )
g
u t is the ground acceleration
Duhamels integral: convolution integral used to calculate the displacement of a structure
subjected to an arbitrary force,
( )
0
1
( ) ( ) sin( ( ))
D
t
t
D
D
u t f e t d
m

System impulse response: response of a system to an impulsive excitation of a very short
duration.
Non-elastic behaviour of a structure: elastic behaviour assumes that the stiffness of a structural
element is a function of its displacement.
Transient solution: general solution of the homogeneous differential equation describing the
dynamical behaviour of a structure
Simple structure: a single degree of freedom frame composed of a concentrated/lump mass(es) m
supported with a massless structural elements with stiffness k.
Steady-state solution: particular solution of the inhomogeneous differential equation describing the
behaviour of a structure subjected to a dynamic force.
Underdamped system: a common engineering structure for which the damping ratio is 1 < .
References
K. Chopra, Dynamics of Structures: Theory and Applications to Earthquake Engineering.
Chapters 1-3. 3
rd
Edition, Pearson Education, Inc. 2007.
K. Hussain, Mechanical Vibration Module: ENG4080M. Lectures 02 and 03. School of
Engineering, Design and Technology, University of Bradford, 2007.

Approximate densities of various solids

Material Density, kg/m
3

Aluminium 2700
Asphalt 1500
Brick, common 1800
Cement, Portland (set) 2480
Concrete masonry 2320
Copper ore 4200
Glass 3140


Lecture 04: Response of Structures to Arbitrary Excitation
Page 11
Approximate Young's moduli of various solids

Material Young's modulus (E) in GPa
Nylon 3-7
HDPE 1.38
Pine wood (along grain) 8.963
High-strength concrete (under compression) 30
Aluminium alloy 69
Titanium (Ti) 105-120
Wrought iron and steel 190-210

2
nd
moments of area of some common geometries