Fundamentals of Mechanical Vibrations 4600:431

Homework 11
Due: 04 May 2016

Name:
Please denote your answers clearly, i.e., box in, star, etc., and write neatly. There are no
points for small, messy, unreadable work. . . please use lots of paper.
Problem 1:
For the mechanical system shown to the
right, the uniform rigid bar is supported by
identical springs. For this system find the
equations of motion in terms of x and .

k
x

k
z

G
m,

Solution:
We begin with the identification of the additional coordinates y and z, and the directions
(, ). This system has two degrees-of-freedom, so that for the four coordinates identified,
we can identify two additional constraints. We can relate y and z to the provided
coordinates x and as

z = x .
y = x + ,
2
6
Then the kinetic and potential energies of the system can be written as


1
1
1 m 2 2
1
2
T = m x +
,
V = k y2 + k z 2.
2
2
12
2
2
Eliminating the coordinates y and z, the Lagrangian becomes
(

 ) (

2

2 )
2
1
m

1
1
2
m x 2 +
k x+ + k x
.
L=T V =
2
2
12
2
2
2
6
The partial derivatives associated with Lagranges equations of motion are
 



L

L
= m x,

= k x+ +k x ,
x
x
2
6







2

L
L
k
k
m

x+
x .
,
=
=
12

2
2
6
6

Finally, the equations of motion for this system become


L
k
d L

= 0
mx
+2kx+
= 0,
dt x
x
3




d L
L
5 k 2
m 2 k

+
= 0
x+
= 0.
dt z
z
12
3
18

Problem 2:
Use Lagranges equations to derive the differential equations governing the motion of
the system shown in the figure using the indicated generalized coordinates. Make linearizing assumptions and write the differential
equations in matrix form. Indicate whether
the system is statically coupled, dynamically
coupled, neither, or both.

2r

r
z2
k

z1

x1

m
x2

Solution:
In addition to the coordinates x1 , x2 , and , we also identify the displacements in the
springs z1 and z2 as well. As a result, these can be written as
z1 = x1 r ,

z2 = 2 r x2 .

With these, the kinetic and potential energies can be written as

T =

1
1
1
m x 21 + I 2 + m x 22 ,
2
2
2

V=

1
1
1
k z12 + k z22 + k x21 .
2
2
2

Eliminating z1 and z2 from these, the Lagrangian becomes

L=T V =


1
1
1
m x 21 + I 2 + m x 22
2
2
2


1
1
1
k (x1 r )2 + k (2 r x2 )2 + k x21 .

2
2
2

The partial derivatives associated with Lagranges equations of motion are

L
= m x 1 ,
x 1
L
= m x 2 ,
x 2
L

= I ,

i
h
L
= k (x1 r ) + k x1 ,
x1
h
i
L
= k (2 r x2 ) ,
x2
h
i
L
= k r (x1 r ) + 2 k r (2 r x2 ) ,

Finally, the equations of motion for this system become



d L
L

= 0
mx
1 + 2 k x1 k r = 0,
dt x 1
x1


d L
L
= 0
mx
2 + k x2 2 k r = 0,

dt x 2
x2


L
d L
= 0
I k r x1 2 k r x2 + 5 k r2 = 0.

dt

In matrix form these

m 0
0 m
0 0

equations can be expressed as

x
1
0
2k
0
2 + 0
0 x
k
I
k r 2 k r

k r
x1
2 k r x2 = 0.
5 k r2

Since the mass matrix is diagonal, while the stiffness matrix is not, the system is dynamically uncoupled but statically coupled.
Problem 3:
For the mechanical system shown to the
right, the uniform rigid bar is supported by
identical springs and dampers. For this system find the equations of motion in terms of
x and .

k
k

c
x

G
m,

Solution:
In addition to x and , we also identify y and z, measuring the displacements shown in
the figure. These additional coordinates can be related to x and as
y =x

,
6

We incorporate the spring forces into the

potential energy of the system, leaving only
the damping forces to be included in the
generalized forces within Lagranges equations. These non-conservative forces act as
shown in the free-body diagrams shown to
the right.

z =x+

.
2

c z

c x

For this system the kinetic and potential energies can be written as


1
1 m 2 2
1
1
2
, V = k y2 + k z 2.
T = m x +
2
2
12
2
2
We must eliminate both y and z from these energies, so that the Lagrangian can be
3

written as
L=T V =

1
1
m x 2 +
2
2

m 2
12

1
k
2


2

2 )

1
x + k x+
.
6
2
2

We can evaluate the various partial derivatives as

 



L
L

= m x,

= k x +k x+ ,
x
x
6
2





2

L
m
k
k
L
x +
x+ .
,
=
=
y
12
y
6
6
2
2
For a virtual displacement x, with held fixed, the virtual work from the damping
forces are
W = (c z ) (x ) + (c x ) (x ) = (c z + c x)
x.
Therefore



Qx = c z c x = c 2 x + .
2
Likewise, for a virtual displacement , the virtual work of the damping force is

c
W = (c z ) ( ) = ( z)
,
2
2
so that
c
c
Q = z =
2
2




z + .
2

Finally, the equations of motion for this system become





L
k

d L

= Qx
mx
+2kx+
= c 2 x + ,
dt x
x
3
2




d L

m 2 k
5 k 2
c
L
z + .
+
= Q
x+
=

dt

12
3
18
2
2
In matrix form these equations of motion can be written as
 


 

m
0
2k
2 c c2
x
x

2
+ k
2
+

0 m12
c2 c 4
3

k
3
5 k 2
18



= 0.

Problem 4:
For the multi degree-of-freedom system
shown in the figure

a) find the equations of motion in terms of

the displacements of the masses;

2k

b) if m = 2kg and k = 4N/m, use MATLAB to find the natural frequencies and
mode shapes of the system. Normalize
the mode shapes to be of unit length;

x1
4m

c) using MATLAB, numerically simulate

the response of the system when the
left mass is pulled down by 10cm and
released from rest;

x2

z2

4k
z3
x3

m
m

Solution:
a) We identify the coordinates z2 and z3 measuring the relative displacements between the
supported masses m2 and m3 , and m1 , related to x1 , x2 , and x3 as
z2 = x2 x1 ,

z3 = x3 x1 .

With these coordinates, the kinetic and potential energies can be expressed as
T =

1
1
1
(4 m) x 21 + m x 22 + m x 23 ,
2
2
2

V=

1
1
1
(2 k) x21 + k z22 + (4 k) z32 .
2
2
2

Therefore, eliminating the coordinates z2 and z3 , the Lagrangian can be written as



1
1
1
2
2
2
L=T V =
(4 m) x 1 + m x 2 + m x 3
2
2
2


1
1
1
2
2
2
(2 k) x1 + k (x2 x1 ) + (4 k) (x3 x1 )

2
2
2
We can evaluate the various partial derivatives as
h
i
L
L
= 4 m x 1 ,
= 2 k x1 k (x2 x1 ) 4 k (x3 x1 ) ,
x 1
x1
h
i
L
L
= m x 2 ,
= k (x2 x1 ) ,
x 2
x2
h
i
L
L
= m x 3 ,
= 4 k (x3 x1 ) .
x 3
x3
Therefore the equations of motion for this system become


L
d L

= 0
4mx
1 + 7 k x1 k x2 4 k x3 = 0,
dt x 1
x1


d L
L

= 0
mx
2 k x1 + k x2 = 0,
dt x 2
x2


L
d L

= 0
mx
3 4 k x1 + 4 k x3 = 0.
dt x 3
x3
5

Finally, in matrix form

4m 0
0
m
0
0

these reduce to

0
x
1
7k
0 x
2 + k
m
x
3
4 k

k
k
0

4 k
x1
0 x2 = 0.
4k
x3

b) With the above mass and stiffness matrices, the characteristic matrix A = M 1 K can
be written as

1
0 0
7 k k 4 k
4m
1
0 k
k
0
A = M 1 K = 0
m
1
0
0 m
4 k 0
4k
7
7k

k
k
4m m
41 1
4m
4
k
k
k
1 1
= m
0
0 =
m
m
4k
4k
4 0
4
0
m
m
We identify the matrix B so that A = (k/m) B. The eigenvalues and eigenvectors of
this matrix can be found with the following MATLAB commands
B = [7/4, -1/4, -1; ...
-1, 1, 0 ...
-4, 0, 4];
[U,D] = eig(B)

This provides the three eigenpairs for B

0.4849
(1 , u1 ) = 0.3065, 0.6993 ,
0.5252

0.2350
(2 , u2 ) = 1.2584, 0.9095 ,
0.3429

0.2834
(3 , u3 ) = 5.1851, 0.0677 .
0.9566

Finally, the eigenvectors

of A are equal to those of B, while the eigenvalues of Aare
p
given as i = k/m i . Therefore, the natural frequencies of the system are i = i ,
or
r
r
r
k
k
k
1 = 0.5536
,
2 = 1.1218
,
3 = 2.2771
,
m
m
m
= 0.7829 rad/s,
= 1.5865 rad/s,
= 3.2203 rad/s.
Note that by default MATLAB normalizes the eigenvectors to have unit length.
c) The equations of motion can be numerically simulated using the command ode45 together with an .m file containing the derivatives, defined below as deriv.m and constructed as
function xdot=deriv(t,x)
% Define the parameters
k = 4;
m = 2;

xdot = zeros(6,1);
% Construct the mass and stiffness matricies
M = m*[4, 0, 0; 0, 1, 0; 0, 0, 1];
K = k*[7, -1, -4; -1, 1, 0; -4, 0, 4];
% Define y as the position variables
%
and ydot as the velocity variables
y = x(1:2:end);
ydot = x(2:2:end);
% Find the accelerations, yddot
yddot = -inv(M)*K*y;
xdot(1:2:end) = ydot;
xdot(2:2:end) = yddot;

Alternatively, we can explicitly write out the equations of motion in first-order form
function xdot=deriv(t,x)
% Define the parameters
k = 4;
m = 2;
xdot = zeros(6,1);
xdot(1) = x(2);
xdot(2) = -(7*k*x(1) - k*x(3) - 4*x(5))/(4*m);
xdot(3) = x(4);
xdot(4) = -(-k*x(1) +k*x(3))/(m);
xdot(5) = x(6);
xdot(6) = -(-4*k*x(1) + 4*x(5))/(m);

The initial conditions for this motion are simply

(x1 (0), x 1 (0), x2 (0), x 2 (0), x3 (0), x 3 (0)) = (0, 0, 0.10, 0, 0, 0),
and the response can be numerically simulated for 0 t < 5 with the MATLAB
commands
initial = [0, 0, 0.10, 0, 0, 0];
Tspan = [0, 5];
[t,x] = ode45(@deriv, Tspan, initial);