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JOURNAL OF
SOUND AND
VIBRATION
Journal of Sound and Vibration 269 (2004) 431438
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Letter to the Editor

On laterally vibrating beams carrying tip masses, coupled by

several double springmass systems
M. Gurg .
. oze*, H. Erol
. u. s-suyu, Istanbul, Turkey
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Istanbul, 80191 Gum
Received 18 October 2002; accepted 14 March 2003

1. Introduction

The present work is concerned with the same mechanical system investigated in Ref. [1]. It is
made up of two clamped-free BernoulliEuler beams carrying tip masses to which several spring
mass systems are attached across the span. The special case of a symmetric system can be viewed
as a model of a suspension bridge tower for studying its bending vibrations, among other
applications. In Ref. [1], the Green function method is employed to derive the frequency equation
of the system described. The eigenfrequencies are obtained one by one through the numerical
solution of a determinantal equation. As also reported in Ref. [2], one encounters sometimes with
numerical difculties in nding the roots of a determinantal transcendent equation which can be
very time consuming. On the other hand, it is not obvious which combinations of the physical
parameter values would cause such a situation is not known a priori. Motivated by this
experience, here an alternative method is given for obtaining the eigenfrequencies of the system
above. Although it is acknowledged that the method used follows the classical line, it is the belief
of the authors that it enables a design engineer who deals with similar systems, to obtain very
accurate approximate values of the eigenfrequencies simultaneously and quickly.
After application of the assumed modes method to the continuous parts of the system, the
system is discretized. Then the Lagrange equations formulation is applied, where the
displacements of the attachment points of the springs of the double springmass systems to
the beams are expressed in terms of the generalized co-ordinates. Finally, a generalized eigenvalue
problem is formulated through the solution of which the eigenfrequencies of the system can be
obtained approximately. In comparison to the Green function method where the eigenfrequencies
are obtained one by one through the numerical solution of a determinantal transcendent equation,
in the present method, eigenfrequencies can be determined simultaneously without being faced
with any numerical problems.

*Corresponding author. Fax: +90-212-245-07-95.

.
. oze).
E-mail address: gurgozem@itu.edu.tr (M. Gurg

0022-460X/03/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0022-460X(03)00372-9
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M. Gurg . H. Erol / Journal of Sound and Vibration 269 (2004) 431438

2. Theory

The problem to be dealt with in the present study is the natural vibration problem of the system
shown in Fig. 1, i.e., a laterally vibrating system consisting of two clamped-free BernoulliEuler
beams carrying tip mass to which n% double springmass systems (secondary systems) are attached
across the span.
The main subject of this study is the derivation of the frequency equation of the system described
above. The frequency equation follows directly from the formulation of the Lagranges equations
where the displacements of the attachment points of the secondary systems and those of the tip
masses to both beams are expressed in terms of the generalized co-ordinates [2]. The formulation
leads to a generalized eigenvalue problem, the solutions of which gives the eigenvalues and hence
the eigenfrequencies of the system.The kinetic and potential energies of the system are
Z L1 Z L2
1
T 2 m1 w 1 x; t dx 2 m2
2 1
w 22 x; t dx
0 0
n%
X
12 M1 z2M1 12 M2 z2M2 12 MSj z2j ; 1
j1
Z L1 Z L2
V 12 E1 I1 w001 2 x; t dx 1
2 E2 I2 w002 2 x; t dx
0 0
n%
X n%
X
12 k1; j zj  z01; j 2 12 k2; j z02; j  zj 2 ; 2
j1 j1

where dots and primes denote partial derivatives with respect to time t and the position
co-ordinate x; respectively. Li ; mi and Ei Ii denote the length, the mass per unit length and the

Fig. 1. Two clamped-free laterally vibrating beams carrying tip masses to which n% double springmass systems are
attached across the span.
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M. Gurg . H. Erol / Journal of Sound and Vibration 269 (2004) 431438 433

lateral rigidity of the ith beam, respectively (i 1; 2). Further, the bending displacements of the
beams are denoted as wi x; t: The jth secondary system attached consists of two springs of
stiffnesss k1; j ; k2; j and the secondary mass MSj : The attachment points of this system to the
beams are denoted by Z1j L1 and Z2j L2 ; respectively, as shown in Fig. 1. Here, z01; j and z02; j denote
the lateral displacements of the attachment points of the jth springmass to the rst and second
beams, respectively, while zj represents the displacement of the secondary mass MSj : The lateral
displacements of the beams at point x are assumed to be expressible in the form of nite series
X
n
w1 x; t Wi1 xZi1 t;
i1
X
n
w2 x; t Wi2 xZi2 t; 3
i1

where
1
Wi1 x p cosh bi x  cos bi x  Z% i sinh bi x  sin bi x;
m1 L 1
1
Wi2 x p cosh bi x  cos bi x  Z% i sinh bi x  sin bi x;
m2 L 2
cosh bi L1 cos bi L1 cosh bi L2 cos bi L2
Z% i ; Z% i 4
sinh bi L1 sin bi L1 sinh bi L2 sin bi L2
are the mass orthonormalized eigenfunctions of both clamped-free BernoulliEuler beams and
Zi1 t and Zi2 t (i 1; y, n) are generalized co-ordinates to be determined.
If the assumed series solutions Eq. (3) are substituted into the energy Eqs. (1) and (2), they can
be expressed as
X
n X
n n%
X
T 12 Z 2i1 12 Z 2i2 12 M1 z2M1 12 M2 z2M2 12 MSj z2j ; 5
i1 i1 j1

X
n X
n
V 12 o2i1 Z2i1 12 o2i2 Z2i2
i1 i1
n%
X n%
X
12 k1; j zj  z01; j 2 12 k2; j z02; j  zj 2 ; 6
j1 j1

where the orthonormalization properties of the eigenfunctions in Eq. (4) are taken into account.
Here, oi1 and oi2 denote the ith eigenfrequencies of the bare cantilevered beams in Fig. 1. Using
matrix notations the energy expressions in Eqs. (5) and (6) can further be expressed as
n%
X

T 2 g I2n g 2 M1 zM1 2 M2 zM2 2
1 T 1 2 1 2 1
MSj z2j ; 7
j1

n%
X n%
X
V 12 gT X2 g 12 k1; j zj  z01; j 2 12 k2; j z02; j  zj 2 ; 8
j1 j1
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M. Gurg . H. Erol / Journal of Sound and Vibration 269 (2004) 431438

where
gT1 t Z11 t; y; Zn1 t; gT2 t Z12 t; y; Zn2 t;
gT t gT1 ; gT2 ; X21 diago2i1 ; X22 diago2i2 ;
X22 diagX21 ; X22 i 1; y; n; 9
and I2n denotes the (2n 2n) identity matrix.
The idea behind this approach is to express the displacements of the spring attachment points
% in terms of
and point masses on to the beams, i.e., z01; j t; z02; j t; zM1 t and zM2 t j 1; y; n
the vectors g1 t; g2 t and hence of gt
z01; j t w1 Z1j L1 ; t WT1 Z1j L1 g1 t l T1j gt;

z02; j t w2 Z2j L2 ; t WT2 Z2j L2 g2 t l T2j gt;

zM1 t w1 L1 ; t WT1 L1 g1 t;

zM2 t w2 L2 ; t WT2 L2 g2 t 10
with
WT1 x W11 x; y; Wn1 x; WT2 x W12 x; y; Wn2 x;

l T1j W11 Z1j L1 ; y; Wn1 Z1j L1 ; 0; y; 0;

l T2j 0; y; 0; W12 Z2j L2 ; y; Wn2 Z2j L2 : 11

The vectors l 1j and l 2j are 2n 1 vectors.
Starting with the energy expressions Eqs. (7) and (8), along with Eqs. (9)(11) the following
matrix differential equation is obtained, by using the Lagranges formulation:

12

where
1 1
W1 x p W1 x; W2 x p W2 x;
m1 L 1 m2 L 2
zT z1 ; y; zn% ; MS diagMSj ;
k1 diagk1; j ; k2 diagk2; j %
j 1; y; n;
l 1 l 11 ; y; l 1n% ; l 2 l 21 ; y; l 2n% : 13
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M. Gurg . H. Erol / Journal of Sound and Vibration 269 (2004) 431438 435

It is worth noting that in obtaining the above form of equation of motion, extensive use is made of
the formulas regarding the partial derivatives of bilinear forms, quadratic forms and vectors with
respect to algebraic vectors [3].
Introducing harmonic solutions of the form
" # " #
g g% iot
e : 14
z z%
o being the eigenfrequency of the system, leads to the following generalized eigenvalue problem
" # " #
g% g%
K lM ; 15
z% z%

% 2n n-dimensional
where the 2n n % matrices M and K are as follows:

16
The following denitions are used in the above expressions:
li b% 4i ; b% i bi L1 ; b% 1 1:875104068712; b% 2 4:694091132974; y;
  " # " #
1 % 1 L1
W 0
K diagli ; K % diag K; K ; W % %
; W
n 1
;
d4
1
0n 1
2
% 2 L2
W

E1 I1 E2 I2 1
o2i1 li o201 ; o2i2 li o202 ; o201 ; o202 4 o201 ;
m1 L41 4
m2 L 2 d
am m2
o2 b% 4 o201 ; d4 maL 4 ; m4 ; am ;
w m1
L2 E2 I 2
aL ; w ; l% b% 4 ;
L1 E1 I 1
M1 M2 k1; j k2; j MSj
aM1 ; aM2 ; ak1; j 3
; ak2; j 3
; aMSj ;
m1 L 1 m2 L2 E1 I1 =L1 E2 I2 =L2 m1 L1
p p
e% 1 m1 L1 l1 ; e% 2 m2 L2 l2 ; ak1 diagak1;j ;
ak2 diagak2;j ; aMS diagaMSj %
j 1; y; n: 17
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The solution of the eigenvalue problem Eq. (15) yields the non-dimensional eigenfrequency
parameters b% of the mechanical system in Fig. 1 via b% l% 1=4 :

3. Numerical results

This section is devoted to the numerical evaluations of the formulae established in the preceding
sections. As the rst numerical application, a system with only one secondary system, i.e., n% 1; is
taken. The following values are chosen for the physical data of the mechanical system in Fig. 1.
Z11 0:50; Z21 0:50; ak1;1 ak2;1 1000; aM1 aM2 2; am 1; aMS1 1; aL 1; w 1: It is
seen clearly that the system under consideration is a symmetrical one. These numerical values are
the values, used also in Ref. [1]. The number of the modes n in Eq. (3) is chosen as 15. The rst 10
dimensionless eigenfrequency parameters b% of the system above are collected in Table 1.
The rst column contains those b% values taken from Ref. [1] which were obtained on the basis of
the Green function method. The gures in the second column represent the fourth roots of the
eigenvalues l% of the solution of the generalized eigenvalue problem formulated in Eq. (15) of the
present study. The solution of the eigenvalue problem is performed with MATLAB.
The comparison of the numbers in both columns indicates clearly that the present approach
yields very good approximations to the exact eigenfrequency parameters in the rst column
obtained via the Green function method.
As a second example, a sample system with n% 2; i.e., with two secondary systems is taken. The
chosen physical data are as follows: Z11 Z21 0:50; Z12 Z22 0:75; ak1;1 ak1;2 4; ak2;1
ak2;2 6; aM1 aM2 7; am 1; aMS1 aMS2 5; aL 1; w 1:
The number n in Eq. (3) is taken again as 15. The rst 12 dimensionless eigenfrequency
parameters b% of the system above are given in Table 2. The rst column contains those b% values
which are determined by the Green function method given in Ref. [1]. The numbers in the second
column represent the fourth roots of the eigenvalues l% of the solution of the generalized
eigenvalue problem in Eq. (15). The comparison of the numbers in both columns reveals a good
agreement indicating that the present approach yields very good approximations to the exact

Table 1
Dimensionless eigenfrequency parameters b% of the system in Fig. 1 with only one secondary system, i.e., n% 1
From Ref. [1] From Eq. (15)
1.070263 1.070263
1.558790 1.558790
3.309592 3.309592
6.334255 6.334282
6.819830 6.819830
7.469383 7.469383
7.925956 7.925956
10.666736 10.666736
10.746971 10.746971
13.402318 13.404682
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M. Gurg . H. Erol / Journal of Sound and Vibration 269 (2004) 431438 437

Table 2
Dimensionless eigenfrequency parameters b% of the system in Fig. 1 with two secondary systems, i.e., n% 2
Via the method in Ref. [1] From Eq. (15)
0.764696 0.764693
0.922096 0.922087
1.183296 1.183294
1.231295 1.231287
4.000036 3.999825
4.027484 4.027278
7.084902 7.084860
7.088080 7.087985
10.219316 10.219295
10.220430 10.220384
13.357241 13.357239
13.357319 13.357315

eigenfrequency parameters, in this example too. One could expect that the dimensionless
eigenfrequencies b% obtained from Eq. (15) converge to those from the Green function approach as
n gets larger, but there is not enough evidence in order to make this statement.
The great advantage of the approach used in the present study is that all eigenfrequency
parameters of the system are obtained simultaneously and without any difculties. On the
contrary, by using the Green function method, these parameters have to be found via one by one
numerical search of the roots of a determinantal equation which is of transcendental nature. It is a
well-known fact that nding the roots of transcendental equations is associated often with
numerical difculties.

4. Conclusions

This paper deals with the eigencharacteristics of a laterally vibrating system made up of two
clamped-free BernoulliEuler beams carrying tip masses to which several double springmass
systems are attached across the span. After discretizing via the assumed modes method, the
Lagranges equations formulation is applied, where the displacements of the spring attachment
points and those of the tip masses to both beams are expressed in terms of the generalized
co-ordinates. This procedure leads to a generalized eigenvalue problem. The eigenvalues of it yield
the eigenfrequencies of the system simultaneously. The numerical results obtained reveal that the
eigenfrequencies calculated by this method are in good agreement with those obtained by the
Green function method.

Acknowledgements

The rst author greatly appreciate the assistance of research assistant S. Inceo&
glu in obtaining
the numerical results based on the Green function method.
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M. Gurg . H. Erol / Journal of Sound and Vibration 269 (2004) 431438

References

[1] S. Inceo$glu, M. Gurg .

. oze, Bending vibrations of beams coupled by several springmass systems, Journal of Sound
and Vibration 243 (2001) 370379.
[2] M. Gurg .
. oze, On the alternative formulations of the frequency equation of a BernoulliEuler beam to which several
springmass systems are attached in-span, Journal of Sound and Vibration 217 (1998) 585595.
[3] E.J. Haug, Computer Aided Kinematics and Dynamics of Mechanical Systems I: Basic Methods, Allyn and Bacon,
Boston, 1989.