ASEN 5022 - Spring 2006

Dynamics of Aerospace Structures

Lecture 02: 19 January 2006

Vibration of Two-DOF Systems

1. Equations of Motion
Consider a two-DOF model as shown in Fig. 1. The free-body diagrams for masses
M1 and m 2 are also shown in Fig. 1. Note that the inertia forces for both masses
are associated with minus sign, for the inertia forces can be considered as resisting
forces (cf., f ma = 0). Summing the forces acting on each mass, the equations
of motion for the coupled two-mass-spring-damper system can be written as

For M1 :

f = f 1 (t) M1 x1 + {k2 (x2 x1 ) + c2 (x2 x1 ) K 1 x1 } = 0

For m 2 :

f = f 2 (t) m 2 x2 {k2 (x2 x1 ) + c2 (x2 x1 )} = 0

M1 x1 = f 1 (t) K 1 x1 + k2 (x2 x1 ) + c2 (x2 x1 )

m 2 x2 = k2 (x2 x1 ) c2 (x2 x1 )

(1)

Fig. 1 Two DOF Simplified Vertical Motion Model

M

K1 x 1
M

c2 (x2

x1 )

x1 )

1
x
k2 (x2

f1(J )

(-M

c2 (x2

k2 (x2

x1 )

x1 )
m

Free Body Diagram for Two DOF Spring-Mass-Damper Model

K

x

Two DOF Spring-Mass-Damper Model

(- m

2
x

As the preceding equation involves two displacements, x1 and x2 , its general solution
involves complex matrix differential algebra. For design considerations, however,
important insight can be gained by considering the special case of forcing function
given by
f 1 (t) = F1 e j t , f 2 (t) = F2 e j t
(2)
so that the solution assumes the form of
x1 (t) = X 1 e j t
x2 (t) = X 2 e

j t

(3)

Substituting (2) and (3) into (1), we obtain

2 M1 X 1 = F1 K 1 X 1 + k2 (X 2 X 1 ) + jc2 (X 2 X 1 )
m 2 X 2 = F2 k2 (X 2 X 1 ) jc2 (X 2 X 1 )
2

(4)

In order to solve for X 1 and X 2 , lets rearrange the preceding equation to read
(2 M1 + jc2 + K 1 + k2 ) X 1 = F1 + (k2 + jc2 ) X 2
( m 2 + jc2 + k2 ) X 2 = F2 + (k2 + jc2 )X 1
2

(5)

Solving for X 1 and X 2 we obtain

H2 ()F1 + H12 ()F2
X1 =
2
H1 () H2 () H12
()
X2 =

H1 ()F2 + H12 ()F1

2
H1 ()H2 () H12
()

(6)

H1 () = (2 M1 + jc2 + K 1 + k2 )
H2 () = (2 m 2 + jc2 + k2 )
H12 () = (k2 + jc2 )
Although (6) appears to be very complex, several simplifications are possible to aid
vibration designers. This is studied below.

2. What Are Vibration Modes and Mode Shape?

It turns out that the motions of X 1 and X 2 given by (6) are not randomly independent
as the solution may suggest. They are interlinked by the property called mode shapes.
Understanding the physical properties of mode shapes is important if one is tasked to
design structures subject to vibrations.
As a motivation, let us consider the following special 2-DOF case:
m 1 = m 2 = 1,

k1 = k2 = 2.618 2 , c2 = 0, f 1 (t) = 0

(7)

For this model, we apply two different excitations:

f 2 (t) =

0.2 sin (0.98 t)

sin (0.98 2.618t)

(8)

Figure 2 illustrates the two responses subject to the two excitations specified in (8).
Observe that, for the case of f 2 (t) = 0.2 sin (0.98 t), both mass m 1 and mass m 2
are moving in phase, that is, they move in the same direction in time. However, when
the system is subjected to f 2 (t) = sin (0.98 2.618t), mass m 1 and mass m 2 are
moving out phase, that is, they move in the opposite directions in time. In other words,
depending on the excitation frequency, the motions of the two masses are drastically
different. To understand this strange phenomena, one has to understand the roles of
modes and mode shapes. To this end, let us recast (1) in a matrix form with c = 0:
m1
0

0
m2

x1
x2

k1 + k2
k2

k2
k2

x1
x2

f 1 (t)
f 2 (t)

(9)

The characteristic equation of the above coupled 2-dof differential equation(9) can be
obtained as follows. First, we assume the solution of their homogeneous equations in
the form
x1
x2

x1
x2

e jt

(10)

2-dof system response due to harmonic input

at mass 2 with omega= 0.98*omega 1

2-dof system response due to harmonic input

at mass 2 with omega= 0.98*omega2

2.5

2.5

m2

m2

Position of

Position of
Mass Positions for Mode 2

Mass Positions for Mode 1

Mass 2

1.5

m1

Mass 2

1.5

k2

m1

Position of
Mass 1

Position of
Mass 1
0.5

0.5

k1

0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Time

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

1.4

Time

Figure 2 Motions of two masses under two different excitations

1.6

1.8

Second, substituting this into (9) with f 1 = f 2 = 0 yields:

[2

m1
0

0
k + k2
+ 1
m2
k2

k2
x
] 1
k2
x2

=0

(11)

Hence, the characteristic equation is obtained by requiring that the above equation has
a nontrivial solution:
k1 + k2 k2 2 k1 k2
+ ) +
=0
m1
m2
m1m2
(12)
Note that, with m 1 = m 2 = 1, k1 = k2 = 2.618 2 , the two roots of the above
characteristic equation are given by
det

k1 + k2 2 m 1
k2

k2
k2 2 m 2

=0

n1 = ,

4 (

n2 = 2.618

(13)

These two values are called characteristic values whose square roots are called the
natural frequencies or vibration modes of the system.

The corresponding eigenvectors can be computed from the second row of (11):
x2 k2 x1 + k2 x2 = 0
2

x1
k2 2
2
=
=1
x2
k2
k2

(14)

Note that for the two modes computed in (13), we have two different expressions:
x1
2
For = ,
=1
= 0.618
x2
2.618 2
x1
2.6182 2
For = 2.618,
=1
= 1.618
2
x2
2.618
The ratios of these eigenvector sets are plotted in Figure 3.
Mode Shape for Mode 1

Mode Shape for Mode 2

2

Mass Point

Mass Point

Fixed

Fixed
end

end
0.0

0.6

Modal Amplitude for Mode 1

1.0

-1.6

1.0

Modal Amplitude for Mode 2

Figure 3 Mode Shapes of 2-DOF Example Problem

(15)

Observe from Figure 3 that for the case of the first mode when mass 1 moves in the
same direction with its amplitude of 0.616 while mass 2 moves a unit amplitude. In
other words, the two masses move in phase as illustrated in Figure 2. As for the second
mode, mass 1 moves in the opposite direction by -1.618 while mass 2 moves a unit
amplitude, which is also illustraed in Figure 2. From these observations we conclude
that mode shapes indicate how the system will deform when subjected to a harmonic
excitation whose frequency is close to one of the natural frequencies (or vibration
modes) of the system. Thus, mode-shape information is useful in designing structures
subjected to harmonic excitations. Examples of such systems include propellered
airplanes, ships, motor vehicles, and many other machinery equipment.

3. Vibration analysis of 2-DOF Spring-Mass Problem by MATLAB

In Matlab we invoke the following routine:
[X, D] = eig(K, M);
where X is the eigenvector, D is the eigenvalues.
For example, the eigenproblem of the 2-DOF system studied in the preceding sections
can now be analyzed by MATLAB with
2 2.618 2
K=
2.618 2

2.618 2
,
2.618 2

M=

1
0

0
1

Upon using the following MATLAB code, we find the following results:
%
% 2 dof eigenvalue analysis
%
%stiffness matrix
K = [
2*2.618*pi^2
-2.618*pi^2;
-2.618*pi^2
2.618*pi^2];

(16)

% mass matrix
M = [
1
0;
0
1];
% call eigenvalue routine
[X, D] =

eig(K, M);

% write eigenvector and eigenvalues

lambda = diag(D);
disp([Eigenvalues of 2-dof system

num2str(lambda) ]);

disp( );
disp([Eigenvectors of 2-dof system
disp([

num2str(X(1,:)) ] );
num2str(X(2,:)) ] );

% compute

the frequencies

freq = diag(D);

% extract the two diagonal entries of D matrix

disp( );
freq = sqrt(freq);
disp([Frequencies of 2-dof system

num2str(freq)]);

we find the following results:

Eigenvalues of 2-dof system

67.6464

9.86948

Eigenvectors of 2-dof system

0.85065
-0.52573

0.52573
0.85065

Frequencies of 2-dof system

8.2247

3.1416

Note that MATLAB prints out the highest mode first. Hence, the mode shapes are
given by
For the second mode with 2 = 2.618 = 8.2247 : X2 =

x21
x22

0.85065
0.5257

0.525731
0.850650
(17)
The mode shapes computed by MATLAB is normalized so that their vectorial length
is unity. If the modal amplitude at mass 2, x22 , for the second mode shape is scaled
to be unity from MATLAB computed value x22 = 0.52573, then we would have
For the first mode with 1 = = 3.14157 : X1 =

x11
x12

x21 = 1.618 as given by (15). The same is true for the modal amplitude for mode 1
at mass 1 and mass 2 points. Finally, one may express X2 as
For the second mode with 2 = 2.618 = 8.22474 : X2 =

x21
x22

which indicates that X2 and X2 are equally valid representation.

0.85065
0.52573
(18)

4. Den Hartog-Ormondroyd Oscillators

An important application of the two-dof vibration model is to study shock isolation
design of a suspension system as shown Figure 1. If Figure 1 is rearranged as shown
in Figure 4, the same model can be used as a resonator model whose generic characteristics can be used for the design of accelerometers and more recently as filters of
microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS). In either case, the governing equation (1)
is applicable.
Let us parameetrize the model as
1 =

K 1 /M1 , 2 =

k2 /m 2 , c = 2 m 2 2 , = m 2 /M1

(19)

and normalize the frequence response X 1 () given in (6) by its static displacement
with F2 = 0:

B
M

x1

k /2
2
2

K1 /2

Two DOF Spring-Mass-Damper Suspension Model

Figure 4: 2-DOF Suspension Model

xst (1) = F1 /K 2

(20)

such that from (7) we have

H1 =

X 1 ()
K 1 H22 ()
=
2
xst (1)
H11 () H22 () H12
()

(21)

Dividing both the nominator and the denominator by M1 m 2 and utilizing the parameters introduced in (20), the frequency response function H1 () at mass 1 can be
expressed as
H1 =

H 22 ()
2
()
H 11 () H 22 () H 12

H 11 () = 2 + j2 2 + 12 + 22
H 22 () = 2 + j2 2 + 22
H 12 () = ( j2 2 + 22 )

(22)

Frequency Response Functions for Different Damping Ratios

of a 2-DOF Suspension Model
101

Amplitude

Invariant points

100

-1
10

101

Frequency (Hz)

Figure 5: Frequency Response Function at Mass 1

Figure 5 illustrates the frequency response function (FRF) for different damping ratios
with
1 = 2 = 10 H z, = 0.1
(23)
Note that there are two points that all FRF curves pass through two invariant points.
It is these invariant points that were first discovered by den Hartog and Ormondroyd
in 1928 who subsequently utilized their properties for improved design of mechanical
shock attenuation.
In their design study by using Figure 1, den Hartog and Ormondroyd observed that
if the magnitudes of the two invariant points are made to be the same by varying the
mass ratio and the damping ratio, a near optimum design goal can be achieved.
For the design of accelerometers using Figure 4, the objective is to maximize the
amplitude of the frequency response of mass 2 in order to decrease the signal to noise
ratio while realizing a flat plateau of frequency interval of interest.
For the design of resonators using Figure 4, in addition to maximizing the amplitude
of FRF at mass 2, the gap between the two invariant points should be minimized.
MATLAB code that produced Figure 5 islisted below.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% hartog_oscillator.m
% by k c park 15 january 2002
clear
% Define some useful numbers:
dtr=pi/180;
Hz2rps=2*pi; rps2Hz=1/2/pi; % Conversions to/from Hz and rad/s
% Natural frequencies of individual masses: 10Hz
w1=10*Hz2rps;
w2=w1;
mu = 0.1;
for zeta =0:0.05:0.8

%zeta is the damping ratio

% Define a system in transfer function form

a0=1; a1 =2*zeta*w2; a2 = w2^2;
b0=1;
b1 =2*zeta*(1+mu)*w2;
b2 = w1^2+w2^2 + mu*(1+4*zeta^2)*w2^2 - 4*mu*zeta^2*w2^2;

b3 = 2*zeta*(mu*w2^3 + w2*(w1^2+mu*w2^2)) - 4*zeta*mu*w2^3;

b4 = w2^2*(w1^2+mu*w2^2)- mu*w2^4;
sys = tf ( [a0 a1 a2], [b0 b1

b2

b3 b4]);

% Pick a range of frequencies to look at from 0 Hz to 100 Hz

wf= logspace(0.5,1.5,400)*Hz2rps;
% Find the frequency response
H=freqresp(sys,wf); % This ends up being a 3 dimensional array!
H=reshape(H,size(wf)); % this makes it the same size as wf
% Plot the amplitude as a function of frequency in Hz
loglog(wf*rps2Hz,w1^2*abs(H)), grid
xlabel(Frequency (Hz))
ylabel(Amplitude)
hold on;
end
axis([5 30 0.1 30]);
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

References
1.

R. E. D. Bishop, Vibration, Cambridge University Press, 1979.

2.

J. P. Den Hartog, Mechanical Vibrations, Dover Pub., 1984.

3.

Maurice Roseau, Vibrations in Mechanical Systems, Springer-Verlag, 1984.