Unit II (Part - Two):

Single Degree of Freedom Systems

(Forced Vibration)
 Unit II (Part - Two) Outline
 Introduction  Forced Vibration with Coulomb
 Equation of Motion Damping
 Response of an Undamped  Forced Vibration with Hysteresis
System Under Harmonic Force Damping
 Total Response  Response Under a Nonperiodic Force
 Beating Phenomenon  Convolution Integral
 Response to a General Forcing
 Response of a Damped System Condition
Under Harmonic Force  Transient Vibrations
 Representation of forcing  Solutions Using Laplace
function and response Transform
 Total Response  Transient and Steady-State
 Quality Factor and Bandwidth Responses
 Response of a Damped System  Response of First-Order Systems
 Response of Second-Order
Under 𝑭 𝒕 = 𝑭𝟎 𝒆𝒊𝝎𝒕
Systems
 Response of a Damped System  Response to Step Force
Under the Harmonic Motion of  Analysis of the Step Response
the Base  Description of Transient
 Response of a Damped System Response
Under Rotating Unbalance
 Introduction
• A mechanical or structural system is said to undergo forced vibration
whenever external energy is supplied to the system during vibration.
• External energy can be supplied through either an applied force or an
imposed displacement excitation.
• The applied force or displacement excitation may be harmonic,
nonharmonic but periodic, nonperiodic, or random in nature.
• The response of a system to a harmonic excitation is called harmonic
response.
• The nonperiodic excitation may have a long or short duration.
• The response of a dynamic system to suddenly applied nonperiodic
excitations is called transient response.
• In this part of the chapter, we shall consider the dynamic response of a
single-degree-of-freedom system under harmonic excitations of the form:
Or Or
• where F0 is the amplitude, ω is the frequency, and ϕ is the phase angle of
the harmonic excitation.
• The value of ϕ depends on the value of F(t) at t = 0 and is usually taken to
be zero.
 Continued …
• Under a harmonic excitation, the response of the system will also be
harmonic.
• If the frequency of excitation coincides with the natural frequency of
the system, the response will be very large.
• This condition, known as resonance, is to be avoided to prevent
failure of the system.
• The vibration produced by an unbalanced rotating machine, the
oscillations of a tall chimney due to vortex shedding in a steady
wind, and the vertical motion of an automobile on a sinusoidal road
surface are examples of harmonically excited vibration.
 Equation of Motion
• If a force F(t) acts on a viscously damped spring-mass system as shown
in Figure, the equation of motion can be obtained using Newton s second
law:

• Since this equation is

nonhomogeneous, its general
solution x(t) is given by the sum of
the homogeneous solution, xh(t), and
the particular solution, xp(t).
• The homogeneous solution, which is
the solution of the homogeneous
equation:
• This equation represents the free vibration of the system, as seen before.
• This free vibration dies out with time under each of the three possible
conditions of damping (underdamping, critical damping, and overdamping)
and under all possible initial conditions.
• Thus the general solution eventually reduces to the particular solution
xp(t), which represents the steady-state vibration.
• The steady-state motion is present as long as the forcing function is
present.
 Continued …
• The variations of homogeneous, particular, and general solutions with
time for a typical case are shown in Figure.

• It can be seen that xh(t) dies out and x(t) becomes xp(t) after some time,
τ, in the figure.
• The part of the motion that dies out due to damping (the free-vibration
part) is called transient.
• The rate at which the transient motion decays depends on the values of
the system parameters k, c, and m.
• Ignoring the transient motion and derive only the particular solution
represents the steady-state response, under harmonic forcing functions.
 Response of an Undamped System
Under Harmonic Force
• Before studying the response of a damped system, we consider an
undamped system subjected to a harmonic force, for the sake of simplicity.
• If a force acts on the mass m of an undamped system, the
equation of motion, reduces to:

• The homogeneous solution of this equation is given by:

Where is the natural frequency of the system.

• Because the exciting force F(t) is harmonic, the particular solution is also
harmonic and has the same frequency, ω.
• Thus we assume a solution in the form:
where X is an constant that denotes the maximum amplitude of xp(t)

• By substituting for xp(t) and solving for X, we obtain:

Where denotes the deflection of the
mass under a force F0 and is sometimes called static
deflection because F0 is a constant (static) force.
 Continued …
• Thus the total solution becomes:

• Using the initial conditions:

• And hence,

• The maximum amplitude X can be expressed as:

• The quantity represents the ratio of the dynamic to the static

amplitude of motion and is called the magnification factor, amplification
factor, or amplitude ratio,
 Continued …
• The variation of the amplitude ratio, with the frequency ratio is
shown in Figure.
• Magnification factor of an
undamped system:
• From this figure, the response of
the system can be identified to
be of three types.
Case 1. When
the denominator is positive and
the response is given by
without change.
• The harmonic response of the system xp(t) is said to be in phase with the
external force as shown in Figure.
 Continued …
Case 2. When
the denominator is negative, and the
steady-state solution can be
expressed as:

where the amplitude of motion X is

redefined to be a positive quantity as:

• The variations of F(t) and xp(t) with time are shown in Figure.
• Since xp(t) and F(t) have opposite signs, the response is said to be 180°
out of phase with the external force.
• Further, as

• Thus the response of the system to a harmonic force of very high

frequency is close to zero.
 Continued …
Case 3. When the amplitude X becomes infinite.
• This condition, for which the forcing frequency ω is equal to the natural
frequency of the system, ωn, is called resonance.
• To find the response for this condition, we rewrite the general solution as:

• Since the last term of this equation

takes an indefinite form for ω = ωn, we
apply L’Hospital’s rule to evaluate the
limit of this term:

• Thus the response of the system at resonance becomes:

• It can be seen that at resonance, x(t) increases indefinitely.

• The last term of the equation is shown in Figure, from which the
amplitude of the response can be seen to increase linearly with time.
 Total Response
• The total response of the system can also be expressed as:

where A and ϕ can be

determined using the initial
conditions.

• Thus the complete motion can be expressed as the sum of two cosine curves of
different frequencies.
• In the first equation, the forcing
frequency ω is smaller than the
natural frequency, and the total
response is shown in Figure (a).

• In the next equation, the forcing

frequency is greater than the
natural frequency, and the total
response appears as shown in
Figure (b).
 Beating Phenomenon
• If the forcing frequency is close to, but not exactly equal to, the natural
frequency of the system, a phenomenon known as beating may occur.
• In this kind of vibration, the amplitude builds up and then diminishes in a
regular pattern.
• The phenomenon of beating can be explained by considering the
solution given by:

• If the initial conditions are taken as reduces to:

• Let the forcing frequency ω be slightly less than the natural frequency:
Where ε is a small positive quantity.
• Then and
• Multiplication of the above two equation gives:
 Continued
• Then using this relation in the equation of the solution:
• Since ε is small, the function sin (εt) varies slowly; its period, equal to
, is large.
• Thus the above equation may be seen as representing vibration with
period and of variable amplitude equal to
• It can also be observed that sin (ωt) the curve will go through several
cycles, while the sin (εt) wave goes through a single cycle, as shown in
Figure (Phenomenon of beats).
• Thus the amplitude builds up
and dies down continuously.
• The time between the points
of zero amplitude or the
points of maximum amplitude
is called the period of beating
(τb) and is given by:

• With the frequency of beating defined as:

Example: Response of an Undamped System Under Harmonic Force
 Response of a Damped System Under
Harmonic Force
• If the forcing function is given by F(t) = F0 cos ωt, the equation of motion
becomes:

• The particular solution of the motion equation is also expected to be

harmonic; we assume it in the form:

where X and 𝛟 are constants to be determined.

X and 𝛟 denote the amplitude and phase angle of the response, respectively.
Note that:
• Alternatively, we can assume to be of the form

which also involves two constants C1 and C2.

• But the final result will be the same in both cases.
 Continued …
• By substituting, we arrive at:

• Using the trigonometric relations:

• In the modified motion equation, equating the coefficients of and on

both sides of the resulting equation, we obtain:

• Solution of such equation gives:

And
Representation of Forcing Function and Response
• By inserting the expressions of X and 𝛟 into the particular solution equation,
we obtain the particular solution.
• Figure (a) shows typical plots of the forcing function and (steady-state)
response.
• The various terms of the motion equation are shown vectorially in Figure
(b).

• Dividing both the numerator and

denominator of the solution
(Equation for X) by k and making the
following substitutions:
 Continued …
• We Obtain:

And

• As stated before, the quantity M = X/ẟst is called the magnification factor,

amplification factor, or amplitude ratio.
• The variations of X/ẟst and 𝛟 with the frequency ratio r and the damping
ratio are shown in Figure.
• Variation of
X and 𝛟 with
frequency
ratio r:
 Continued …
• The following characteristics of the magnification factor (M) can be noted
from equation of M = X/ẟst and from the Figure (a):
1. For an undamped system (ζ = 0), equation of M = X/ẟst reduces to
, and as r  1.

2. Any amount of damping (ζ > 0) reduces the magnification factor (M) for all
values of the forcing frequency.
3. For any specified value of r, a higher value of damping reduces the value of
M.
4. In the degenerate case of a constant force (when r = 0 ), the value of M = 1.
5. The reduction in M in the presence of damping is very significant at or near
resonance.
6. The amplitude of forced vibration becomes smaller with increasing values of
the forcing frequency (that is, M  1as r  ∞ : ).
7. For the maximum value of M occurs when:
which can be seen to be lower than the
undamped natural frequency ωn and the damped natural frequency
 Continued …
8. The maximum value of X (when ) is given by
and the value of X at ω = ωn by:

• The equation for can be used for the experimental determination of

the measure of damping present in the system.
• In a vibration test, if the maximum amplitude of the response is measured,
the damping ratio of the system can be found using the equation for

• Conversely, if the amount of damping is known, one can make an estimate

of the maximum amplitude of vibration.
9. For when r = 0. For , the graph of M monotonically
decreases with increasing values of r.
 Continued …
• The following characteristics of the phase angle can be observed from
the equation for 𝛟 and figure (b):
1. For an undamped system (ζ = 0), the equation for 𝛟 shows that the
phase angle is 0 for
This implies that the excitation and response are in phase for
and out of phase when
2. For and the phase angle is given by
implying that the response lags the excitation.
3. For the phase angle is given by
implying that the response lags the excitation.
4. For the phase angle is given by 𝛟 = 90°, implying that the phase
difference between the excitation and the response is 90°.
5. For and large values of r, the phase angle approaches 180°,
implying that the response and the excitation are out of phase.
 Total Response
• The complete solution is given by
where: xh(t) is given by:
• Thus, for an underdamped system, we have:

• X and 𝛟 are given by:

And

• And X0 and 𝛟0 can be determined from the initial conditions.

• For the initial conditions, , hence, the above
equation yields:

• The solution of the above

equation gives X0 and 𝛟0 as:

Example: Total Response

 Quality Factor and Bandwidth
• For small values of damping
(ζ < 0.05), we can take:
• The value of the amplitude ratio at resonance is also called Q factor or
quality factor of the system, in analogy with some electrical-engineering
applications, such as the tuning circuit of a radio, where the interest lies in
an amplitude at resonance that is as large as possible.
• The points R1 and R2, where the amplification factor falls to , are
called half-power points because the power absorbed (ΔW) by the damper
(or by the resistor in an electrical circuit), responding harmonically at a given
frequency, is proportional to the square of the amplitude (seen before):

• The difference between the

frequencies associated with the
half-power points R1 and R2 is
called the bandwidth of the system
(see Figure).
• Harmonic-response curve showing
half-power points and bandwidth:
 Continued …
• To find the values of R1 and R2, we set so that:
Or

• The solution of this equation gives:

• For small values of ζ, this equation can be approximated as:
Where:
• From the above equation:
• Using the relation , we find that the bandwidth is given by:

• Combining equations:

and

• we obtain:

• It can be seen that the quality factor Q can be used for estimating the
equivalent viscous damping in a mechanical system.
 Response of a Damped System Under
• Let the harmonic forcing function be represented in complex form as
so that the equation of motion becomes:
• Since the actual excitation is given only by the real part of F(t), the
response will also be given only by the real part of x(t), where x(t) is a
complex quantity satisfying the differential equation.
• F0 in the equation is, in general, a complex number.
• By assuming the particular solution xp(t):
• By substituting for xp(t):= in the
differential equation, we obtain:
• Multiplying the numerator and denominator on the right side of this
equation by and separating the real and imaginary parts, we
obtain:

• Using the relation where and the above

equation can be expressed as:

Where:
 Continued …
• Thus the steady-state solution, , becomes:

Frequency Response
• Equation can be rewritten in the form:
where H(iω) is known as the complex frequency response of the system.
• The absolute value of H(iω) given by:

• This denotes the magnification factor defined in the following equation:

• Recalling that we can show that the following two

equations are related:

and
• By:
where 𝛟 is , which can also be
given by: expressed as:
 Continued …
• Thus,

can be expressed as:

• It can be seen that the complex frequency-response function, H(iω)

contains both the magnitude and phase of the steady-state response.
• The use of this function in the experimental determination of the system
parameters (m, c, and k) is discussed in later chapters.

• If the corresponding steady-state solution is given by the

real part of:

then:
 Continued …
• Which can be seen to be the same as the previous equation of particular
solution ( ).
• Similarly, if the corresponding steady-state solution is
given by the imaginary part of the equation ( ),
that is:

Complex Vector Representation of Harmonic Motion

• The harmonic excitation and the response of the damped system to that
excitation can be represented graphically in the complex plane, and an
interesting interpretation can be given to the resulting diagram.
• We first differentiate of the equation with respect to
time and obtain:

• Because i can be expressed as:

• We can conclude that the velocity leads the displacement by the phase
angle π/2 and that it is multiplied by ω.
 Continued …
• Similarly, -1 can be written as:
• Hence the acceleration leads the displacement by the phase angle, π,
and it is multiplied by ω2.
• Thus the various terms of the equation of motion ( )
can be represented in the complex plane, as shown in Figure.
• Representation of in a complex plane:
• The interpretation of this figure is
that the sum of the complex vectors

which is precisely what is required

to satisfy the motion equation,
 Continued …
• It is to also be noted that the entire diagram rotates with angular velocity,
ω, in the complex plane.
• If only the real part of the response is to be considered, then the entire
diagram must be projected onto the real axis.
• Similarly, if only the imaginary part of the response is to be considered,
then the diagram must be projected onto the imaginary axis.
• In the Figure of complex plane, notice that the force, , is
represented as a vector located at an angle ωt to the real axis.
• This implies that F0 is real.
• If F0 is also complex, then the force vector F(t) will be located at an
angle of (ω + ψ), where ψ is some phase angle introduced by F0.
• In such a case, all the other vectors namely, and kx will be
shifted by the same angle ψ.
• This is equivalent to multiplying both sides of the motion equation,
by eiψ.
 Response of a Damped System Under
the Harmonic Motion of the Base
• Sometimes the base or support
of a spring-mass-damper
system undergoes harmonic
motion, as shown in Figure (a).
• Let y(t) denote the
displacement of the base and
x(t) the displacement of the
mass from its static equilibrium
position at time t.
Base excitation
• Then the net elongation of the spring is x – y and the relative velocity
between the two ends of the damper is
• From the free-body diagram shown in Figure (b), we obtain the equation of
motion:
• If the motion equation becomes:

Where:
 Continued …
• This shows that giving excitation to the base is equivalent to applying a
harmonic force of magnitude A to the mass.
• By using the solution indicated by:

the steady-state response of the mass, xp(t), can be expressed as:

Where:

• Using trigonometric identities, the above equation can be rewritten in a

more convenient form as:
• Where X and 𝛟 are given by:

And

• The ratio of the amplitude of the response xp(t) to that of the base motion
y(t), X/Y is called the displacement transmissibility.
• The variations of and 𝛟 by the above equations are shown in
Figures (a) and (b), respectively, for different values of r and ζ.
 Continued …
• Variation of Td and 𝛟 with r:

• Note that if the harmonic excitation of the base is expressed in complex

form as the response of the system can be expressed as:

• And the displacement transmissibility as:

Where: is given by equation,

 Continued …

• The following aspects of displacement transmissibility, can be

noted from above Figure (a):
1. The value of Td is unity at r = 0 and close to unity for small values of r.
2. For an undamped system at resonance (r = 0).
3. The value of Td is less than unity for values of (for any
amount of damping ζ).
4. The value of Td for all values of
5. For smaller damping ratios lead to larger values of Td. On the other
hand, for smaller values of damping ratio lead to smaller values of Td.
6. The displacement transmissibility, Td, attains a maximum for
at the frequency ratio given by:
 Continued …
Force Transmitted
• In Figure below, a force, F, is transmitted
to the base or support due to the
reactions from the spring and the
dashpot.
• This force can be determined as:`

• Using , the equation

can be rewritten as:

• where FT is the amplitude or maximum

value of the force transmitted to the
base given by:

• The ratio is known as the force

transmissibility.
• Note that the transmitted force is in phase with
the motion of the mass x(t).
• The variation of the force transmitted to the base with the frequency ratio r is shown
in the figure above for different values of ζ.
 Continued …
Relative Motion
• If z = x – y denotes the motion of the mass relative to the base, the
equation of motion, , can be rewritten as:

• The steady-state solution of this equation is given by:

where Z, the amplitude of z(t), can be

expressed as:

And 𝛟1 by:

Variation of with frequency ratio

Example: Response of a Damped System Under the Harmonic Motion of the Base
 Response of a Damped System Under
Rotating Unbalance
• Unbalance in rotating machinery is one of the main causes of vibration.
• A simplified model of such a machine is shown in Figure.
• Rotating unbalanced masses:

• The total mass of the machine is M, and there are two eccentric masses
m/2 rotating in opposite directions with a constant angular velocity, ω.
• The centrifugal force due to each mass will cause excitation of the
mass M.
• We consider two equal masses m/2 rotating in opposite directions in order
to have the horizontal components of excitation of the two masses cancel
each other.
 Continued …
• However, the vertical components of excitation add together and act
along the axis of symmetry A-A in figure.
• If the angular position of the masses is measured from a horizontal
position, the total vertical component of the excitation is always given by

• The equation of motion can be derived by the usual procedure:

• The solution of this equation will be identical to the equation of a damped

forced single degree of freedom vibration system if we replace m and F0
by M and meω2 respectively.
• This solution can also be expressed as:

Where denote the amplitude and the phase angle

of vibration given by:

and
 Continued ….
• By defining then the above equation can be rewritten
as:
and

• The variation of MX/me with r for different values of ζ is shown in Figure

(a).

(a)
• On the other hand, the graph of 𝛟 versus r remains as in Figure (b).
 Continued …
• The following observations can be made from and the figure (a)
above:
1. All the curves begin at zero amplitude. The amplitude near resonance (ω = ωn)
is markedly affected by damping. Thus if the machine is to be run near
resonance, damping should be introduced purposefully to avoid dangerous
amplitudes.
2. At very high speeds (ω large), MX/me is almost unity, and the effect of damping
is negligible.
3. For the maximum of MX/ me occurs when .

• The solution of this equation gives: with the corresponding

maximum value of MX/ me given by:

• Thus the peaks occur to the right of the resonance value of r = 1.

4. For does not attain a maximum. Its value grows from 0 at r = 0 to

1 at r ∞.
5. The force transmitted to the foundation due to rotating unbalanced force (F) can
be found as The magnitude (or maximum value) of F can be derived as

The magnitude (or maximum Example: Rotating

value) of F can be derived as: Unbalance
 Forced Vibration with Coulomb Damping
• For a single-degree-of-freedom system with Coulomb or dry-friction
damping, subjecte to a harmonic force as in Figure below.
• Single – degree – of – freedom system with Coulomb damping:

• The equation of motion is given by:

• where the sign of the friction force is positive (negative)
when the mass moves from left to right (right to left).
• where the sign of the friction force is positive (negative) when the
mass moves from left to right (right to left).
 Continued …
• The exact solution of the motion equation is quite involved.
• However, we can expect that if the dry-friction damping force is large,
the motion of the mass will be discontinuous.
• On the other hand, if the dry-friction force F0, is small compared to the
amplitude of the applied force the steady-state solution is expected to be
nearly harmonic.
• In this case, we can find an approximate solution of the motion equation
by finding an equivalent viscous-damping ratio.
• To find such a ratio, we equate the energy dissipated due to dry friction
to the energy dissipated by an equivalent viscous damper during a full
cycle of motion.
• If the amplitude of motion is denoted as X, the energy dissipated by the
friction force in a quarter cycle is
• Hence in a full cycle, the energy dissipated by dry friction damping is
given by:
• If the equivalent viscous-damping constant is denoted as ceq the energy
dissipated during a full cycle (derived before) will be:
• By equating the above two equations, we obtain:
 Continued …
• Thus the steady-state response is given by:
where the amplitude X can be found from the equation:

• We have:

• With:

• Substitution back gives:

• The solution of this equation gives the amplitude X as:

• This equation can be used only if the friction force is small compared to F0.
 Continued …
• The limiting value of the friction force μN can be found from this equation.
• To avoid imaginary values of X, we need to have:

• The phase angle appearing in can be found using

• Substituting for X, we obtain:

• The above equation shows that tan (𝛟) is a constant for a given value
of
• 𝛟 is discontinuous at (resonance), since it takes a positive value
for and a negative value for
 Continued …
• Thus the above equation of 𝛟 can also be
expressed as:

• Equation: shows that friction serves to limit the

amplitude of forced vibration for
• However, at resonance the amplitude becomes infinite.
• This can be explained as follows:
• The energy directed into the system over one cycle when it is excited
harmonically at resonance is:
 Continued …
• Since,

gives
at resonance, the above equation becomes:
• The energy dissipated from the system is given by:
• Since for X to be real-valued, at resonance (see
Figure below).
• Energy input and energy dissipated with Coulomb damping:

• Thus more energy is directed into

the system per cycle than is
dissipated per cycle.
• This extra energy is used to build
up the amplitude of vibration.
 Continued …
• For the non-resonant condition the energy input can be found from:

• Due to the presence of sin (𝛟) in this equation, the input energy curve
in the figure shown is made to coincide with the dissipated energy
curve, so the amplitude is limited.
• Thus the phase of the motion 𝛟 can be seen to limit the amplitude of
the motion.

Example: Forced Vibration with Coulomb Damping

 Forced Vibration with Hysteresis Damping
• Consider a single-degree-of-freedom system with hysteresis damping and
subjected to a harmonic force as indicated in Figure.
• The equation of motion of the mass
can be derived (using previously
derived) as:

• Where
denotes the damping force.

• The steady-state solution of the motion equation can be assumed:

• By substituting this into the motion equation, we obtain:

and
 Continued …
• These two equations are shown plotted in Figure below for several values
of β.

Steady – state response:

 Continued …
• A comparison of the figure with figure of the same kind for viscous
damping (shown below) reveals the following:

1. The amplitude ratio attains its maximum value of at the

resonant frequency in the case of hysteresis damping, while it
occurs at a frequency below resonance in the case of viscous
damping.
 Continued …
2. The phase angle 𝛟 has a value of in the case of
hysteresis damping, while it has a value of zero in the case of
viscous damping.
• This indicates that the response can never be in phase with
the forcing function in the case of hysteresis damping.

• In this case, the response x(t) is also a harmonic function involving the
factor
• Hence is given by and the above motion equation becomes:

• where the quantity is called the complex stiffness or complex

damping.
• The steady-state solution of this equation of motion is given by the real
part of:

Example: Forced Vibration with Hysteresis Damping

 Continued …

Note:
• Viscous damping is the simplest form of damping to use in practice,
since it leads to linear equations of motion.
• In the cases of Coulomb and hysteretic damping, we defined
equivalent viscous-damping coefficients to simplify the analysis.
• Even for a more complex form of damping, we define an equivalent
viscous-damping coefficient.
 Response Under a Nonperiodic Force
• We have seen that periodic forces of any general waveform can be
represented by Fourier series as a superposition of harmonic
components of various frequencies.
• The response of a linear system is then found by superposing the
harmonic response to each of the exciting forces.
• When the exciting force F(t) is nonperiodic, such as that due to the
blast from an explosion, a different method of calculating the response
is required.
• Various methods can be used to find the response of the system to an
arbitrary excitation. Some of these methods are as follows:
1. Representing the excitation by a Fourier integral.
2. Using the method of convolution integral.
3. Using the method of Laplace transforms.
4. Numerically integrating the equations of motion (numerical solution
of differential equations).
 Convolution Integral
• A nonperiodic exciting force usually has a magnitude that varies with
time; it acts for a specified period and then stops.
• The simplest form is the impulsive force, a force that has a large
magnitude F and acts for a very short time Δt.
• From dynamics we know that impulse can be measured by finding the
change it causes in momentum of the system.
• If denote the velocities of the mass m before and after the
application of the impulse, we have:

• By designating the magnitude of the impulse FΔt by F, we can write, in

general:

• A unit impulse acting at t = 0 (f) is defined as:

• It can be seen that in order for F dt to have a finite value, F tends to
infinity (since dt tends to zero).
• The unit impulse, f = 1, acting at t = 0 is also denoted by the Dirac delta
function as:
 Continued …
• The unit impulse, f, acting at t = 0 is also denoted by the Dirac delta
function, ẟ(t).
• The Dirac delta function at time t = τ, denoted as ẟ(t - τ), has the
properties:

• Where

• Thus an impulse of magnitude F, acting at t = τ, can be denoted as:

 Continued …
Response to an Impulse
• Let us consider the response of a single-degree-of-freedom system to
an impulse excitation; this case is important in studying the response
under more general excitations.
• Consider a viscously damped spring-mass system subjected to a unit
impulse at t = 0, as shown in Figures (a) and (b).
• A single – degree – of – freedom system subjected to an impulse:
• For an underdamped system, the
solution of the equation of motion,
, is given by:

• Where:
 Continued …
• If the mass is at rest before the unit impulse is applied
we obtain, from the impulse-momentum relation:

• Thus the initial conditions are given by: and

• Considering these initial conditions, the solution of the motion equation
reduces to:

• This equation gives the response of a single-degree-of-freedom

system to a unit impulse, which is also known as the impulse response
function, denoted by g(t).
• The function g(t) is shown in Figure:
 Continued …
• If the magnitude of the impulse is F instead of unity, the initial velocity
is F/m and the response of the system becomes:

• If the impulse is applied at an arbitrary time t = τ, as shown in Figure(a), it

will change the velocity at t = τ by an amount F/m.
• Assuming that x = 0 until the impulse is applied, the displacement x at
any subsequent time t, caused by a change in the velocity at time τ, is
given by the above equation ( ) with t replaced by

the time elapsed after the application of the impulse, that is, t - τ.
• Thus we obtain:
• This is shown in Figure (b)., Impulse response:
 Example: Response of a Structure Under Impact
a) Response of a Structure Under Impact: In the vibration testing of a structure,
an impact hammer with a load cell to measure the impact force is used to cause
excitation, as shown in Figure (a). Assuming:
and find the response of the system.

b) Response of a Structure Under Double Impact: In many cases, providing only

one impact to the structure using an impact hammer is difficult. Sometimes a
second impact takes place after the first, as shown in Figure (b), and the applied
force, F(t), can be expressed as:
• Where ẟ(t) is the Dirac delta function and τ indicates the time between the two
impacts of magnitudes F1 and F2.
• For a structure with m = 5 kg, k = 2000 N/m, c = 10 N-s/m and F(t) = 20 ẟ(t) + 10
ẟ(t - 0.2) N, find the response of the structure.
 Continued …
Solution (a): From the known data, we can compute:
and
• Assuming that the impact is given at t = 0 , we find the response of
the system as:

• Hence,
Solution (b): From the known data, we find , and
• The response due to the impulse is given by by the previous
Example, while the response due to the impulse
• can be determined from equations ( ) and
( ) as:
 Continued …
• For τ = 0.2, then this equation becomes:

• Using the superposition of the two responses the response

due to two impacts, in meters, can be expressed as:

• The graph of these equation is shown in figure (Solid line for x1(t) and
Dashed line for x2(t)):
 Response to a General Forcing Condition
• Now we consider the response of the system under an arbitrary external
force F(t), shown in Figure. An arbitrary (nonperiodic) forcing function:
• This force may be assumed to be
made up of a series of impulses of
varying magnitude.
• Assuming that at time τ, the force
F(τ) acts on the system for a short
period of time Δτ, the impulse acting
at t = τ is given by F(τ) Δτ.
• At any time t, the elapsed time since
the impulse is t – τ, so the response
of the system at t due to this impulse alone is given by x(t) = Fg(t - τ) with
F = F(τ) Δτ:

• The total response at time t can be found by summing all the responses
due to the elementary impulses acting at all times τ:
 Continued …
• Letting Δτ  0 and replacing the summation by
integration, we obtain:
• By substituting the impulse response function () into this equation, we
obtain:

• which represents the response of an underdamped single-degree-of-

freedom system to the arbitrary excitation F(t).
• Note that this equation does not consider the effect of initial conditions of
the system, because the mass is assumed to be at rest before the
application of the impulse, as implied by the impulse response function
( ) and in

• The integral in of the equation is called the convolution or Duhamel

integral.
• In many cases the function F(t) has a form that permits an explicit
integration of the equation.
• If such integration is not possible, we can evaluate with numerical
integration methods.
 Transient Vibrations
Introduction
• A system subjected to periodic excitation has two components of motion,
the transient and the steady state.
• In most of such cases the transient part is not important as it dies out soon
and the steady state part is the one that persists.
• However, where the excitation is of aperiodic nature like a shock pulse or
a transient excitation, the response of the system is purely transient.
• After the duration of the excitation, the system undergoes vibrations with
its natural frequency with an amplitude depending upon the type and
duration of the excitation.
• It is in such cases that the transient vibrations have importance.
• The practical examples of shock excited transient vibrations are rock
explosions, gunfires, loading or unloading of packages by dropping them
on hard floors, punching operations, automobiles at high speeds passing
over pits or curds on the road, etc.
• The use of Laplace transform is introduced in this section of the chapter
for the analysis of systems subjected to shock pulses.
• The usual differential equations method or the so-called classical method
becomes very lengthy and cumbersome with transient excitations of
different shapes.
 Continued …
Laplace Transform

• Laplace transform method can be used to find the response of a

system under any type of excitation, including the harmonic and
periodic type.
• A major advantage of the method is that it takes into account the initial
conditions automatically.
• The application of the Laplace transform method for the finding the
response of a system basically involves the following steps:
1. Write the equation of motion of the system.
2. Transform each term of the equation, using known initial
conditions.
3. Solve for the transformed response of the system.
4. Obtain the desired solution (response) by using inverse Laplace
transformation.
 Solutions Using Laplace Transform
• The computation of responses of two-degree-of-freedom systems using
Laplace transform is illustrated through the following examples.
a) Example: Free-Vibration Response of an Undamped System
(𝒄𝟏 = 𝒄𝟐 = 𝒄𝟑 = 𝟎): Find the free-vibration response of the system shown
in Figure using Laplace transform approach,
b) Example: Free-Vibration Response of a Damped System (𝒄𝟏 , 𝒄𝟐 ,
𝒄𝟑 ≠ 𝟎): Find the free-vibration response of the system shown in Figure
using Laplace transform approach for the following data:

• Assume the initial conditions as:

 Continued …
Solution (a): For the given data, for free vibration with the
equations of motion of the system, take the form:


• By taking Laplace transform of these two equations, we obtain:

• For the known initial conditions, then the

equations become:

• By introducing:

• The solution of these Laplace equations X1(s) and X2(s), based on

Cramer s rule, can be expressed as:
 Continued …
• As can be observed from these equations, the denominator is a quadratic
in s2 (true for all undamped two-degree-of-freedom systems).
• Since the roots of the denominator, are given by:

• can be expressed in factored form as:

• To determine x1(t), we equate the above two equations for X1(s) to

obtain (from the numerators):

Or

• By equating the corresponding terms on both sides of this equation, we

obtain:
 Continued …
• The solution of this equation yields and
hence X1(s) of the partial equation becomes:

• The inverse Laplace transform of this equation gives:

• Similarly, to determine we equate the corresponding equations for X2(s)

to obtain (from the numerators):

Or
• By equating the corresponding terms on both sides of this equation, we
obtain:

• The solution of this equation yields and hence

X2(s) of the partial equation becomes:

• The inverse Laplace transform of this equation gives:

 Continued …
Solution (b): For the given data, for free vibration with the
equations of motion of the system, take the form:


• By taking Laplace transform of these two equations, we obtain:

• For the known initial conditions, then the

equations become:

• By introducing:

• The solution of these Laplace

equations X1(s) and X2(s),
based on Cramer s rule, can be
expressed as:
 Continued …
• As can be observed from these equations, the denominator is not a
quadratic (true for all damped two-degree-of-freedom systems).
• Since the roots of the denominator, (characteristic roots of the system),
can be found (for example, using MATLAB), as:

• It can be seen that the roots are complex (true for all damped systems)
instead of simply imaginary values (true for undamped systems).
• In view of the characteristic roots, X1(s), can be expressed as:

Where
are unknown constants.
• By writing the right-hand-side expression in this equation as:
 Continued …
• And equating the numerators of the above two equations for X1(s), we
obtain:
Or

• By equating the coefficients of the corresponding terms on both sides of

the above equation, we obtain:

• Where the values of a, b, c, and d are defined in roots above.

• The solution of the above equations, for example by MATLAB, gives:
 Continued …
• Thus X1(s) becomes:

• By taking inverse Laplace transform of this equation, we obtain:

• Similarly, based on the characteristic roots given before, equation for

X2(s) can be expressed as:

Where are unknown constants.

• By writing the right-hand-side expression in this equation as:
 Continued …
• And equating the numerators of the above two equations for X2(s),
we obtain:

Or

• By equating the coefficients of the corresponding terms on both sides of

the above equation, we obtain:

• Where the values of a, b, c, and d are defined in roots above.

• The solution of the above equations, for example by MATLAB, gives:
 Continued …
• Thus X2(s) becomes:

• By taking inverse Laplace transform of this equation, we obtain:

• The free-vibration response of the system, x1(t) and x2(t) is shown

graphically, (Figure (a) for Solution (a) and Figure (b) for Solution (b)):
 Transient and Steady-State Responses
• The transient response denotes the portion of the solution caused by
the initial conditions and
• dies down with time. The steady-state response represents the
portion of the solution caused
• by the applied force or excitation and approaches the condition in
which equilibrium prevails.
Initial value of the response:
• If the response or solution of a system is known in time
• domain, the initial value of the response, x(t = 0), can be determined
by setting t = 0.
• If the response of the system is given in Laplace domain, the initial
value can be found as follows:

• This is known as the initial value theorem.

 Continued …
Steady-state value of the response:
• If the response of a system is known in time domain, the steady-state
value of the response, xss, can be determined by taking the limit as time
approaches infinity.
• If the response of the system is given in the Laplace domain, the
steady-state value can be found by taking the limit, as s approaches
zero, of s times the response in Laplace domain:

• This is called the final value theorem.

• The application of Laplace transform for the computation of the
response of first and second-order systems under different forcing
functions is considered below.
 Response of First-Order Systems
• Consider a spring-damper system subjected to a forcing function with
the equation of motion (Figure):

• This equation can be rewritten as:

• Where:
• The solution of such equation under different forcing
functions is illustrated in the following examples.
Example: Unit Impulse Response of a First-Order System
• Find the solution of the motion equation when the forcing function is a unit
impulse at and determine the initial and steady-state values of the
response.
Solution: The equation of motion, in this case becomes:
where F = 1/c.
• By taking Laplace transform of the motion equation, we obtain:
 Continued …
• Assuming the initial condition to be zero, x(0) = 0,
then the above equation can be expressed as:
• The inverse Laplace transform of this equation gives the steady-state
response of the system as:
• The initial value of the response can be found from the time response,
that is this equation, by setting t = 0.
• This gives:
• From the solution in Laplace domain, the initial value of the response is
given by the initial value theorem:

• Similarly, from the response in time domain, , the steady-state

value can be found by taking the limit as 𝑡 → ∞.
• Thus yields:
• The steady-state value of the response can be determined from
using the final value theorem as:
 Continued …
Example: Response of a First-Order System due to Ramp Function

• Find the solution of the motion equation when the applied

force is a ramp function.

Solution: The equation of motion, in this case can be written as:

where d = Fb, F = 1/c and b denotes the slope of
the ramp (see Figure).
• By taking Laplace transform of
the motion equation, we obtain:

• The inverse Laplace transform of the above equation

gives the steady-state response of the system as:
 Response of Second-Order Systems
• Consider a spring-mass-damper system subjected to a forcing function
with the equation of motion (see the Figure):
• The solution of the motion equation under different forcing functions
is illustrated in the following Examples:
 Continued …
Example: Unit Impulse Response of a Second-Order System
• Find the response of an underdamped single-degree-of-freedom system
to a unit impulse.
Solution: The equation of motion is given by:
• By taking the Laplace transform of both sides of this equation, we
obtain:
Or
• Assuming zero initial condition, hence the above equation can
be expressed as:
Or
• We can express the right-hand side of the
above equation in partial fractions as:
• Where s1 and s2 are the roots of the polynomial equation:
• Which are given by:
Where is the damped frequency of the system.
 Continued …
• Back substitution for s1 and s2 in the partial fractions equation yields:
Or
• By equating the coefficients on both sides of this equation, we obtain:

Or

• The above two equations give:

• Using this relation in the equation
for X(s), X(s) can be expressed as:
• By taking the inverse Laplace transform of this
equation, we obtain:

Notes:
1. The response x(t) = 0 for t < 0 (because the unit impulse is applied at t = 0).
2. The last equation can be seen to be same as the unit impulse response
function derived using the traditional method from dynamics of an impulse
response.
 Response to Step Force
Example: Step Response of an Underdamped System
• Find the response of an underdamped single-degree-of-freedom system
to a unit step function.
Solution: The equation of motion is given by:
• By taking the Laplace transform of both sides of this equation and
assuming zero initial conditions we obtain:
• which can be rewritten as:

• We can express the right-hand side of this equation in partial fractions as:

• where s1, s2 and s3 are the roots of the polynomial equation:

• which are given by:

 Continued …
• The constants C1, C2 and C3 in the partial equation can be determined
as follows.
• Substituting the values of s1, s2 and s3 given above the equation of X(s)
and rearranging the terms leads to:

• This equation can be rewritten as:

• By equating the coefficients of corresponding terms on both of this

equation, we obtain:

• The solution of these equations gives:

 Continued …
• Using these in , X(s) can be expressed as:

• By taking the inverse Laplace transform of this equation and using the
results given in the table of Laplace transform, we obtain:

Response of an underdamped
system subjected to a step force:

Where:

• The response given by this equation of solution for x(t) is shown in Figure.
 Continued …
Example: Initial and Final Values of Step Response of Underdamped
System
• Find the initial and steady-state values of the unit step response of an
underdamped system from the responses indicated by x(t):
of the previous
x(t) and
example.
Solution: The response of the system in time domain, the equation given
for x(t), can be written as:

• By setting t = 0 in this equation, we find the initial value as 0.

• By taking the limit as 𝑡 → ∞, the term and hence the steady-
state value of x(t) is given by 1/k.
• The response of the system in
Laplace domain is given by:
• Using the initial value theorem, we find the initial value as:
 Continued …
Step Force on a Compacting Machine
• A compacting machine, modeled as a single-degree-of-freedom system,
is shown in Figure (a).
• The force acting on the mass m (m includes the masses of the piston,
the platform, and the material being compacted) due to a sudden
application of the pressure can be idealized as a step force, as shown in
Figure (b).
• Determine the response of the system.
• Step force applied to a compact machine:
 Continued …
Example: Response of a Compacting Machine
• Find the response of the compacting machine of Example 4.9 assuming
the system to be underdamped (i.e., ζ < 1).
• Approach: Use a spring-mass-damper model of the compacting machine
and use Laplace transform technique.
Solution: The forcing function is given by:

• By taking the Laplace transform of the governing differential equation,

, and using the table of Laplace transform, we obtain the
following equation:

Where:
 Continued …
• Thus this equation can be written as:

• The inverse transform of this equation can be expressed by using the

results in Laplace transform table as:

Where:
 Continued …
• Thus the response of the compacting machine can be expressed as:

• Here, for the undamped system, this equation reduces to:

 Continued …
Example: Overdamped System Subjected to Step Force
• Find the response of an overdamped single-degree-of-freedom system
subjected to a step force with the equation of motion:

• Assume the initial conditions as:

Solution: By taking the Laplace transform of both sides of the given motion
equation, we obtain:
Or

• Using the initial values, can be expressed as:

Or
• Noting that the roots of the polynomial in the denominator on the right-hand
side of the above equation are X(s) can be expressed,
using partial fractions, as:

• where the constants can be found,

using the Laplace Transform Table, as:
 Continued …
• where A(s) is the numerator and B(s) is the denominator of the middle
expression in and a prime denotes the
derivative with respect to s.

• The middle expression in yields:

• From the above two equations, one may have:

• In view of these constants,

becomes:

• By taking the inverse Laplace

transform of the equation for
X(s), we obtain the response of
the system as:

• The response given by this

equation is shown graphically in
Figure.
 Analysis of the Step Response
• The response of a damped single-degree-of-freedom system under a
step force, given by equations for the examples for Step Force on a
Compacting Machine,
and

• And equations for Step Response of an Underdamped,

and , both can be expressed in

the form:

Where:

• The variations of the nondimensional response with the

nondimensional time, is shown graphically in Figure below for
several values of the damping ratio ζ.
 Continued …
• Response of an underdamped system due to a unit step force:
• It can be seen that for an
undamped system
the response exhibits
oscillations which never
die out.
• For an underdamped
system the
response overshoots and
oscillates about the final
or steady-state value.
• Furthermore, the smaller the value of the damping ratio, the larger will be
the overshoot, so that the oscillations take longer to die out.
• For a critically damped system the response reaches the final or
steady-state value most quickly with no oscillation.
• For an overdamped system the response reaches the steady-
state value slowly with no overshoot.
 Description of Transient Response
• The performance and behavior of a vibrating system for transient
response is described in terms of parameters such as maximum
overshoot, peak time, rise time, delay time, and settling time.
• These parameters are shown in Figure below, which denotes a typical
step response of an underdamped system.
• Specifications of the response of an underdamped system:
 Continued …
1. Peak time (tp):
• The peak time is the time required for the response to attain the first peak
of the overshoot.
• The maximum amount the response overshoots, Mp, occurs when the
derivative of x(t) is zero.
• The time variation of the unit step response of an underdamped system,
in the previouse example, is given by:

• From which, one can have that:

where:

• This equation can also be expressed in compact form as:

where:
 Continued …
• The derivative of x(t) will be zero when x(t) reaches its maximum, so that:

Or

• This equation is satisfied when so that:

• Thus the peak time is given by:

2. Rise time (tr):

• The rise time is the time needed for the response to rise from 10% to 90%
of the final or steady-state value for overdamped systems.
• For underdamped systems, usually, the rise time is taken as the time
required for the response to rise from 0% to 100% of the final or steady-
state value.
• By assuming the rise time to be equal to the time required for the
response to rise from 0% to 100%, we can find the rise time by setting the
value of x(t), given by the equation given before as:
 Continued …
• At tr, which is equals to one:

• Noting that hence this equation yields:

Or

• This gives the rise time tr as:

Where α is given by the

equation given before as:

• This equation indicates that the rise time tr can be reduced by increasing
the value of ωd or ζ.
3. Maximum overshoot (Mp):
• The maximum overshoot is the maximum peak value of the response
compared to the final or steady-state value ( x(∞) or xss), expressed as
a percentage of the steady-state value.
• It can be computed as:
 Continued …
• Substituting into the expression for x(t):

• We obtain:

• Thus the overshoot is given by:

• The percent overshoot can be obtained as:

• By inverting the relation in the above equation, we can find the damping
ratio (ζ) for a given percent overshoot as:

• The overshoot, given by , is shown graphically in

Figure below.
 Continued …
• Variation of percent overshoot with damping ratio:

4. Settling time:
• The settling time, by definition, is the time during which x(t) in

reaches and stays within of the

steady-state value,
 Continued …
• By assuming the cosine term in
to be approximately equal to one, the settling time is given by the time it
takes for the multiplication factor of the cosine term to reach a value of
0.02:

• Which gives:

• As ζ varies from 0 to 0.9, the numerator in this equation can be seen to

vary from 3.01 to 4.74.
• Thus the settling time, valid approximately for all values of ζ can be
taken as:

5. Delay time (td):

• The delay time is the time required for the response to reach 50% of the
final or steady-state value for the first time.
 Example: Response Characteristics from
Transfer Function
• Find the peak time (tp) percent overshoot (% Mp), settling time (ts), and
rise time (tr) from the transfer function of the system given by:

Solution: The natural frequency of the system can be found from the last
term in the denominator of this given equation:

• The damping ratio can be determined from the middle term in the
denominator of the given equation as:

• Substitution of the values of ωn and ζ into the derived equations yields:

 Continued …

• This example demonstrates that the response characteristics peak

time, percent overshoot, settling time and rise time can be
determined without the tedious task of finding the time response
through inverse Laplace transform, plotting the time response, and
taking measurements from the time response plot.
 Example: System Parameters from
Known Response Characteristics
• Determine the values of the mass moment of inertia and torsional
damping constant of a torsional system, shown in Figure below, to
achieve a 25% overshoot and a settling time of 2.5 s for a step input
torque of T0(t).
• The torsional stiffness of the system is 10 N-m/rad.
 Continued …
Solution: The transfer function of the system can be expressed as:

• From the last term in the denominator of this equation, we obtain:

• The middle term in the denominator of the equation of transfer equation
gives:

• Since the settling time is given as 2.5 s, we have (from ):

• From the above two equations, we have:

• From the above two equations, and ,

we have:
 Continued …
• Using the known percent overshoot, the damping ratio can be determined
from as:

• Then from , one may have:

• The equation yields:

• The torsional damping constant ct can be found from as: