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Engineering Dynamics
and Vibrations
Recent Developments

Editors
Junbo Jia
Aker Solutions
Bergen, Norway

Jeom Kee Paik

University College London
UK and Pusan National University
Republic of Korea

p,
p,
A SCIENCE PUBLISHERS BOOK
A SCIENCE PUBLISHERS BOOK
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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Title: Engineering dynamics and vibrations : recent developments / editors
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To our families
 Foreword

This book has introduced and developed some recent research results which provide
important insight and increased understanding in the fields of engineering dynamics
and vibrations. The general topic has featured prominently in recent years because
of the economic and environmental pressure to produce more efficient structural
designs which consume less material and, therefore, lead to lighter products. As
a consequence, it is evident that vibrations and dynamic effects will feature more
prominently in the optimum behaviour of structural designs than they have in the
past. In addition, dynamic loadings (which includes wind, hydrodynamic, explosive,
impact and seismic loadings) are significant factors in the hazard assessments
of engineering plant, and the safety of various structural systems such as the
crashworthy protection of transportation systems. The development of numerical
systems has allowed these often complex effects to be incorporated reliably, in many
cases, into the design stages, in addition to the consideration of statistical effects.
The dynamic behaviour of structures is a challenging area, not only because of
the obvious time-dependent aspects, but also because of the difficulties in specifying
the exact details of the external dynamic loadings, the connection characteristics
(e.g., welding effects) between various components and the dynamic properties
of the associated materials. Thus, it is important to recognise and utilise fully
the contributions and understanding emerging from theoretical, numerical and
experimental studies on structures and components, as well as investigations into the
material properties under dynamic loadings and various environmental conditions.
This book covers all these aspects in varying degrees in the individual chapters
and associated case studies. The chapters are written by international experts from
China, Greece, Italy, South Korea, Norway, UK and USA. It covers a large and
important engineering area and I trust that readers will be inspired to incorporate
some of these ideas into their own structural design studies in order to achieve
more efficient and environmentally friendly designs without jeopardising safety.
Norman Jones
Emeritus Professor, PhD, DSc, FREng, FNAE, FIMechE, FASME, FRINA
Impact Research Centre, University of Liverpool
 Preface

The contents of this book is a result of a team effort by international experts in the
field of engineering dynamics, vibrations, and impacts. It contains both essential
basics and new developments in this area.
The subject of dynamics and vibrations originated from Sir Isaac Newton’s
monograph Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Lord Rayleigh paved
the way for its further development with his Theory of Sound. These provided the
basis for the unique position of the field of dynamics in mechanics. Since then,
many scientists and engineers have applied and furthered this knowledge in various
fields of applied science and technology.
With the enormous investment made in civil, mechanical and aerospace
engineering during the 20th century, designs were pushed to the limits of their
performance capacity, with the trend being toward high-speed operations, adverse
environment capability, light weight, etc. With functionality becoming an essential
requirement in an unpredictable, highly uncertain environment, practicing engineers
encountered more problems with regard to dynamics. Although dynamics as a
scientific topic is by no means fully understood (and perhaps never will be), the
great amount of activity in this field during the last century has made it possible to
form a practical subject in a fairly systematic, coherent, and quantitative manner.
All these factors have pushed applied dynamics to a greater complexity than before,
and also made the subject essential. Thanks to the rapid development of computer
technology, more portable and accurate testing equipment and techniques, as well as
breakthroughs in computation algorithms, during the last 50 years applied dynamics
has developed significantly. This raised a vast amount of challenges in implementing
designs in reality, while also putting greater demands on engineers, requiring a
thorough understanding of the subject. In spite of advances in engineering, the
practical problems regarding dynamics and vibrations are often unsuccessful.
Moreover, even if engineers can perform sophisticated computer-based dynamic
analysis tasks, many of them lack an understanding of the essential principles of
dynamics, and hence of the links between theory and application. This leads to
an insurmountable barrier when they are requested to validate/verify and provide
insightful explanations of analysis results, or to further improve the engineering
viii Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

designs with regard to dynamics, vibrations, and impacts. This poses a significant
safety hazard and can also result in significant economic loss.
With the objective of providing principles and up-to-date knowledge of
engineering dynamics, vibrations, and impacts for solving practical and challenging
engineering problems, this edited volume covers topics on the concepts, principles
and solutions in this area. The book provides wide-ranging treatment of the subject.
It contains advances from essentials on dynamics, vibrations, and impacts to more
advanced topics on nonlinear dynamics, stochastic dynamics, from basic principles
to its applications associated with various dynamic actions due to wind, ocean wave,
earthquake, and explosion loadings. A special chapter is dedicated to elaborate the
principles of noise control.
The book is intended to serve as an introduction to the subject and also as
a reference book with advanced topics. A balance between the theoretical and
practical aspects is sought. All the chapters are addressed to practicing engineers
who are looking for answers to their daily engineering problems, and to students
and researchers who are looking for links between theoretical and practical aspects.
It should also be of use to other science and engineering professionals and students
with an interest in general dynamics, vibrations, and acoustics. Ultimately, the book
should also be useful for designing tolerant structural systems against extreme and
accidental conditions.
While the book does not seek to promote any specific “school of thoughts,”
it inevitably reflects chapter authors’ “best practice” and “working habit.” This is
particularly apparent in the topics selected and level of detail devoted to each of
them, their sequences, and the choices of many mathematical treatments and symbol
notations etc. The editors hope that this does not deter the readers from seeking to
find their own “best practice”.
We are indebted to many individuals and organizations for assistance of various
kinds, such as participation in book reviews and copyright clearance. Moreover,
this book has an extensive list of references reflecting both the historical and recent
developments of the subject. We would like to thank all the authors in the book
references for their contribution to the area.
Junbo Jia
Jeom Kee Paik
 Contents

Foreword v
Preface vii
1. Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 1
Junbo Jia
2. Nonlinear Structural Responses Associated with Hydrocarbon 39
Explosions
Jeom Kee Paik, Sang Jin Kim and Junbo Jia
3. Stochastic Dynamic Analysis of Marine Structures 76
Bernt J. Leira and Wei Chai
4. Mitigation of Stresses and Vibrations in Deep-water Steel Riser 132
Design by Introducing a Lazy Wave Geometry
Felisita, Airindy, Gudmestad, Ove T. and Karunakaran, Daniel
5. Wind-Induced Dynamic Response Calculations 152
Einar N. Strømmen
6. Neo-Deterministic Scenario-Earthquake Accelerograms and 187
Spectra: A NDSHA Approach to Seismic Analysis
Paolo Rugarli, Claudio Amadio, Antonella Peresan, Marco Fasan,
Franco Vaccari, Andrea Magrin, Fabio Romanelli and
Giuliano F. Panza
7. Ground Motion Prediction Equations for Energy-Based Demand 242
Parameters: Regional Application to Northwestern Turkey
Ali Sari and Lance Manuel
8. Nonlinear Seismic Analysis of Framed Structures 268
Stelios Antoniou and Rui Pinho
9. Seismic Mitigation of Single Pylon Cable-Stayed Bridge 302
Qiang Han, Jianian Wen and Xiuli Du
10. Principles of Noise Control 336
James K. Thompson
Index 387
 1
Introduction to Dynamics,
Vibrations and Impacts
Junbo Jia

1.1 General
Dynamics, vibrations, and impacts are due to time-varying forces and/or motions.
If they are experienced by a dynamic system comprising stiffness, inertia and
damping, it can exhibit responses different from those of a system subject to only
static loading. Inertia and time-varying excitations are major characteristics that
distinguish a dynamic problem from its static counterparts. Such time-varying forces
and/or motions are called dynamic loading. Examples of dynamic loading include
loads caused by winds (Jia, 2011), earthquakes (Jia, 2012), ocean waves (Jia, 2008),
ice impacting (Jia et al., 2009), machinery or human-induced vibrations, blast or
impact effects, or even the sudden change in stiffness of a structural system that
is subject to a static load (Jia, 2014), among others. All such problems are called
dynamic problems, even though some of them can be simplified as an equivalent
static problem. Design and analysis associated with dynamics, vibration and
impact is, in many ways, more of an art than a science. Even though they must be
thoroughly checked in a rigorous scientific manner, intuition, imagination as well
as a synthesis of experience and knowledge play important roles in the process of
the relevant design and analysis. It is essential in approaching dynamic analysis
and design that one develops an “intuition” to solve the relevant problems at hand.

Aker Solutions, Bergen, Norway. Email: [email protected]

2 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

1.2 Experiencing Dynamics

Every day, we are surrounded by environments full of dynamics. The ringing of
the alarm clock in the morning, the voice of your loved ones, the sound from radio
and TV, noise due to traffic, the swaying of masts and trees in the wind, and even
our heart beating (Jia, 2014).
A fundamental example of dynamics is a playground swing. In order to increase
the amplitude of a swing (as shown in Fig. 1.1), either the rider or the external
excitor must excite the swing in phase with the movement of the swing, i.e., the
period of excitation is close or identical to the natural period of the swing, leading
to a resonance condition. For the swing shown in Fig. 1.1, if its amplitude is small,
the natural period Tn, defined as the time that the swing spends in its arc back and
forth once, is constant:

L
Tn ≈ 2π (1.1)
g
where L is the length of a single hanging rope in meters and g is the acceleration
of Earth’s gravity.
It may be noted that, in the calculation above, the rope of the swing is assumed
to be weightless and the child on the swing is idealized as a point mass. For a
swing with a rope 1.5 m in length, its natural period is 2.5 s. This equation is often
referred to as the Law of Pendulum, which was originally discovered in 1583 by
Galileo Galilei at the age of 19, when, while sitting in Pisa Cathedral, he noticed
that a lamp was swinging overhead with a constant period (Fig. 1.2).

Figure 1.1. A child on a playground swing.

 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 3

Figure 1.2. The lamp hanging in Pisa Cathedral (the photo was taken in 2013, it may not represent
the exact status of the lamp in 1583).

Even though we utilize them all the time, we do not often think about the many
dynamic phenomena that occur in our daily life, perhaps precisely because they
are so common. However, we may find that our life can be safer, cheaper, more
enjoyable, convenient, and environmentally-friendly if we were to devote just a
little more consideration to these matters.
In the engineering world, the design or maintenance of many engineering
structures require dedicated considerations of their dynamic responses: high-rise
buildings, bridges, ships, offshore structures, aircrafts, land-based and space
vehicles, mechanical equipment, and even tiny electronic components.
A sense of the importance of dynamics can be conveyed through the example
of a few representative accidents, all of which were due to improper accounting
for dynamics.
In 1985, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake occurred in Mexico City. As a result, 412
buildings collapsed and another 324 were seriously damaged. A large percentage
of the damaged buildings in the downtown area were between 8 and 18 storeys
high. Not surprisingly, those buildings had a resonance vibration period of around
2.0 s, indicating general resonance with the soft soils under the city’s ground,
through which the seismic waves were transmitted to the ground with a dominant
period of around 2.0 s (Elnashai and Sarno, 2008). The 1994 Northridge earthquake
also caused similar structural damage due to the resonance of the upper structure
with the seismic ground excitations (Broderick et al., 1994).
Resonance is frequently responsible for the failure of engineering structures.
For example, many leaks in pipes are caused by cracks due to vibrations or
4 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

Figure 1.3. An eight-storey building was broken into two during the 8.1 magnitude earthquake that
occurred in Mexico City in 1985.

acoustical resonance with excessive excitation forces. Even if the resonance does
not cause an immediate structural failure, it can be responsible for significant
deflection or acceleration on a structure, leading to objects falling, failure or
instability of mechanical and electronic equipment installed on the structure, or
human discomfort, injury or casualty. Figure 1.4 shows the chaotic situation caused
by a large storm onboard an offshore platform through the platform’s excessive
movements due to the resonance vibrations. The excess of rolling (rotation around
the longitudinal axis of the ship) can be attributed to the resonance of ship roll
motions with the sea waves. It has been reported that half of all serious accidents
on board ships are caused by vibrations, either directly through structural failures
or indirectly through symptoms of fatigue among the crew (ISO, 1997; Berg
and Bråfel, 1991). The human body, especially the abdomen, head and neck, are
also sensitive to vibrations. When subject to vibrations with a frequency range of
1–30 Hz, people experience difficulty in maintaining correct posture and balance
(ISO, 1997). Even if it may be difficult to relate some vibration effects on the
human body to specific frequencies, the resonance of human organs is an important

Figure 1.4. The chaotic situation in the office (left) and archive room (right) of an offshore platform
after a significant storm (courtesy of Equinor and Aker Solutions).
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 5

contribution to motion sickness. Motion sickness can also occur in animals due to
the resonance of transportation vehicles with animals’ organs. It has been observed
that, during transportation, healthy chickens can become ill and are unable to stand
(Ji and Bell, 2008).
The spill of red wine shown in Fig. 1.5 is known as sloshing, and involves
the dynamic responses of liquids under excitations. This dynamic response can
be amplified if the motions of a liquid container (glass) have a period close to the
period of the liquid’s (wine) sloshing. Sloshing must be considered for almost any
moving vehicle or for structures containing a liquid with a free surface (Faltinsen
and Timokha, 2012). This means that, for example, if similar phenomena occur for
a chemical tank on a moving truck, the liquids’ sloshing motions inside the tank
(Fig. 1.6) can exert significant impact on the tank, making the truck unstable or even
causing a rollover. It has been reported that 4% of heavy-truck road accidents are
directly caused by the sloshing of the liquid cargo within the truck tanks (Romero

Figure 1.5. The sloshing of wine in a glass (photo by Stefan Krause).

Figure 1.6. Sloshing of a liquid inside a tank.

6 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

et al., 2005). For onshore tanks, earthquakes may also induce tank liquid sloshing,
causing structural damage. An accident of this kind was the damage caused to seven
large oil storage units that occurred during the Tokachi-oki earthquake in 2003.
Forensic investigations have found that, at the tanks’ sites, the earthquake generated
ground motions with long peak period of 4–8 s, which is in the range of the tanks’
sloshing period of 5–12 s (Hatayama, 2008). For ships carrying LNG (liquefied
natural gas), the resonance between liquid cargo sloshing and ship motions can be
significant at certain levels to which the liquid cargo is filled, as the large liquid
movement creates highly localized impact pressure on tank walls, threatening the
structural integrity and stability of the LNG ships. On various cruise ships, sloshing
of the water in the swimming pool on the sun deck occurs frequently, often even on
a monthly basis. The reader may refer to the online video footage (Youtube, 2007)
for an illustration of this. This is mainly caused by the surge (heading) and pitch
(rotation around the transverse axis of the ship) motions of the ship that coincide
with the natural sloshing frequency of the pool (Ruponen et al., 2009). In addition,
during a strong earthquake or storm event, seismic waves and wind can also excite
waters in a lake or semi-enclosed sea, causing sloshing with high water surges,
known as seiches. Harbors, bays, and estuaries are often prone to small seiches
with amplitudes of a few centimeters and periods of a few minutes. The North Sea
often experiences a lengthwise seiche with a period of about 36 hours. Geological
evidence indicates that the shores of Lake Tahoe may have been hit by seiches and
tsunamis as large as 10 m (33 feet) high in prehistoric times, and local researchers
have called for the risk to be factored into emergency plans for the region (Brown,
2008). On 26 June 1954, eight fishermen at Lake Michigan were swept away and
drowned by a seiche more than 3 m high. Figure 1.7 shows two photos of storm-
induced seiches at Canal Park in Duluth, Lake Superior, Minnesota. The two photos
were taken just minutes apart.
It is well known that structures loaded repeatedly tend to fail at a lower load
level than expected—a phenomenon known as fatigue failure. This type of failure is
responsible for most of the material failures in engineering structures. Furthermore,

MN Sea Grant

(a) (b)
Figure 1.7. (a): Mild seiche at Canal Park in Duluth, MN, and (b): the situation just minutes before
the seiche took place (courtesy of Minnesota Sea Grant).
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 7

such fatigue damages are often accompanied by unfavorable dynamic excitations

relevant to resonance, high frequency loading or repeated significant loadings. A
number of accidents due to fatigue failure have become well known. On 3 June
1998, a high-speed intercity train traveling from Hannover to Hamburg derailed in
the village of Eschede at a speed of 200 km/h, and crashed into a road bridge after
derailment (Fig. 1.8), leading to a loss of 102 lives and 88 injuries. The forensic
study followed showed that the accident was caused by a broken wheel tire on
the first middle car, in which an undiscovered crack grew to an unacceptable size
under repeated fatigue loading.
Environmental loading such as wind or sea waves hit structures repeatedly,
and the fatigue caused by this is a typical problem posing risks for structural safety.
For example, the sinking of the MS Estonia on 28 September 1994, was simply
caused by the repeated wave impact on her bow door, leading to fatigue failure of
the bow visor locking devices and the formation of opening moments about the deck
hinges. This simple failure led to 852 casualties (The Joint Accident Investigation
Commission of Estonia, 1994). Other well-known accidents leading to structural
failure are the Ranger I jackup (Gulf of Mexico, 84 fatalities) and the collapse of
the Alexander Kielland semi-submersible (North Sea, 123 fatalities), in 1979 and
1980 respectively. The sequence of failure in the Alexander Kielland platform
accident (lower figure in Fig. 1.9) was: fatigue failure of one brace (shown in
Fig. 1.9); overload failure of five other braces; loss of column; flooding into deck;
and capsizing (Moan, 2005). For Ocean Ranger the accident sequence was: flooding
through a broken window into the ballast control room; closed electrical circuit;
disabled ballast pumps; erroneous ballast operation; flooding through chain lockers;
and capsizing (Moan, 2005). Except for the fatigue cracks that caused the failure,
it is noticed that both of these structures were statically determinate platforms with

Figure 1.8. The destruction of rear passenger cars that were pushed into each other and crashed into
a road bridge (Eschede accident, 3 June 1998; photo by Nils Fretwurst).
8 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

Platform
D-3
C
D
D-4
E

D-6

D-E

Hydrophone Dewatering
Break
Figure 1.9. Capsizing of Alexander Kielland semi-submersible (upper; photo courtesy of Norwegian
Petroleum Museum) initiated by a fatigue crack in one brace (lower).

a lack of redundancy. Figure 1.10 shows a member in an offshore jacket structure

breaking due to repeated wave loading. Wave-induced ship vibrations are nowadays
regarded as an important source contributing to fatigue damage. The vibrations are
normally referred to as hull girder vibrations (including whipping and springing),
and vibrations at resonance period, so called 2-node mode vibrations, are typically
dominant. Hull girder vibrations often occur on ships. In many cases, people on
board a ship can easily feel them when the wave height reaches only a few meters.
Moreover, due to their low damping and large size, blunt ships may experience
more vibrations than slender ships.
Tacoma Narrows Bridge, shown in Fig. 1.11, was opened to traffic on 1 July
1940. It spanned over a mile, the third longest suspension span in the world at that
time, with the deck supported by a combination of a cable-supported suspension
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 9

Figure 1.10. A break in a primary structural member of an offshore jacket structure due to repeated
wave loading. The photo was taken after the jacket structure was decommissioned and transported
onshore.

Figure 1.11. The collapse of Tacoma Narrows Bridge due to wind flutter.

structure and steel plate girder. The slenderness of the suspended deck represented
a distinct departure from earlier suspension bridge designs, but because of this
the bridge had shown vibratory tendencies even during construction. From the
beginning of its service, it received many complaints from users because in even
a light wind the bridge behaved like a ship riding the waves, with pronounced
vertical oscillations, causing the “seasickness” of many passengers in cars (Levy and
Salvadori, 2002), thus earning it the nickname “Galloping Gertie.” On 7 November
1940, in a wind of 64 km/hour, the bridge twisted so much that the left side of
road descended significantly, with the right side rising, and this motion alternating
rapidly. The twisting vibrations became more and more significant, finally leading
to the total collapse of the bridge, as shown in Fig. 1.11. From an aerodynamic
point of view, such violent vibrations are caused by the aero-elastic fluttering due
to the feeding of energy when the bridge was subjected to alternative unstable
oscillations in strong wind. From a structural engineering point of view, this is a
type of self-excited vibration, which is due to the sustained alternating excitations
that induce the instability of a system at its own natural or critical frequency (note
that this is different to a typical resonance phenomenon). The entire bridge-wind
10 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

system therefore behaved as if it had an effective negative damping, leading to

exponentially growing responses.
Figure 1.12 shows another example of self-excited vibrations of a bridge.
While they did not cause a collapse, the large deflection amplitude of the bridge
deck can clearly be observed. After the accident on Tacoma Narrows Suspension
Bridge, engineers had proposed various mitigation measures to prevent similar
accidents from occurring again, such as cutting holes in the web of the underdeck
girder or installing curved outriggers to divert the wind (Fig. 1.13), making the
wind pass through the holes and thus avoiding the wind fluttering. The Tacoma
disaster provided a great impetus to research in the field of aerodynamic stability
and structural dynamics, which led to the modifications of the Golden Gate Bridge
(Fig. 1.14) and several other significant suspension bridges (White et al., 1972).
As an important dynamic phenomenon, vortex-induced vibrations (VIV)
are normally induced on members interacting with external fluid flows, and this
produces periodical irregularities (vortices) in the flow, as shown in Fig. 1.15.
When the vortices are not symmetrical around the body (with respect to its mid
plane), lift forces will be applied on each side of the member, leading to members
vibrating perpendicular to the fluid flow. When the vortex-induced frequency
coincides with the natural frequency of structural members, the resulting condition
is called lock-in. During the lock-in process, the structural member oscillates with
increased amplitude but rarely exceeding half of the across wind dimension of the
body. Cylinder members, such as subsea pipes or chimneys, are most susceptible
to VIV. Figure 1.16 shows the cracks due to fatigue on a tubular member’s end
(joint). Forensic investigation has found that the buffeting response of the flare
boom cannot cause fatigue cracking on this joint (Jia, 2011). Therefore, VIV is
most likely to be the reason for the development of these particular fatigue cracks.
Another example of VIV-induced vibrations is the “loud singing” of external hand
railings of ships during storms or hurricanes. To diminish VIV, it is common to put
obstacles around free spans of cylinders. Figure 1.17 shows spiral strakes installed
on the upper part of a chimney to diminish VIV.

Figure 1.12. A large deflection amplitude of a bridge deck due to self-excited vibrations can clearly
be observed: the left and right figures show the relative vertical position at two time instants (Larsen
et al., 2000).
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 11

U.W.
PROPOSED
HOLES IN
GIRDER
SO WIND
WOULD
FLOW
THROUGH

WIND OR
AGAINST THIS CURVED
GIRDER OUTRIGGERS
CAUSED TO DIVERT
SWAY WIND

university of Washington engineering made a test Saturday on their $14,000 model of The Narrows Bridge,
attempting to eliminate the dangerous wind sways which finally caused the real-life structure to collapse
yesterday. The sketch at left shows the flat horizontal girder which offered resistance to winds, causing the
sway. University recommendations were (center) to drill holes with a torch in the girder, permitting the wind
to pass through; or (right) to erect an $80,000 streamlined buffer alongside the girder, to divert winds. Their
tests showed the latter materially reduced the vibrations, might have saved the bridge.

Figure 1.13. Proposals to avoid wind flutter for Tacoma Bridge (courtesy of University of Washington
Library).

Figure 1.14. The Golden Gate Bridge (photo by Rich Niewiroski Jr.).
12 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

Figure 1.15. Vortex produced by fluid passing through a cylinder.

Figure 1.16. Cracks (marked with circle) found on a tubular joint due to wind-induced VIV on a high-
rise flare boom in the North Sea (courtesy of Aker Solutions).

Figure 1.17. A spiral strake installed on the upper part of a chimney to diminish VIV (photo by Jing
Dong).
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 13

Machinery vibrations can cause over-stress and collapse of the main structures,
damage to non-structural elements, loosening of fastener(s), collapse of cladding
and ceiling, development of cracks on structures, fatigue, accelerated subsidence
of foundations, etc. The structural vibrations induced by machinery vibrations can
lead to visible motions of building elements or objects, oscillations of suspended
light fixtures, or structure- and air-borne noise. Machinery vibrations can also cause
fatigue in machinery components, deformation and strength failure, and higher
tolerance demands due to unexpected motions of tools and installations, which
reduce the production quality and efficiency.
Moreover, continuous exposure to structure-borne or air-borne sound can
lead to various types of problems, such as hearing damage if a person is exposed
to noise, high cycle fatigue of machinery or structural components, etc. Here,
air-borne noise is the sound transmitted through air, while structure-borne sound
is that which results from an impact on or a continuous vibration against a part
of a structure. Whilst they are sometimes considered to be separate phenomena,
air-borne and structure-borne sound are related, in that air-borne sound can cause
structure-borne sound and vice versa.

1.3 Utilizing Dynamics

While avoiding resonance disasters is an important concern in the engineering
world, vibrations and resonance can also be put to use. Resonant systems can be
used to generate vibrations at a specific frequency (e.g., musical instruments), or
pick out specific frequencies from a complex vibration containing many frequencies
(e.g., filters). For example, many clocks keep time by mechanical resonance in a
balance wheel, pendulum, or quartz crystal (Jia, 2014).
Another example is the vibration plate (power vibration plate), which was
originally used by Russian scientists to counter muscle atrophy and the reduction
of bone density in cosmonauts, and is now used as a piece of fitness equipment
to strengthen muscle and reduce weight. As shown in Fig. 1.18, it is essentially
gadget:fit

Figure 1.18. A power vibration plate as a piece of fitness equipment.

14 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

a flat base that vibrates. An exerciser stands on the plate while it vibrates with
a frequency of between 0.4 and 2 Hz. This forces the exerciser’s entire body to
react to the relatively high frequency vibrations, causing the muscles to contract
and stretch in order to maintain balance. By tuning the machine to an appropriate
vibration frequency, most of the muscles in the body can be effectively tightened,
thus strengthening muscles and reducing weight.
The natural period is an inherent property of any system. Therefore, if one can
find a convenient way to measure it, several essential characteristics of the system
can be obtained. To demonstrate this, we first go to the London Eye observation
wheel, as shown in Fig. 1.19. It has a structural system similar to a bicycle wheel,
with its rim stiffened by 16 rotation cables and 64 spoke cables. It is obvious that
part of the tension load in each cable will be lost within the lifetime of the structure,
requiring a re-tensing in order to maintain the cable tension in accordance with the
design requirements. However, it is challenging to directly measure the tension
force in each cable. Therefore, engineers used a much more convenient alternative
to measure the natural frequency due to the transverse vibration of each cable, from
which the tension load can be calculated using the relationship between the natural
period and the tension load.
The measurement of important mechanical properties of materials, such as
Young’s modulus, has traditionally been carried out through a series of mechanical
tests by placing the specimen on costly traction-torsion machines. Engineers
nowadays have found a less costly and more convenient way to obtain part of
the basic mechanical properties: simply hitting the material sample and inducing
vibrations in it, as shown in Fig. 1.20. A high precision microphone close to the
sample captures vibration signals and transfers them to computers; the signals are
then analyzed, and the natural period and internal friction of the sample can be

Figure 1.19. The London Eye observation wheel (left) with the rim supported by tensioned steel
cables (right; photo by Christine Matthews). The wheel works like a huge spoked bicycle wheel.
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 15

microphone

sample support
system

automatic
tapping device

microphone

flexural vibration signal

nodal Points

automated tapping device

Figure 1.20. Measurement of flexural and torsional eigen frequencies to determine the Young’s
modulus and shear modulus, together with a measurement of damping through the free decay of the
sample’s vibrations (courtesy of IMCE Belgium).

obtained. Thereafter, the resonant frequency, together with the dimensions and the
weight of the sample, are used to calculate the elastic properties (Young’s modulus,
Shear modulus and Poisson ratio).
As a counter-measure, masses (often called tuned masses) with their supporting
stiffness can be installed to absorb energy of another (primary) structure at their
resonant frequency and further dissipate the absorbed energy through the damping
of the system. Note that the response of the tuned masses is around 90º out of phase
with the response of the primary structure, this difference in phase produces the
energy absorption transferred to the tuned masses. Therefore, the resonance response
of the structure can be greatly decreased. This is normally referred to as a dynamic
absorber (Thomson, 1966). As shown in Fig. 1.21, in a dynamic absorber, the mass

Figure 1.21. Mechanism of a dynamic absorber with mass ma, stiffness ka and viscous damping ca. It
is used to mitigate the dynamic responses of the main structure with mass Ms.
16 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

and stiffness of it, ma and ka, are tuned such that the absorber’s natural frequency
coincides with the resonance frequency of the main structure.
Similar to the mechanism of a children’s swing in Fig. 1.1, Fig. 1.22 shows a
type of dynamic absorber—the tuned mass damper (TMD) installed in the Taipei
World Financial Center, which has a height of 509.2 m. The TMD weighs 660 tons
and is suspended by eight steel cables, arranged in four pairs, from the frame on
the 92nd floor as a pendulum system. By adjusting the free cable length, the mass
in this pendulum system moves with the building at similar natural period of 6.8 s.
Eight primary hydraulic viscous dampers situated beneath the TMD automatically

91st Floor [390.60 m]

(Outdoor Observation Deck)

89th Floor [382.20 m]

(Indoor Observation Deck)
88th Floor
87th Floor

Figure 1.22. A 660-ton pendulum tuned mass damper system installed in the Taipei World Financial
Center (with a height of 509.2 m) to mitigate the wind- and earthquake-induced responses of the
building. The TMD hangs from the 92nd to the 88th floor.
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 17

dissipate energy from vibration impacts. A bumper system of eight hydraulic viscous
dampers beneath the TMD absorbs vibration impacts, particularly in major typhoons
or earthquakes where movements exceed 1.5 m (www.taipei-101.com.tw). This can
greatly decrease dynamic responses due to seismic and wind loadings (Jia, 2017).
Similar to a TMD, a tuned liquid damper (TLD), another type of dynamic
absorber, is also a passive damping system in which the damping effects are provided
by the motion of liquid in tanks. The moving liquid has a function similar to the
moving mass of a TMD, in that gravity is harnessed as a restoring force. Energy
is mainly dissipated by using damping baffles to create turbulence in the liquid, as
well as through the wave breaking and the impact of liquid on the tank wall. The
geometry of the tank that holds the water is determined theoretically to give the
desired natural frequency of water motions in accordance with the space in which
the tank is to be located. Liquid tanks used as a TLD are typically rectangular or
circular, with those of the former shape able to be tuned to two different frequencies
in two perpendicular directions. An engineering example of TLD is the water tanks
installed on the top of the skyscraper One Rincon Hill in San Francisco, which can
hold up to 190 tons of water, as shown in Fig. 1.23. The water level in the tanks is
adjusted to achieve a tank sloshing natural frequency close to that of the building
structure. Baffles are installed inside the water tanks in order to increase the damping
when the water is in motion. In addition to the function as a TLD to mitigate wind-
and earthquake-induced responses, the water tanks were also built to hold water
for fire fighters. Together with other measures to increase the performance of the
building, US$ 54 is saved per square meter. It is noticed that, compared to a TMD,
the TLD has the advantage of low manufacturing and maintenance costs, and it

Figure 1.23. A TLD installed on the top of One Rincon Hill in San Francisco, USA (courtesy of John
Hooper, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, USA).
18 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

can also serve the purpose of liquid (water, fuel, crude oil or mud, etc.), storage
(Lee and Ng, 2010) for emergency, industry, or everyday purposes if fresh water
is used (Hitchcock et al., 1997a; Hitchcock et al., 1997b). Furthermore, without
adversely affecting the functional use of tanks, TLD tanks can be designed with
proper dimensions or reconfigured with internal partitions of existing tanks, which
is helpful to cope with physical and architectural requirements (Jia, 2017).

1.4 Dynamics vs. Statics

Over history, the safety and serviceability of structures have basically been measured
on the basis of their static behavior, which required adequate stiffness and strength.
This was perhaps because the necessary knowledge of dynamics was less accessible
to engineers than was that of statics. Nowadays, it is common knowledge that all
bodies possessing stiffness and mass are capable of exhibiting dynamic behavior.
The major difference between dynamic and static responses is that dynamics
involves the inertia forces associated with the accelerations at different parts of
a structure throughout its motion (Jia, 2014). If one ignores the inertia force, the
predicted responses can be erroneous. As an example, let’s consider a bottom-fixed
cantilevered tower subjected to sea wave loadings as shown in Fig. 1.24 (Naess
and Moan, 2012). In addition to the static bending moment due to wave loadings
applied on the structure, as shown in Fig. 1.24b, the stiffness and mass of the
structure will react to the wave loadings and generate internal forces on both the
top mass block (Qi) and the tower (qi), as shown in Fig. 1.24c. Rather than a single
function of mass, the amplitudes of the inertia forces are related to a ratio between
stiffness and mass (eigenfrequency), mass, as well as damping, thus resulting in
additional dynamic bending action (Fig. 1.24d).
As another example, consider a gravity-based structure (GBS), as shown in
Fig. 1.25, that is subjected to the ground motions recorded during the El Centro
earthquake, which had a high energy content at vibration periods above 0.2 s
(below 5 Hz in Fourier amplitude, shown in Fig. 1.26). The dynamic responses of

(a) Tower and external (b) Static bending (c) Inertia reaction (d) Dynamic bending
load due to a long wave moment forces moment

Figure 1.24. Wave-induced static vs. instantaneous dynamic forces and moments in a bottom-fixed
cantilevered tower (Naess and Moan, 2012).
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 19

Center of MSF

Shaft-Topside Connection

Bottom of Shaft

Figure 1.25. A GBS with a heavy topside supported by four concrete shafts (legs).

0.25
0.2
0.15
Acceleration [g]

0.1
0.05
0
–0.05
–0.1
–0.15

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time [sec]
0.24

0.22

0.2

0.18

0.16
Fourier Amplitude

0.14

0.12

0.1

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

10 20 30 40 50
Frequency [Hz]

Figure 1.26. Ground motions EW component (upper) recorded during the El Centro earthquake and
its Fourier amplitude (lower).
20 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

the platform are investigated by varying the thickness of four shafts from half of
the reference thickness, to the reference thickness, to twice the reference thickness.
It is obvious that the GBS becomes stiff by increasing the shafts’ thickness. If a
static analysis is performed, under the same seismic excitations the stiffer structure
would have lower responses. However, the seismic responses involving dynamic
effects may not obey this rule. Figure 1.27 shows the acceleration at the shaft-
topside connection. It is clearly shown that the peak acceleration for the reference
shaft thickness case is higher than that of the half-thickness case. However, the
trend of peak acceleration response variation with the change of stiffness cannot be
identified, as the peak acceleration for the double shaft thickness (the stiffest one)
is lower than that for other cases with lower stiffness. This indicates the effects
of inertia, which are more complex than their static counterpart. The response
variation trend can be identified by relating the seismic responses to the dynamic
characteristics of both structures and excitations.
Even for dynamic insensitive structures with periods of resonance lower than
that of the dynamic loading, dynamics does include the inertia effects due to loading
that varies with time, even if this load variation may be quite slow compared to
the resonance period of structures. The inertia effects could lead to the fatigue
failure of the materials at stress conditions well below the breaking strength of
the materials. They may also be responsible for the discomfort of human beings.
Figure 1.28 shows an offshore jacket structure subjected to two subsequent sea
waves; the jacket has a resonance period of 2.5 s. Figure 1.29 compares the calculated

Figure 1.27. Acceleration at the shaft-topside connection with various leg/shaft stiffness (peak
acceleration: 4.7 m/s2 for double leg thickness, 5.8 m/s2 for reference leg thickness, 4.2 m/s2 for double
leg thickness).
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 21

axial force time history at a leg C1 with and without accounting for the dynamic
inertia effects. When the dynamic effects are ignored (right figure), the axial force’s
history entirely follows the variation of the wave and has a period of wave loading
(15.6 s) well above the structure’s resonance period (2.5 s). However, when the

Figure 1.28. An offshore jacket structure subjected to a wave with a wave height of 31.5 m and a
wave peak period 15.6 s (courtesy of Aker Solutions).

Figure 1.29. Axial force time history on the lower part of leg C1 of the offshore jacket with and
without dynamic inertia effects. (The exact magnitude of axial forces is omitted to protect the interests
of the relevant parties.)
22 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

dynamic effects are accounted for, fluctuations (left figure) of the axial force can be
clearly observed as a background noise with the resonance period of the structure
(2.5 s). Depending on the magnitude of this background noise, it may undermine the
integrity of the structure through fatigue damage. On the other hand, even though
some types of loadings (such as high-speed impacts) have a dominant period much
shorter than that of the resonance period of structures encountering those loadings,
they can excite high frequency eigenmode vibrations of structures, which may be
relevant to problems associated with strength, fatigue and noise, etc.
From another angle, dynamic loading often has a different orientation to static
loading. For example, the static loading of a structure under the gravity of the Earth
is strictly in the direction of the Earth. However, when the structure is subjected to
dynamic loading due to, for example, wind, earthquake or sea waves, the direction
of resultant loadings changes from downward to a more horizontal orientation. This
can result in an entirely different pattern regarding the load level and load path, and
this obviously influences the structural design. Therefore, structural engineers are
required to have a complete picture of load path and level, and structures designed
must have corresponding load resisting systems that form a continuous load path
between different parts of the structures and the foundation. The structure shown
in Fig. 1.28 represents a typical configuration of the jacket structure and a clear
path for load transferring, i.e., the gravity and acceleration loads from topside,
the wave load applied on the upper part of the jacket, and the jacket gravity and
acceleration loads are all transferred through legs and braces down to the pile
foundation at the bottom.
Before concluding this section, it is of great importance to emphasize that
dynamics is a rather more complex process than its static counterpart. The natural
frequency of a structure can change when a change in its stiffness, mass or
damping occurs. What makes dynamics even more complicated is that, strictly
speaking, regular harmonic loadings or responses, with a sine or cosine forming at
a single frequency, do not exist in the real world, even if they represent a helpful
simplification when the dynamics at a single frequency is dominating. This implies
that one should always assess whether the vibrations in various frequencies need
to be accounted for or not.

1.5 Solving Dynamic Problems (Jia, 2014)

Given the presence of inertia effects as discussed in Section 1.4, dynamic analysis
is generally much trickier to solve than its static counterpart. This is mainly because
when the inertia term appears in the equilibrium equation (Eq. 1.2), in order to
uniquely determine the solution, not only boundary conditions but also initial values
are needed, giving the dynamic analysis problem the name “initial boundary value
problem.” Furthermore, rather than a linear equation, like a static equilibrium has
(Eq. 1.3), the additional inertia and damping terms make the equilibrium equation
an ordinary second-order differential equation and time dependent, which requires
more in-depth knowledge to examine. In addition, if time series responses are
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 23

needed, a decent time stepping procedure must be employed, rendering the dynamic
problems even more complicated.
•• •
m x(t) + c x(t) + kx(t) = F(t) (1.2)
kx = F (1.3)
where F, k, m and x are the external force on a body, linear stiffness (between the
body and the fixed ground), mass, and displacement of the body, respectively; t is
the time; the dot over the symbol represents differentiation with respect to t. See
Fig. 1.30 for an illustration.
Therefore, if it is possible to calculate responses based on a static analysis,
dynamic calculation should always be avoided. However, this is unfortunately not
the case for many problems in engineering. The general rule is that if the excitations
(loads) have a dominant frequency close to the natural frequency of structures,
dynamic analysis has to be adopted. However, even if the load frequency is far
from the natural frequency of the structure, the inertia effects may still be important
and responsible for certain types of integrity problem (e.g., fatigue), such as the
one shown in Fig. 1.29. In addition, high frequency transient loads can also induce
significant dynamic responses, such as explosion, car collision, etc., in which the
inertia effects of the relevant structures can be rather significant. In these situations,
dynamic analysis is also normally required.
It is sometimes convenient to use an amplification factor to simulate the
dynamic effects: by scaling the static response with a dynamic amplification
factor, only static analysis needs be performed. However, this method lacks a solid
theoretical background and has its limitations, and may become seriously erroneous
under certain situations.
Before solving a dynamic problem, one needs to classify the vibration problem
in terms of whether or not external excitations are presented (forced and free
vibrations); whether the excitations are of a deterministic or stochastic type; whether
or not the damping is presented (damped or undamped); whether the system can be
modeled as a discrete or continuous one; and whether the responses present linear
or nonlinear characteristics (Jia, 2014; Jia, 2016).
To perform a dynamic analysis, analysts should fully understand the essential
dynamic characteristics of a system or a structure: eigenfrequencies, mode shapes
and damping.
In order to find the solutions of vibration responses, the system or the structure
must be represented by an idealized model. This model can be either discrete or
continuous. The former can be modeled by limited degrees-of-freedoms, while the
latter theoretically has infinite degrees-of-freedoms.
For a discrete model, one needs to first construct the governing equations of
motions, which can be described in terms of a second-order differential equation
with constant coefficients. The information on displacements or rotations (essential
boundary conditions) and external forces excitations (natural boundary conditions)
24 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

needs to be clarified. If time is involved, the initial conditions (boundary conditions

in time) also need to be known. After gathering sufficient information on these
boundary conditions, the solutions of the equilibrium equations are then unique
(Krysl, 2006). One can then solve the equations using decent mathematical
treatment.
The system under study can be undamped or damped and with or without
external excitations. We pay particular attention to the solutions for forced
vibrations, which typically consist of a steady-state term that oscillates and
gradually becomes dominant at the forcing frequency, and a transient term at the
system’s natural frequency that may be important initially but gradually dies out
and eventually becomes insignificant due to the presence of damping. Under certain
conditions the dominant forced vibrations become rather significant, indicating the
occurrence of resonance.
Engineers sometimes need to choose the type of dynamic analysis method to
be adopted. Each method has its unique characteristics, merits and limitations, and
the various methods also fit different situations in respect of structural and load
characteristics, design requirements, limitations of computation tools, and even the
skills of analysts, among other factors. Understanding all these factors is essential
for choosing the right method: on the one hand, this can increase accuracy; on the
other hand, it may also simplify the computation without diminishing reliability.
In certain cases, the trade-off may be difficult to judge even for experienced
researchers and engineers.
For structures or systems with single or very few degrees-of-freedoms,
depending on the types of excitations and responses (duration, shape, deterministic
or stochastic, etc.), and their eigenpairs (eigenfrequencies and mode shapes) in
comparison with the excitations, based on the pure mathematical formulation of the
stiffness, mass and damping of the structures, various types of analytical methods are
available for solving the dynamic responses, all of which result in exact solutions.
However, for a structure or a system with multiple or many degrees-of-
freedoms, it is almost impossible to perform a dynamic analysis using classical
analytical methods. Therefore, approximation methods have to be adopted. Among
others, there are two most important types of approximation methods. The first
involves approximating the solutions using either a series of solutions or an energy
criterion to minimize/control the error, such as the Rayleigh energy method. The
second one is essentially a discretization of structures into many sub-domains
(elements), and an assembly of these elements expressed in a matrix form for
solving, which practically promotes the application of the finite element method.
As illustrated in Fig. 1.30, in complex dynamic analyses for engineering
structures, the finite element method, the finite difference method or the modal
superposition method, and linear iteration method are the three numerical methods
most commonly used in practical computational solid mechanics (Curnier, 1994),
solving problems associated with space, time and nonlinearities, respectively, but
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 25

Figure 1.30. Essentials of applied dynamic analysis (from a presentation by the author at the 11th
International Conference on Recent Advances in Structural Dynamics, Pisa, 2013).

sometimes in a combined manner. They are important not only because of their
efficiency and generality of application, but also due to the simplicity of their
computer implementation.
In the modal superposition method, the coupled equations of motions are
transformed into a series of uncoupled/independent equations. Each of these
equations is analogous to the equation of motions for a single-degree-of-freedom
system, and can be solved in the same manner. The responses are calculated as
the linear sum of product between the eigenvectors (constant with time) and the
generalized/modal coordinates (varied with time) for each eigenmode. Note that
the number of uncoupled equations needing to be solved is equal to the number of
eigenmodes to be accounted for. For structures with dynamic responses dominated
by the first few eigenmodes, the modal superposition method leads to high
computation efficiency. This is more obvious if the structure has a large number
of degrees-of-freedoms.
In linear dynamic analysis, the responses of a system/structure are proportional
to the loads/excitations to which it is subjected. This enables the utilization of
superposition, which brings significant convenience in terms of mathematical
treatment, and, in most cases, also ensures the accuracy of the calculation. However,
when nonlinearities appear in the system/structure, the stiffness and/or load are
dependent on the deformation, and the responses of a system are generally not
amenable to any analytical method that can provide exact solutions. A general
method for obtaining the exact solution of nonlinear differential equations is not
available, and most of the analytical methods that have been developed only yield
approximate solutions. Further, the available techniques vary greatly according to
the type of nonlinear equation.
Despite the significant efficiency of modal analysis, it generally applies only
to linear dynamic problems. Therefore, the nonlinearities involved in a dynamic
analysis are theoretically and practically treated with the support of the finite
26 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

difference method and linear iteration method. The former (typically referred
to as the Newmark method) is a step-by-step time integration of the equations
of motions, and it can solve for example transient phenomena such as nonlinear
vibrations or shock wave propagation. The latter is a generalization of the Newton-
Raphson method, which is essentially the application of a linearization in a locally
approaching curve between load and deformation, and which is able to overcome
numerical challenges introduced by the geometric (e.g., buckling), material (e.g.,
plasticity), boundary (e.g., contact) and force (e.g., follower forces with change of
geometry or hydrodynamic drag load) nonlinearities.
Damping exists in all types of real-world structures or systems. It mainly
provides a dissipation of energy. In most cases, it is beneficial to decrease dynamic
responses. Viscous damping, which is the most typical type of damping modeling,
is only effective at or close to a structure/system’s Eigenfrequencies.

1.6 Characteristics of Dynamic Responses

If we take an SDOF spring-mass-damper system under forced excitation as an
example, as illustrated in Fig. 1.31, the equation of motions for the system is
expressed as:
•• •
m x(t) + c x(t) + kx(t) = F(t) (1.4)
By exerting an external harmonic force (F(t) = F0 sin(Wt) with an amplitude of
F0 and an angular frequency of Ω shown in Fig. 1.31, or displacement excitations
in a harmonic form on the spring-mass-damper system, an SDOF spring-mass-
damper system under forced harmonic excitation is constructed. The governing
linear differential equation of motions for this system in case of harmonic force
excitations can then be written as:
•• •
m x(t) + c x(t) + kx(t) = F0 sin(Wt) (1.5)
Dividing both sides of the equation above by m, this equation is rewritten as:
•• c •
x(t) + x(t) + w2n x(t) = F0/m sin(Wt) (1.6)
m
It is noted that the viscous damping is very important in an oscillating system
because it helps to efficiently limit the excursion of the system in a resonance

Figure 1.31. An SDOF spring-mass-damper system under an external force F(t).

 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 27

situation. As a reference, we first define the critical damping cc, which is the lowest
damping value that gives no oscillation responses, i.e., the system does not vibrate
at all and decays to the equilibrium position within the shortest time. This represents
the dividing line between oscillatory and non-oscillatory motions:

cc = 2 km = 2mwn (1.7)
The actual damping ratio can be specified as a percentage of critical damping:
c
z= (1.8)
cc
By realizing that c = 2wnmz, the equation of motions for the system finally gives:
•• •
x(t) + 2wnz x(t) + w2n x(t) = F0/m sin(Wt) (1.9)
As the equation above is a second-order non-homogeneous equation, the
general solution for it is the sum of the two parts: the complementary solution xc(t)
to the homogeneous (free vibrations) equation and the particular solution xp(t) to
the non-homogeneous equation:
x(t) = xc(t) + xp(t) (1.10)
The complementary solution exhibits transient vibrations at the system’s
natural frequency and only depends on the initial condition and the system’s natural
frequency, i.e., it represents free vibrations and does not contain any enforced
responses:

xc(t) = Xe–zwnt sin ( 1 − ζ 2 wnt + f) (1.11)

It is noticed that this aspect of the vibration dies out due to the presence of
damping, leaving only the particular solution exhibiting steady-state harmonic
oscillation at excitation frequency Ω. This particular solution is also called the
steady-state solution, which depends on the excitation amplitude F0, the excitation
frequency Ω as well as the natural frequency of the system, and it persists
indefinitely:
xp(t) = E sin(Wt) + F cos(Wt) (1.12)
By substituting the equation above and its first and second derivatives into Eq.
(2.6), one obtains the coefficients E and F as:

F0 1 − ( Ω / ωn ) 2
E= (1.13)
k [1 − (Ω / ωn ) 2 ]2 + [2ζ (Ω / ωn )]2

F0 −2ζΩ / ωn )
F= (1.14)
k [1 − (Ω / ωn ) 2 ]2 + [2ζ (Ω / ωn )]2
28 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

By inserting the expression for coefficient E and F into Eq. (2.9) and rearranging
it, one can rewrite the steady-state solution as:

F0 sin(Ωt − ϕ )
x p (t ) = (1.15)
km [1 − (Ω / ω ) 2 ]2 + [2ζ (Ω / ω )]2
n n

where j is the phase between the external input force and the response output, with
the most noticeable feature being a shift (particularly for underdamped systems)
at resonance. It can be calculated as:
 2ζ (Ω / ωn ) 
j = tan–1  2  (1.16)
 1 − ( Ω / ωn ) 
It is clearly shown that the steady-state solutions are mainly associated with
the excitation force and the natural frequency. Figure 1.32 shows an example of
the dynamic responses due to the contribution from both transient and steady-
state responses, with a W/wn ratio of 0.8, a damping value of 0.05 (j = 0.21), and
f = 0.1. Phases between the two types of response can be clearly observed.
When mass m in Fig. 1.31 is subjected to harmonic excitations, the magnitude
and phase of the displacement responses strongly depend on the frequency of the
excitations, resulting in three types of steady-state responses, namely quasi-static,
resonance, and inertia dominant responses, which are illustrated in Fig. 1.33.
When the frequencies of excitations Ω are well below the natural frequencies
of the structure ωn, both the inertia and damping term are small, and the responses
are controlled by the stiffness. The displacement of the mass follows the time-
varying force almost instantaneously. Subject to environmental loading such as wind
or ocean wave loading, the majority of land-based structures and fixed offshore

Figure 1.32. Transient and steady-state responses due to external harmonic force excitations applied
on a system with ωn = 1.0, W = 0.8, ζ = 0.05, and f = 0.1.
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 29

External Force or Response

Time

External Force Quasi-static response

(a) Quasi-static W/wn << 1

25
20
External Force or Response

15
10
5
0
–5
–10
–15
–20
–25
Time

External Force Total response

(b) Resonance W/wn close to 1

External Force or Response

Time

External Force Total response

(c) Inertia dominant response W/wn >> 1

Figure 1.33. Damped responses due to harmonic excitations with the characteristics of (a) quasi-
static (Ω/ωn << 1); (b) resonance (Ω/ωn close to 1); and (c) inertia dominant responses (Ω/ωn >>1), for
a system with ωn = 1.0 and viscous damping ratio ζ = 0.03.
30 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

structures are designed to reach this condition, as shown in Fig. 1.34. However,
earthquake loading is likely to have a dominant frequency higher than the natural
frequency of structures.
When the excitation frequencies are close to the natural frequency of the
system, the inertia term becomes larger. More importantly, the external forces
are almost overcome (controlled) by the viscous damping forces. Resonance then
occurs by producing responses that are much larger than those from quasi-static
responses, as shown in the circle in the upper figure of Fig. 1.34, and there is a
dramatic change of phase angle, i.e., by neglecting the damping, the displacement
is 90° out of phase with the force, while the velocity is in phase with the excitation
force. In a typical situation in which the damping is well below 1.0, the responses
are much larger than their quasi-static counterparts. From an energy point of view,
when the frequency of excitations is equal to the natural frequency, the maximum
kinetic energy is equal to the maximum potential energy. Almost all engineering
structures are designed to avoid this resonance condition. Resonance conditions
can occur, for example, when the resonance period (site period) of soil layers at
sites due to shear wave transmission is close to the natural period of the structure;
Static Dynamic
Response

W/ωn<< 1
Stiffness
controlled
W/ωn>> 1
Mass controlled

m x(t) ~ F0 sin(Wt)
kx(t) ~ F0 sin(Wt)

cx(t) = F0 sin(Wt) Frequency W

ωn

• Land based structures • Compliant structures

• Fixed offshore structures • Floating structures

© Junbo Jia

Figure 1.34. Response of various types of offshore and land-based structures in three frequency
ranges subjected to external environmental loading with a frequency of Ω, the natural frequency of the
structure is denoted as ωn (from an oral presentation by the author at the 11th International Conference
on Recent Advances in Structural Dynamics, Pisa, 2013).
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 31

when the resonance period of the surface wave is close to the natural period of the
structure; or when significant plasticity develops on structural members during a
strong earthquake, leading to a decreased natural frequency of the structure, which
may track the decreasing predominant frequency of the ground motions, causing
resonance with ground motions (moving resonance) (Jia, 2017; Jia, 2018), etc.
When the excitation frequencies are well above the natural frequency of the
system, the external forces are expected to be almost entirely overcome by the
inertia force, as the excitations are so frequent that the mass cannot immediately
follow them. Transient vibrations are normally more significant than steady-state
oscillations. The responses of the mass are therefore small and almost out of phase
(phase angle approaches 180°) with the excitation forces, as illustrated in Fig. 1.34.
From an energy point of view, this reflects the condition in which the maximum
kinetic energy is larger than the maximum potential energy. Offshore compliant
structures and floating structures are normally designed to behave “softly” in their
motion responses, and therefore have natural frequencies of motion ωn well below
the external wave loading frequency. It is noted that for most engineering structures
and typical site conditions, the long period of seismic ground excitations are usually
small, except for the ground motions caused by the seismic surface (Rayleigh)
waves, which can have dominating long period components of ground motions.
Therefore, subject to seismic ground excitations, a large number of offshore and
land-based structures are likely to reach this condition.
As a structure typically has—or more precisely, has to be represented/modeled
by—a large number of degrees-of-freedoms, in addition to the natural frequency
(which is typically the first eigenfrequency of the structure), it has more numbers/
orders of eigenfrequencies, and the total number of eigenfrequencies is equal
to the number of degrees-of-freedoms of the structure. However, the first few
eigenfrequencies, and especially the first one (natural frequency), normally dominate
the majority of the total modal mass participating in structural vibrations, and are
therefore the most important ones contributing to the dynamic response of the
structure. From a modal response point of view, the lower order eigenfrequencies of
the structure are normally separated well apart. In this frequency range, with small
damping, the modal response will generally be dominated by a single mode with
frequency close to the loading frequency and a single mode with natural frequency
of the structure. If the loading frequency is lower than the first eigenfrequency of
the structure, then the structural response will show two peaks, one at the loading
frequency corresponding to quasi-static response, and the other at the natural
frequency of the structure contributing to the dynamic response of the structure. As
an example, Fig. 1.35 shows ocean wave-induced frequency responses of a welded
joint on an offshore jacket structure (Fig. 1.36) in the North Sea. Two peaks can
be identified in this frequency response graph: one corresponds to the wave modal
frequency (0.08 Hz); the other corresponds to the structure’s natural frequency
(0.24 Hz). On the other hand, the higher order eigenfrequencies are more closely
spaced and modal mass participation of each mode vibration is much lower than that
of the first few eigenmodes. This is more obvious for highly redundant structures.
32 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

Figure 1.35. Frequency responses of the axial force (DOF 1) [N], in-plane bending moments (DOF 5)
[Nm] and out-of-plane bending moments (DOF 6) [Nm] for a weld joint 10803 (Fig. 1.36) at the top
of a jacket; the jacket is subject to wave loading corresponding to a sea state with a significant wave
height Hs=8.8 m, and a modal wave period Tp = 13.2 s (0.08 Hz).
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 33

Figure 1.36. The location of the welded joint 10803 on the jacket.
34 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

With a dynamic loading in this frequency region, multiple eigenmodes contribute

to a similar extent to the modal response, and vibration modes above the loading
frequency will be out of phase with those below the loading frequency. Therefore,
the net vibration is likely to be less than any of the single mode vibrations in this
frequency range (dynamic cancelation).

1.7 Frequency Range of Dynamic Environmental Loading

If likely to be subjected to environmental loading, such as wind, earthquakes,
ocean waves, current, and ice, etc., all engineering structures should be designed
by accounting for their dynamics with a special consideration of resonance, as this
can have relevance for structural performances associated with ultimate strength,
fatigue strength and serviceability limits. Each type of loading has different
dominant ranges of loading frequency, as shown in Fig. 1.37. In addition, other
types of dynamic loading induced by explosion, machinery vibrations, and vehicle-
or human-induced excitations may also require a dedicated consideration to solve
relevant dynamic problems in the design (Jia, 2006; 2007).
It is noted that the dominant frequency of seismic ground motions is not only
dependent on the frequency of seismic waves generated at the source due to fault
fractures, but also influenced even more by site conditions associated with soil
layers and ground topology. Therefore, their possible peak period has a large range
of up to 4 s (Jia, 2017).
Furthermore, Fig. 1.37 also indicates that the difference of dominant frequency
range for different types of environmental loading is significant. This can pose a

Figure 1.37. Typical short-term environmental loading frequency/period (from an oral presentation
by the author at the 11th International Conference on Recent Advances in Structural Dynamics, Pisa,
2013).
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 35

challenge in designing an optimized structure to resist the different types of dynamic

loading. For example, for fixed offshore structures or land-based structures, to avoid
significant dynamic amplification and/or excessive vibrations, it is usually desirable
to design a stiff structure to resist wind and ocean wave loading, so that the natural
period of the structure is far below the dominant period range of wind and wave
loading, thus avoiding resonance and limiting excessive vibrations. On the other
hand, the low dominant period of seismic loading requires a “softer” structure
design that has a higher natural period. This contradiction has been encountered in
various structural design projects. Sometimes a “balance” between the two needs
to be sought, such as the design of Taipei 101. It has a natural period of around
7 s, which is obviously above the dominant period of earthquake loading. Even
though this natural period of 7 s is also far below the period of loading due to wind
turbulence (fluctuating part of wind), it can induce significant peak acceleration at
the top of Taipei 101, causing both human discomfort and structural metal fatigue.
To solve this problem, a large tuned mass damper (TMD) weighing 660 tons
(Fig. 1.22) was introduced to mitigate sway motion of the building, particularly in
major typhoons or earthquakes where movement of the top floor can exceed 1.5 m.
The TMD will reduce peak acceleration of the top occupied floor from 7.9 milli-g
to 5.0 milli-g due to wind storm with a return period of half a year. Moreover, for
a 1000- to 2500-year return period of strong earthquake, the TMD will also be
rather effective to mitigate the dynamic response of the structure, and to remain in
place and intact after strong seismic ground motions cease and the vibration of the
structure terminates. In addition, another two small TMDs are designed to mitigate
vibrations at two tip vibration modes at periods of around 1 s.
For slender light-weight structures such as guyed steel stacks, chimneys,
slender tips of flare booms or other elevated structures, with two examples shown in
Fig. 1.38 and Fig. 1.39, the structural design is governed by the wind loading rather
than seismic loading because the structure has a high natural period (compared
with the dominant period of earthquake loading) and the wind loading increases

Figure 1.38. Taipei 101 (under license of CC BY-SA 3.0 by Guillom and Peellden).
36 Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations: Recent Developments

Figure 1.39. A flare boom with a slender tip (courtesy: Aker Solutions).

with distance from the ground. However, due to the tips of those slender structures
normally being much softer (with much lower stiffness) than the structural parts
below the tips, they can exhibit significant vibrations during earthquakes, which is
referred to as a whipping effect (Jia, 2017). Therefore, the design of the slender tips
of structures may be governed by seismic loading and therefore requires dedicated
consideration of their seismic resistance.

1.8 Pioneers of Dynamic Analysis

Several great scientists in history need to be mentioned here, as without them and
many others, classical dynamics might still today be called “modern” dynamics:
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), who showed that acceleration due to gravity is
independent of mass; Isaac Newton (1642–1727), who disclosed the three laws
of motion (and, given our purposes here, specifically the second law of motion);
Robert Hooke (1635–1703) who developed the law of elasticity; the third Baron
Rayleigh (1842–1919), who introduced the concept of modal analysis and viscous
damping; Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736–1813), who presented the Lagrange
multipliers; and William Rowan Hamilton (1805–1865), who illustrated the
Hamiltonian formulation of dynamics (which is essentially a reformulation of
Newtonian dynamics).
We should also acknowledge the more recent contributions: Goldstein
(Goldstein et al., 2001), Whittaker and Synege (Whittaker, 1988), Timoshenko and
Young (Timoshenko and Young, 1948), Den Hartog (Den Hartog, 1930), Griffith
(Synge and Griffith, 1959), Nayfeh (Nayfeh, 1973), Crandall and Mark (Crandall
and Mark, 1963), Robson (Robson, 1964), Zienkiewicz (Zienkiewicz et al., 2005)
and many others who have contributed to the development of dynamic analysis in
the last century, and have thus made possible the solving of rather sophisticated
dynamic analyses and real engineering vibration problems (Jia, 2014).
 Introduction to Dynamics, Vibrations and Impacts 37

Before concluding, it should also be noted that the dynamic, vibration and
impact problems elaborated in this edited volume is for a real-time causal system,
in which the present responses depend only on the past and present inputs, and not
on the future inputs. It is assumed that non-causal systems do not exist in nature.

Acknowledgements
The author wish to acknowledge the permission by Springer and Elsevier to reuse
figures and texts from the author’s previous book and journal publications.

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 2
Nonlinear Structural Responses
Associated with Hydrocarbon
Explosions
Jeom Kee Paik,1,* Sang Jin Kim2 and Junbo Jia3

2.1 Introduction
While in service, ships and offshore structures are subjected to various types of
actions and action effects, which are usually normal, but they are sometimes extreme
and even accidental, as shown in Fig. 2.1. Hydrocarbon explosions and fires are
two of the most typical types of accidents associated with offshore installations
that develop oil and gas.
Explosions are a major type of accident on offshore platforms that develop
offshore oil and gas, which are flammable. These explosions occur because
hydrocarbons are often released from flanges, valves, seals, vessels, or nozzles
of offshore installations and may be ignited by sparks. When hydrocarbons are
combined with an oxidizer (usually oxygen or air), they can explode by ignition.
Combustion occurs if temperatures increase to the point at which the hydrocarbon

1
Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering and The Korea Ship and Offshore Research
Institute (The Lloyd’s Register Foundation Research Centre of Excellence) at Pusan National
University, Korea; and Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College, London, UK.
2
The Korea Ship and Offshore Research Institute (The Lloyd’s Register Foundation Research Centre
of Excellence) at Pusan National University, Korea.
3
Aker Solutions, Bergen, Norway.
* Corresponding author
Other documents randomly have
different content
3rd January, 1811. As Leigh Hunt took no notice of that letter,
Shelley did not make Leigh Hunt’s acquaintance by writing it.
Though Leigh Hunt saw and spoke with Shelley on one or two
occasions of earlier time, he cannot be fairly said to have made his
acquaintance before a day long subsequent to 3rd February, 1815.
What an assemblage of errors in half-a-page of print! It is
conceivable that the usually careful Godwin in his diary gave the
wrong number to the new year,—a mistake made occasionally even
by precise journalists. But if it was so, instead of being misled by the
slip into a series of bad blunders, Mr. Kegan Paul should have
detected and amended it. Here is the list of blunders:—
Blunder No. 1.—A wrong date of 1811 for 1812 at the head of the
chapter.
Blunder No. 2.—The same wrong date to the extract from the diary.
Blunder No. 3.—The same wrong date in the author’s original
writing.
Blunder No. 4.—The same error in the date given to the letter.
Blunder No. 5.—The biographer’s own mistake of saying that Shelley
was living at Keswick in January, 1811,—months before his expulsion
from Oxford.
Blunder No. 6.—The biographer’s own mistake of saying that Shelley
and Harriett Westbrook were husband and wife on 3rd January,
1811,—eight calendar months before the date of their wedding.
Blunder No. 7.—The biographer’s own mistake of saying Shelley’s
first letter to Leigh Hunt was dated before 3rd January, 1811.
Blunder No. 8.—The biographer’s own mistake of saying Shelley
made Leigh Hunt’s acquaintance by writing that letter.
Blunder No. 9.—The biographer’s own mistake (of years), touching
the date when Shelley made Leigh Hunt’s acquaintance.
Nine errors of fact in half-a-page of light print by a gentleman who
has put himself before the world as an authority on matters of
Shelleyan story, and who in doing so has done not a little for the
obscuration of the record. Mr. Kegan Paul is one of those accurate
writers, from whom Mr. Froude has warned me not to differ. In due
course something more will be said of Mr. Kegan Paul’s services to
Shelleyan research, but for the moment readers are invited to give
their attention to a more notable man of letters.
Born at Wisbech, Co. Cambridge, on 3rd March, 1756, William
Godwin was in his fifty-sixth year when he received Shelley’s letter of
entreaty for sympathy and guidance. The son of a Dissenting
minister, who never rose to any eminence or a higher stipend than
60l. a-year in his vocation, William Godwin was reared amongst
people of lowly fortune and rude manners, in the eastern counties,
receiving in his boyhood, from teachers of no singular efficiency, an
education neither greatly better nor greatly worse than the training
ordinarily given to English boys of his social degree in the later half
of the last century. On escaping from these schoolmasters, one of
whom he had served in the capacity of an usher, the future man of
letters went to the Hoxton College in order to qualify himself for his
father’s calling; and on leaving that seminary he officiated for a few
years as a Non-conforming minister, preaching and otherwise
labouring in a way of life for which he soon discovered his unfitness,
first at Ware in Hertfordshire, then at Stowmarket in Suffolk, and
then at Beaconsfield, Co. Bucks. A volume of sermons, published
some while after their delivery to rural congregations, still remains in
evidence that if Godwin in his days of irregular reverence was as
good a preacher as the average Non-conforming pulpiteers of his
period, Dissenters were edified in George the Third’s earlier time
with worse sermons than is generally supposed.
Ere long the young minister discovered that he could not believe
what he was bound to teach. That from manhood’s threshold he was
more than slightly disposed to religious scepticism is shown by the
curious disputation he held on paper, during his last year at Hoxton,
with a fellow-student, the question of the strictly private and
confidential controversy being the existence of the Deity. Could he
have proved to his satisfaction the existence of the Almighty, Godwin
conceived he would be troubled by no doubt of the truth of
Christianity, nor by any disposition to quarrel with the refinements of
Calvinistic doctrine. Under these circumstances Godwin took the
negative side in the secret controversy, hoping that his arguments
would be demolished and his faith settled by his fellow-collegian.
The result of the conflict does not appear. Possibly the paper war
satisfied the doubter that he could conscientiously enter the ministry.
If so, it only suppressed for a period the doubts that determined
Godwin a few years later to seek another means of livelihood. At
Beaconsfield (1783) he was converted to Socinianism by Priestley’s
Institutes. Five years later he had passed through Socinianism into
Deism.
On becoming a Unitarian he took the ordinary course of a young
man who, too poor to live in idleness, and too honest to live by daily
falsehood, possesses studious tastes and literary aptitude. Coming to
London he sought employment of the publishers, and contrived to
live hardly, painfully, temperately, as a book-maker and publisher’s
hack, whilst he persisted in the labours of a student. Producing in his
twenty-eighth year a Life of Lord Chatham, for which he got nothing,
and the Defence of the Rockingham Party, for which Stockdale paid
him five guineas, he went on reading strenuously and writing as he
best could,—throwing off articles for the English Review at two
guineas a-sheet, turning out forgotten novels for which he was paid
from five to twenty guineas, translating for Murray the French MS.
Memoirs of Simon Lord Lovat; doing whatever work came to hand,
till he was appointed at sixty guineas per annum to write the
historical part of Robinson’s New Annual Register, and to contribute
articles to the Political Herald,—two engagements that, coming to
him in his thirtieth year, gave him at the same time a sense of
success and a sense of financial security.
The poverty and hardship, in which he had been trained from
childhood till he dropt the title of ‘Reverend’ and determined to live
honestly by the pen instead of living dishonestly by the pulpit, were
serviceable to the booksellers’ hack, whom they had taught how to
live with comfort and contentment on a precarious number of weekly
shillings. The young man, who dined sufficiently well on a chop and
potato, and conceived himself to have dined luxuriously after
consuming a large beefsteak and a pint of porter, had in some
respects the advantage of literary competitors, who together with
higher culture had acquired at Oxford or Cambridge a taste for
higher living. On approaching middle life he could, however, have
afforded to relinquish the frugal habits formed during his early
struggles. The persevering hack, who steadily prosecuted various
studies whilst toiling for the publishers; the religious inquirer, who
passed through Socinianism on his way from Calvinism to Deism; the
resolute Radical, who sought the justification of his political
sentiments in philosophical principles, whilst living in close friendship
with Thomas Holcroft, and cordial good fellowship with Thomas
Paine, was a man, certain to achieve eminence sooner or later in the
republic of letters. If it came to him less than soon, celebrity came to
Godwin none too late for its perfect enjoyment. He was still in his
thirty-eighth year, when he published Political Justice,—the work for
which Robinson is said to have paid him, at different times, sums
amounting to a thousand guineas; the work that made him famous
as a teacher of philosophical Radicalism. If it made him the best-
abused man of the three kingdoms, this daring and in some respects
superlatively unsound book rendered him the idol of political
enthusiasts in every quarter of the country. Unalluring in design,
repellent in style, usually guarded in expression, sold at a price that
kept it from the hands of the multitude whom it was intended chiefly
to benefit, the frigid and passionless work, whose principles could
not fail to make it regarded with disfavour by the majority of the
wealthier class, possessed no feature or quality, apart from its
attractive title, its aims and its general audacity, to humour the
popular taste and win popular applause. For such a work shrewd
judges of the book-market might well have predicted commercial
failure. It was, however, successful from every point of view.
Successful for its immediate and later effect on the readers it was
especially intended to influence, it was fortunate in a sale that
exceeded the anticipations of author and publisher, and fortunate in
the determination of the Government to take no measures to check
its circulation.
Published in 1793, Political Justice was still rising in public esteem,
when Godwin produced (in May 1794) Caleb Williams; a novel that
was largely indebted for its singular popularity to the influence of the
political treatise. The books may be said to have run together, and
united in placing their author amongst the most famous writers of
his generation,—the success of the novel stimulating the success of
the scientific study, whilst admiration of the philosopher’s reasonings
quickened the interest in his work of fancy. Whilst readers hastened
eagerly from the tale of terror to the work of unemotional
demonstration, others passed with curiosity from the volumes of the
political philosopher to the pages of the enthralling story. In the
annals of English letters there is no other case of an author,
achieving almost at the same moment so sensational a celebrity in
two such different departments of literary enterprise.
In the days when Political Justice and Caleb Williams were new
literature, eminently successful authors derived less emolument from
their most popular writings, than comes now-a-days to authors of
inferior merit from works of only average popularity. But putting him
in pecuniary ease for the moment, Godwin’s double triumph (though
he sold the novel for a curiously small sum) placed him in a position
that, to a man of his industry and frugal habits, was a promise of
security from financial discomfort, so long as he retained his power
of working, and persisted in the ways of prudence. That he was not
likely to fall into poverty through self-indulgence appeared from his
way of living when fortune smiled upon him. Remaining in the little
house in Somers Town, where his yearly expenditure never
exceeded 130l., he showed no disposition either for the pleasures of
luxury or the pleasures of ostentation.
How came it that the man of letters, so averse to every kind of
prodigality, dropt in a few years into the very troubles from which his
industry and temperance seemed certain to preserve him, and, after
falling into poverty in life’s middle term, whilst the productions of his
pen were still fairly remunerative, passed the long remainder of his
laborious years in one, vain humiliating conflict with financial
embarrassment? The answer is that, with every good reason for
persisting in celibacy, and no single sound excuse for surrendering
the advantages of singleness, he made two imprudent marriages,—
the second of which was only a few degrees less imprudent and
unfortunate than the earlier alliance with Mary Wollstonecraft. In
other than financial respects Godwin suffered severely from these
unions. It might almost be thought that the divine powers, who have
been assumed to concern themselves especially with the affairs of
lovers, determined to punish the arch-maligner of lawful matrimony,
by luring him into the estate he had decried, and then rendering him
a signal example of some of the evils that may ensue from wedlock.
It is strange that the man, who in celibatic freedom spoke so hardly
of marriage, endured in later time so much from the honourable
estate he had warned others to avoid. Strange also that, instead of
being confirmed in his philosophic disapproval of wedlock by what
he endured in his own person from marriage, he survived his
repugnance to the whilom detestable institution, and towards the
close of his career stoutly maintained he had never regretted either
of the marriages for which he paid so dearly.
Though it is impossible for a sane biographer to write of William
Godwin with enthusiasm, or any kind of cordial admiration, no fair
one can deny that, if he was deficient in the graces requisite for a
hero of biographical romance, the author of Political Justice
possessed several admirable qualities. To take a fair view of the
man, who suffered severely for kindness shown to Shelley, readers
should toss aside as a mere humorous fabrication Miss Mitford’s
story of the way in which the bookseller of Skinner Street used to go
‘down on his knees, flourishing a drawn dagger’ at Shelley’s feet,
and ‘threaten to stab himself if his dutiful son-in-law would not
accept his bills.’ They must also throw away as vile tattle all the
stories of William Godwin’s delight at finding himself the father-in-
law of a young gentleman who might some day be a baronet.
Whatever his failings, William Godwin was no such creature as these
anecdotes imply,—no such snob as snobs have declared him. In the
financial difficulties of his later time, and in the moral debasement
that almost invariably results in some degree from long exposure to
such difficulties, he was capable of begging for gifts from exalted
persons, and getting up a pecuniary testimonial in acknowledgment
of his own public services. But these were the acts of his declining
age, when his brain was losing its alertness and his pen its cunning;
when publishers treated him coldly as a man ‘no longer what he
was,’ and children (not his own) hung about him, asking him, not
only for bread, but for costly education. They were also acts done in
a period when men of letters were taught by social usage to be
something less than self-dependent. At his worst, Godwin never (like
Leigh Hunt) sought the gifts of rich people in order that he might
enjoy indolence and luxuries. Ever industrious to the utmost of his
ability, and ever glad to be so, Godwin at the worst sought help only
that he might be more helpful to those who were dependent on him.
Moreover, Godwin was one of the men who have so strong a title to
the world’s tenderness and even to its reverence, that whilst
gratitude enjoins us to judge them at their best, justice forbids us to
judge them at their worst.
Flattered on Northcote’s canvas, and flattered still more in Mr. Kegan
Paul’s photograph of Northcote’s picture, William Godwin’s presence
was on the whole by no means agreeably impressive; but for the
badness of the worst feature of his more remarkable than pleasing
countenance he was almost compensated by the goodness of his
eyes. ‘He has,’ Southey wrote in 1797, ‘large noble eyes, and a nose,
—oh, most abominable nose! Language is not vituperatious enough
to describe the effect of its downward elongation.’ Interfering with
the effect of a shapely mouth, this grotesquely elongated nose
seemed set on moving down to the chin of corresponding
prominence. From the portrait to which reference has been made,
Godwin seems in his earlier middle age to have had a visage
remarkable rather for tenuity than massiveness; but Hogg’s account
of the philosopher’s appearance affords evidence that delicacy was
no characteristic of the Skinner-Street bookseller’s personal aspect.
It would have been well if, on dropping his title to reverence, the
young littérateur had also dropt the garb and manner that long
afterwards reminded beholders of his original calling. When he dined
tête-à-tête, and for the first time with William Godwin, Hogg
observed that the ‘short, stout, thickset old man, of very fair
complexion,’ and a head no less remarkable for baldness than
magnitude, had altogether the ‘appearance of a Dissenting
minister;’—a statement to be regarded as sufficient testimony that
the author of Caleb Williams had not altogether the appearance of a
gentleman, at least in the opinion of Mr. Hogg, ever disdainful of
Dissenters.
Another thing to come under the saucy young Templar’s notice was
that, whilst having altogether the ‘appearance of a Dissenting
minister,’ his companion lacked the colloquial address of a gentleman
of society and breeding. His articulation wanted distinctness, and his
uneasy utterance was attended by a show of effort and distress, that
might almost be called an impediment. But though painful on being
noticed for the first time, this difficulty ceased to trouble listeners
when they grew accustomed to it, and even gave an agreeable
distinctiveness to a somewhat harsh and discordant voice.
William Godwin’s moral nature resembled his appearance and
manner, in comprising several agreeable and commendable qualities,
without being altogether pleasing or in any degree remarkable for
dignity. To the last, also, it resembled them in affording indications of
the humility of his original condition and earlier circumstances. The
man of intellect, whose costume and bearing reminded people that
he had formerly been a Dissenting minister in small market-towns,
never survived the influence of the rural conventicle; never outlived
the social influences of the humble and unrefined people, who had
surrounded him in his days of ministerial service. The egregious
vanity, that animated him from youth to old age, was not the almost
generous infirmity to be observed in the elegant and refined, but the
mean and despicable vanity of the rude and vulgar-minded. Ever
accessible to flatterers, he swallowed the grossest adulations with
keen relish;—with ludicrous greed, if it were prepared for his palate
by feminine artifice. When the postman laid a letter on his Skinner-
Street shop-counter, the philosopher’s countenance flushed if he saw
himself designated in the superscription ‘Mr. Godwin,’ instead of
‘William Godwin, esquire.’
On the other hand, he had numerous good qualities. He was, upon
the whole, truthful and honest; just to men he disliked and principles
he disapproved, and altogether the benevolent man he commended
himself for being. In all that related to, his opinions on politics,
religion, and the social virtues, and his ways of promulgating and
enforcing those opinions, he was sincere as sunlight, and absolutely
cantless. The only fault of his sympathetic and judicious benevolence
was that it sometimes exceeded his means. Alike in the days when
he was a needy hack, in his brief term of prosperity, and in the long
period of his financial difficulties, poor people hung about him and
had money from him. Beneficent to his indigent relatives, he was no
less beneficent to persons not of his kindred. The interest he
displayed in young men, and the pains he took for their mental,
moral, and material welfare, cannot be too highly commended. From
the date of his marriage with Mary Wollstonecraft, he was a bright
example of domestic virtue. A good husband to that curious woman,
who, during their brief association, tried him not a little with her
captious and querulous temper; he was a good husband to his
second wife, who (though by no means so bad a person as the
wilder Shelleyan enthusiasts would have us believe) tried him for a
long period almost as vexatiously as Mary Wollstonecraft tried him
for a short one. A man is not to be extolled for being good to his
own children. But it is much to Godwin’s credit that, whilst he was a
good father to his daughter by Mary Wollstonecraft, and to his son
by his second wife, he was quite as good a father to his three step-
children—to Mary Wollstonecraft’s illegitimate daughter Fanny, to
Charles Clairmont (the second Mrs. Godwin’s son by her former
husband), and to Charles’s sister Jane,—the Jane Clairmont alias
Claire of Byronic story.
But though he is to be respected for all these good, honest,
wholesome qualities, it remains that Godwin’s unemotional nature
and unrefined homeliness forbid the biographer to write rapturously
about him. No considerable man of letters has, in recent times, been
more curiously wanting in the mental, moral, and personal graces,
which the fancy is apt to associate with famous followers of the
higher arts. Though he wrote many novels (one of them being a tale
of no uncommon vigour), he was curiously wanting in romantic
fervour and imaginativeness. Though he was ambitious of writing for
the stage, and made several essays in dramatic literature, he was
absolutely devoid of poetical sensibility. Capable of firm, though cold,
friendship, he was absolutely incapable of love. When it occurred to
him, in his twenty-ninth year, that he might as well have a wife to
cook his daily chop and look after his shirt-buttons, he commissioned
his sister to look out for a suitable young woman. In middle-age,
when he slipped from ordinary friendship into a closer alliance with
Mary Wollstonecraft, he was careful to provide himself with a
peculiar and private lodging at a convenient distance from their
common home in ‘The Polygon,’ Somers Town, in order that he
might be able to spend most of his time well out of her way. Some
ten or twelve months later, Mary Wollstonecraft was on her death-
bed, sinking tranquilly, even happily, out of this life, under the
soothing influence of an anodyne, given her a short time before by
her medical attendant. ‘Oh, Godwin, I am in heaven!’ she ejaculated,
in gratitude for the effect of the medicine, to her husband, standing
over her. ‘You mean, my dear,’ he replied with more self-command
than tenderness, ‘that your physical sensations are somewhat easier.’
It is all well, and very amusing, for Mr. Kegan Paul to gush over the
‘blight’ that came to Godwin’s heart and life, from his ‘untimeous’
loss of the woman he never loved,—the woman whose tenderest
feelings for him differed widely from the emotions of love. But
readers of this page can need no assurance that the materialist, who
reproved his wife so drolly for thinking herself in heaven, never took
her to his embrace because he thought her an angel.
 CHAPTER II.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.
The new Settler in George Street,
Blackfriars—Mary’s earlier Story—
Woman of Letters—Her Five Years’
Work—Her Attachment to Mr.
Johnson—Coteries of Philosophical
Radicalism—Anti-Jacobin on the Free
Contract—Godwin’s Apostasy—From
Blackfriars to Store Street—The Slut
becomes a modish Woman—Her
Passion for Fuseli—Her Appeal to
Mrs. Fuseli—Mr. Kegan Paul’s strange
Treatment of Mr. Knowles—Rights of
Woman—Plain Speech and
Coarseness—Mary goes to Paris—
She makes Imlay’s Acquaintance—
Her Assignations with him at the
Barrier—Their Association in Free
Love—Mr. Kegan Paul speaks
deliberately—His Apology for Mary’s
Action—He falls between Two Stools
—Wife in the eyes of God and Man—
Letters to Imlay—Badness of Mary’s
Temper—Her consequent Quarrels
with Imlay—Her Sense of Shame at
her Position—Birth of her illegitimate
Child—Her Withdrawal from France
—Her Norwegian Trip—Her
Wretchedness and Rage—
 Dissolution of the Free Love
Partnership—Mary’s Attempt to
commit Suicide—Was she out of her
Mind?—Her Union with Godwin in
Free Love—Their subsequent
Marriage—Their Squabbles and
Differences—Their Daughter’s Birth
—Mary Wollstonecraft’s Death—Mrs.
Shelley’s biographical Inaccuracies.
On or about St. Michael’s Day of 1787, a woman, whose dress
betrayed an unfeminine indifference to the refinements of costume,
and whose intelligent countenance possessed no beauty superior to
ordinary comeliness, took possession of her new quarters in a small
house in George Street, Blackfriars, which had been hired for her
occupation, and provided with a few needful articles of furniture, by
Mr. Joseph Johnson, the bookseller and publisher of St. Paul’s
Churchyard. No longer young, though courtesy would still style her
so, this woman,—whose abundant brown-auburn tresses showed no
threads of grey, whose clear and clever brown eyes would have been
more effective had not one of them suffered from a slight paralytic
drooping of the lid, whose complexion preserved a girlish freshness,
and whose countenance would have been more agreeable had it not
been for certain indications of sadness and asperity,—was in the
middle of her twenty-ninth year, when she crossed the threshold of
her new home for the first time. At that season of her history, no
casual observer of her face was likely to regard it with admiration;
but few attentive scrutinizers of its lineaments failed to discover in
them the signs of intellectual force. To take a fair view of this
woman’s future behaviour, and see how far she has been
misrepresented by censors and flatterers, it is needful to glance at
her earlier story.
The granddaughter, on her father’s side, of a Spitalfields
manufacturer, the daughter of a man rich enough to live in idleness,
Mary Wollstonecraft began her life’s battle with a miserably slender
education and an embittering sense of having been defrauded of her
birthright to gentility by her father’s vicious weakness. Regarding
herself as a gentlewoman by reason of her grandfather’s opulence
and the respectability of her mother’s ancestors, this daughter of a
drunken father (with several children,—three sons and three
daughters) found herself in a position that, denying her the
enjoyments to which she had once thought herself entitled, required
her to shift and provide for herself in default of a father capable of
providing for her. It is not surprising that the girl, with a fervid and
far from amiable temper, thought contemptuously of a sire, so
careless for his wife’s happiness and the interests of his offspring.
Other matters quickened her sense of life’s hardship. At the
threshold of her twenty-second year she lost her mother (whom her
self-indulgent father speedily replaced with a second wife), and
became the indignant witness of the domestic troubles of her
favourite sister, Eliza, who was married to a dissolute and brutal
man, named Bishop. Under these circumstances, she could think her
father and brother-in-law exceptionally bad men; or, rating them as
average examples of masculine nature, she could form an equally
unfavourable and unjust estimate of the sex they discredited. For a
while Mary Wollstonecraft took the latter course. Had she possessed
an admirer in the ranks of the hateful sex, she would no doubt have
taken the other view of her sire and her sister’s husband. But in
those days the woman, who became almost handsome in middle
age, missed little of downright ugliness, and from personal
experience knew nothing of masculine homage. The woman of quick
temper and vehement emotionality may be presumed to have felt
acutely the neglect coming to her from her want of girlish
attractiveness.
Going out into the world, when fortunate girls are choosing their
bridesmaids, Mary fought poverty in various ways,—now in the
company of her friend Fanny Blood and Fanny’s mother (who took in
needlework), now in the company of her sisters, and now in the
dwellings of strangers. For a while she earned her livelihood with the
needle. Then the sisters kept a school at Stoke Newington, one of
London’s northern suburbs,—a school that declined to return the
compliment and keep the enterprising sisters. Newington Green is
memorable in Mary’s annals for other matters, besides this
ungrateful seminary for young ladies. It was there that she wrote
her first book, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters, for which
she received ten guineas; and it was from the same Green that she
started for her run to Lisbon, at the entreaty of her vehemently
beloved Fanny Skey (née Blood), who lived just long enough to die
in her friend’s arms. On Mary’s return from Portugal to the north
London suburb, the unremunerative school was given up; and
parting from her sisters, Mary went off to Ireland to serve a dame of
fashion and high quality (Lady Kingsborough) in the capacity of
governess to her ladyship’s daughters, with a yearly salary of 40l.,—
a situation procured for her by the Rev. Mr. Prior (an Assistant-
Master at Eton, and one of the several clergymen who befriended
her at the outset of her career); the situation in which she found
time to go forward with her French studies, and write some stories
for her publisher; the situation in which, though treated with
abundant kindness, Mary was more than slightly miserable (as a
young woman of her quick and querulous temper was bound to be
anywhere). Thus she had spent her time from the middle of her
twenty-second to the middle of her twenty-ninth year. She had
worked by turns with her needle and her pen; she had failed at
school-keeping, and been miserable as a governess, in a great
family; and now she has just settled herself in the little house in
George Street, Blackfriars, with the intention of earning her
livelihood as a bookseller’s hack and author by profession.
Johnson, the bookseller and publisher, showed himself a shrewd
man of business in engaging the young woman, who had been
introduced to him by the scholarly and benevolent Rev. John
Hewlett. Seeing from the little books he had already taken of her
that she possessed the ‘literary knack,’ seeing also, from personal
intercourse with her, that she was industrious and resolutely set on
winning a position amongst women of letters, the publisher came to
the conclusion that she would prove a more serviceable instrument
in his hands than any of the tippling scholars he was in the habit of
employing to write essays, translate French pamphlets, and dress
manuscripts for the press. The woman, who, in her delight at finding
herself in regular literary employment, regarded her publisher as her
benefactor,—the woman, who seldom ate meat and rarely drank
anything but water or tea, was a more intelligent, punctual, and
manageable scribe, than any hack Mr. Johnson could have picked
from the taverns, frequented by indigent men of letters. Temperate,
sedulous, quick with her pen, and especially desirous to please her
employer, the clever woman was glad to work twelve hours a-day in
her tiny tenement, and deemed herself well rewarded by fair
payment and the almost parental interest the publisher took in her
proceedings. Working strenuously six days of the week, she usually
dined on Sunday at Mr. Johnson’s table, where she met some of the
most notable scholars, artists, and writers of the period.
For five years she led this laborious and upon the whole not
unhappy life, re-writing the English translation (from the Dutch) of
Young Grandison; translating Necker on Religious Opinions and
Lavater’s Physiognomy from the French; compiling the French
Reader; producing Elements of Morality from the German; working
at a novel, entitled The Cave of Fancy; throwing off countless
articles and critical notices for The Analytical Review; putting into
English numerous French political pamphlets, that, keeping her au
courant in the public affairs of France, quickened her sympathy with
the revolutionary movement, and her admiration of the revolutionary
leaders of that country; and together, with other original essays,
sending through the press the Answer to Burke, and the Vindication
of the Rights of Woman, written during the first outcry against the
first part of The Rights of Man, by Thomas Paine, whose
acquaintance she had made before she was so imprudent as to
christen her comparatively inoffensive essay after his notorious book,
and thereby to associate herself in the popular imagination with the
man of evil fame, and with the work that only a few months later
was declared by the King’s Bench jury ‘a false, scandalous,
malicious, and seditious libel.’ In the five years, during which she
was thus busily employed, Mary Wollstonecraft helped her brother
and sisters largely with her earnings, whilst in order to do so she
denied herself comforts to which she cannot have been wholly
indifferent, and pleasures which so lively and emotional a woman
must have desired. Mr. Johnson, in his later time, was of opinion that
she could not have spent in this period less than 200l. on her needy
relatives; and there is no reason to think the publisher’s rough
estimate excessive. The woman, who, whilst subsisting chiefly on
vegetables and exercising a severe economy in every department of
her strictly personal expenditure, used in this manner so large a
proportion of her slender and toilsome earnings was, at least, a
woman to be honoured on certain grounds and from certain points
of view.
During the first four of these five years, Mary Wollstonecraft
remained in the modest quarters, in George Street, taken and
furnished for her in 1787 by Mr. Johnson, of whose tender and
humane treatment of her she wrote with gratitude and affection.
Writing and speaking in this strain of his goodness and tenderness,
she was at no pains to conceal from the bookseller the feelings with
which she regarded him. But though she sometimes styled it ‘love,’
there is no reason to think her liking for the staid and rather formal
publisher resembled in any way or degree the idolatrous admiration
she soon displayed for Fuseli the painter, or the passionate
tenderness she somewhat later lavished on Imlay, the American man
of letters. It was the affection a woman, of Mary’s essentially
generous nature and peculiar circumstances, would necessarily feel
for the man, greatly her senior, who had befriended her with equal
delicacy and kindliness; had instructed her without assuming any air
of authority over her; and had helped her out of difficulties, and
introduced her to remunerative employment and congenial friends,
without letting her feel herself patronized. At the end of her fourth
year in the little house in George Street (Michaelmas, 1791), Mary
Wollstonecraft moved to Store Street, where she resided till her
departure for France in December, 1792, seeing probably something
less of the Radical bookseller, but feeling no less affectionately
towards him, working no less sedulously for him.
During these five years Lady Kingsborough’s whilom governess
changed considerably in her views of life and society, her mental
characteristics, and her appearance. Partly due to time and natural
development, these changes were in a greater degree due to the
influence of her professional pursuits, of the books she read, of the
circles in which she found recreation, and of the friendships she
formed in those circles. Strongly disposed to liberalism before she
settled in George Street, she would probably, under any
circumstances, have developed into an ultra-liberal. It was therefore
a matter of course, that the publisher’s hack, who in the way of her
profession became a translator of revolutionary pamphlets, quickly
adopted the views and conclusions of the revolutionists and
republicans. It was also a matter of course that the emotional and
sympathetic woman, who affected powerfully the sensibilities of
those she encountered, was in like manner affected by them. Nor is
it surprising that the woman who, after entering her thirtieth year,
became better looking every year she lived, was in the earlier term
of middle life more thoughtful of her appearance, and more anxious
to exhibit it to the best advantage, than she had been when she was
a plain and unattractive young person. In this last respect the
change in Mary Wollstonecraft was almost comically striking to those
who, on greeting her as a former acquaintance in Store Street, had
not seen her since the opening of her second year in George Street.
During her residence in Blackfriars, dressing with severe economy
(partly in order that she might have more money to give to her
brothers and sisters, and partly because personal vanity was still
foreign to her nature), she was the veriest caricature of a
philosophical sloven. Her costume in the streets consisted of an ill-
fitting habit of such coarse cloth, as was generally worn by London
milk-women of the succeeding generation, a badly kept beaver hat,
black stockings and clumsy shoes. Indoors she wore the same
coarse habit when the weather was cold. In summer she sate at her
desk in a cotton dressing-gown, or with no garment over her stays.
On changing the place of her abode she changed her dressmaker
and consulted a milliner. A slut in Blackfriars, she dressed like a
woman of fashion in Store Street. Though he was not the sole cause
of it, Fuseli was largely accountable for this in Miss Wollstonecraft’s
outward style.
Of all the numerous acquaintances she made in the coteries of
Philosophic Radicalism, the three persons to influence Mary
Wollstonecraft most powerfully and enduringly were Thomas Paine,
Henry Fuseli, and William Godwin. Long before William Godwin loved
her, so far as it was possible for a man of his cold nature to love any
woman; long before it ever occurred to her that she would live to be
his wife, or even to have a liking for him, William Godwin’s
declarations against marriage converted her to an open approval of
the doctrines of Free Love, making her a Free Lover in principle,
some while sooner than the time when she became a Free Lover in
practice.
Of all this philosopher’s doctrines on social questions, none were
more acceptable to his admirers than those that aimed at
discrediting lawful wedlock, as an arrangement fruitful of misery and
moral disease; fruitful of no kind of felicity, that would not flow in
clearer and more liberal streams from a system of virtuous
concubinage, under which spouses would be drawn together by love
and a sense of mutual affinity, and remain at liberty to part from one
another, as soon as they should cease to love, and should discover
their unfitness for, one another. Whilst vicious libertines applauded
the doctrines that seemed to justify, or at least to palliate, their
immorality, and extolled the arrangement with which it was proposed
to replace the old-fashioned wedlock, because it seemed to them an
arrangement under which a profligate might have half-a-hundred
mistresses in succession, without incurring the annoyances of social
obloquy, virtuous libertines—enthusiasts of both sexes, wholly pure
of wicked passion, with no fire of lust in their veins, no taint of
lasciviousness in their blood—saw in Free Love the one wholesome
remedy for certain of the worst ills of civilization. An entire bookcase
might be filled with the literature that streamed from the press in
commendation of Free Love (as a righteous substitute for debasing
matrimony), during the last twenty years of the last century. The
Anti-Jacobin made good fun of this literature on 18th December,
1797, in the letter written to the Anti-Jacobin’s editor, by Miss Lætitia
Sourby, about certain deplorable changes for the worse in her papa’s
temper, principles, and demeanour.
‘But’ (says Miss Lætitia) ‘to return to my father—who is now always
reading Books and Pamphlets that seem quite wicked and immoral
to my mind and my poor Mother’s, whom it vexes sadly to, hear my
Father talk before company, that Marriage is good for nothing, and
ought to be free to be broken by either party at will. It was but the
other day that he told her, that if he were to choose again, by the
New Law in the only Free Country in the world, he would prefer
Concubinage—so he said in my hearing.’
Thus it was that the Anti-Jacobin ridiculed the Free Lovers and their
literature at the close of the very year in which they were thrown
into lively commotion by William Godwin’s shameful act of apostasy
from his own lovely doctrines, in making Mary Wollstonecraft his
lawful wife at St. Pancras Church:—a commotion curiously
comparable with the stir of surprise and indignation, that greatly
agitated the favourers of the Free Contract only a few years since,
when Marian Evans (after living in free promise with George Henry
Lewes till his death) gave herself to an excellent gentleman, and
took him for better and worse not in Free Contract, but in holy
matrimony, duly solemnized in a place of public worship, in
accordance with the ordinances and requirements of the Church of
England. The favourers of the Free Contract (who had for many
years talked of Marian Evans and her genius as though they had a
peculiar property in them, and of her nom-de-plume as though it
were sheer profanity to hint that George Eliot could be wrong about
anything) were comically moved and troubled by the incident, which
told them how little (with all their fussy talkativeness) they had
known of the great novelist’s reverence for the sanctity of marriage,
and for every usage tending to hallow it in the minds of men and
women. In like manner were the enemies of Marriage disturbed
some ninety years since on hearing that, after all he had written and
said against lawful wedlock, and after living with her for months in
Free Love, William Godwin had taken Mary Wollstonecraft to St.
Pancras Church.
Having accepted Godwin’s doctrines touching Marriage, and become
a Free Lover in principle, during her residence in George Street,
Mary Wollstonecraft conceived a strong sentiment of affectionate
admiration for Henry Fuseli; a sentiment so fervid that, instead of
being able to nurse it secretly in her breast, she was constrained to
reveal it to him, and entreat him to give her place in his heart. Born
in 1741, Fuseli was eighteen years her senior, and about fifty years
of age, when he was thus entreated for affection by a woman, who
at the time of making the prayer knew he was a happily married
man. In justice to Miss Wollstonecraft it must be clearly put on the
record, that Fuseli could have complied with the precise terms of her
entreaty, without doing aught that would have rendered him guilty
of conjugal infidelity, in the legal sense of the term. Averring to her
friends (for beside worrying Fuseli with love-letters, she spoke freely
of her passion for him to divers of her friends) that she fully
recognized Mrs. Fuseli’s right to the person of her husband, Mary
Wollstonecraft only desired that she and he should live together in
sentimental union; that he should admit her to his confidence as a
spiritual partner, and she be suffered to worship him as her spiritual
mate; that they should cherish one another with mutual platonic
fondness. It is not surprising, or much to her discredit, that she
admired thus dangerously a man of Fuseli’s genius, personal
attractiveness, and conversational brilliance; though it certainly does
not speak much for her delicacy that she was so communicative to
him and others respecting her passion and his cruelty in declining to
respond, to it. What might have happened, had Fuseli been less
resolute in the right way, may be left to the reader’s imagination.
Enough for the present writer to speak of what actually took place.
Touched by love, piqued by the coldness of the man she adored,
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