CHAPTER

9
FORMULATION
OF THE
MDOF
EQUATIONS
OF MOTION

9-1 SELECTION OF THE DEGREES OF FREEDOM

The discussion presented in Chapter 8 has demonstrated how a structure can be
represented as a SDOF system the dynamic response of which can be evaluated by the
solution of a single differential equation of motion. If the physical properties of the
system are such that its motion can be described by a single coordinate and no other
motion is possible, then it actually is a SDOF system and the solution of the equation
provides the exact dynamic response. On the other hand, if the structure actually has
more than one possible mode of displacement and it is reduced mathematically to a
SDOF approximation by assuming its deformed shape, the solution of the equation of
motion is only an approximation of the true dynamic behavior.
The quality of the result obtained with a SDOF approximation depends on many
factors, principally the spatial distribution and time variation of the loading and the
stiffness and mass properties of the structure. If the physical properties of the system
constrain it to move most easily with the assumed shape, and if the loading is such as
to excite a significant response in this shape, the SDOF solution will probably be a
good approximation; otherwise, the true behavior may bear little resemblance to the
computed response. One of the greatest disadvantages of the SDOF approximation is
that it is difficult to assess the reliability of the results obtained from it.

169
170 DYNAMICS OF STRUCTURES

In general, the dynamic response of a structure cannot be described adequately

by a SDOF model; usually the response includes time variations of the displacement
shape as well as its amplitude. Such behavior can be described only in terms of
more than one displacement coordinate; that is, the motion must be represented by
more than one degree of freedom. As noted in Chapter 1, the degrees of freedom in
a discrete-parameter system may be taken as the displacement amplitudes of certain
selected points in the structure, or they may be generalized coordinates representing
the amplitudes of a specified set of displacement patterns. In the present discussion, the
former approach will be adopted; this includes both the finite-element and the lumped-
mass type of idealization. The generalized-coordinate procedure will be discussed in
Chapter 16.
In this development of the equations of motion of a general MDOF system, it
will be convenient to refer to the general simple beam shown in Fig. 9-1 as a typical
example. The discussion applies equally to any type of structure, but the visualization
of the physical factors involved in evaluating all the forces acting is simplified for this
type of structure.
The motion of this structure will be assumed to be defined by the displacements
of a set of discrete points on the beam: v1 (t), v2 (t), . . ., vi (t), . . ., vN (t). In principle,
these points may be located arbitrarily on the structure; in practice, they should be
associated with specific features of the physical properties which may be significant
and should be distributed so as to provide a good definition of the deflected shape.
The number of degrees of freedom (displacement components) to be considered is
left to the discretion of the analyst; greater numbers provide better approximations of
the true dynamic behavior, but in many cases excellent results can be obtained with
only two or three degrees of freedom. In the beam of Fig. 9-1 only one displacement
component has been associated with each nodal point on the beam. It should be noted,
however, that several displacement components could be identified with each point;
e.g., the rotation ∂v/∂x and longitudinal motions might be used as additional degrees
of freedom at each point.

p(x,t)

1 2 i N
m(x)
{ EI(x)

vN (t) FIGURE 9-1

v1 (t) v 2 (t) vi (t) Discretization of a general
beam-type structure.
 FORMULATION OF THE MDOF EQUATIONS OF MOTION 171

9-2 DYNAMIC-EQUILIBRIUM CONDITION

The equation of motion of the system of Fig. 9-1 can be formulated by expressing
the equilibrium of the effective forces associated with each of its degrees of freedom.
In general four types of forces will be involved at any point i: the externally applied
load pi (t) and the forces resulting from the motion, that is, inertia fIi, damping fDi, and
elastic fSi. Thus for each of the several degrees of freedom the dynamic equilibrium
may be expressed as
fI1 + fD1 + fS1 = p1 (t)
fI2 + fD2 + fS2 = p2 (t)
(9-1)
fI3 + fD3 + fS3 = p3 (t)
········· · ·········
or when the force vectors are represented in matrix form,
fI + fD + fS = p(t) (9-2)
which is the MDOF equivalent of the SDOF equation (2-1).
Each of the resisting forces is expressed most conveniently by means of an
appropriate set of influence coefficients. Consider, for example, the elastic-force
component developed at point 1; this depends in general upon the displacement
components developed at all points of the structure:
fS1 = k11 v1 + k12 v2 + k13 v3 + · · · + k1N vN (9-3a)
Similarly, the elastic force corresponding to the degree of freedom v2 is
fS2 = k21 v1 + k22 v2 + k23 v3 + · · · + k2N vN (9-3b)
and, in general,
fSi = ki1 v1 + ki2 v2 + ki3 v3 + · · · + kiN vN (9-3c)
In these expressions it has been tacitly assumed that the structural behavior is linear,
so that the principle of superposition applies. The coefficients kij are called stiffness
influence coefficients, defined as follows:
kij = force corresponding to coordinate i due to
a unit displacement of coordinate j (9-4)
In matrix form, the complete set of elastic-force relationships may be written
     

 fS1 
 k11 k12 k13 · · · k1i · · · k1N   v1 

 
   
 

f k k k k k v

 
   
 

 S2 
 
  21 22 23 · · · 2i · · · 2N 
 
  2 

      
=  ······························  (9-5)
 
· ·

 
    
    
 




 f 

Si 
 
 k i1 ki2 k i3 · · · k ii · · · k iN 




 v i





 
 
 
    
· ······························ ·
172 DYNAMICS OF STRUCTURES

or, symbolically,
fS = k v (9-6)
in which the matrix of stiffness coefficients k is called the stiffness matrix of the
structure (for the specified set of displacement coordinates) and v is the displacement
vector representing the displaced shape of the structure.
If it is assumed that the damping depends on the velocity, that is, the viscous
type, the damping forces corresponding to the selected degrees of freedom may be
expressed by means of damping influence coefficients in similar fashion. By analogy
with Eq. (9-5), the complete set of damping forces is given by
     

 fD1 
 c11 c12 c13 · · · c1i · · · c1N   v̇1 


 
   
  
 fD2   c21 c22 c23 · · · c2i · · · c2N    v̇2 

 
   
 

 

 
  
   
=  ······························  (9-7)
 
· ·

  
  
  
     
 fDi 

   ci1 ci2 ci3 · · · cii · · · ciN  
  v̇i 


 
   






 
  
 
· ······························ ·
in which v̇i represents the time rate of change (velocity) of the i displacement coordi-
nate and the coefficients cij are called damping influence coefficients. The definition
of these coefficients is exactly parallel to Eq. (9-4):

cij = force corresponding to coordinate i due to unit

velocity of coordinate j (9-8)

Symbolically, Eq. (9-7) may be written

fD = c v̇ (9-9)

in which the matrix of damping coefficients c is called the damping matrix of the
structure (for the specified degrees of freedom) and v̇ is the velocity vector.
The inertial forces may be expressed similarly by a set of influence coefficients
called the mass coefficients. These represent the relationship between the accelerations
of the degrees of freedom and the resulting inertial forces; by analogy with Eq. (9-5),
the inertial forces may be expressed as
     

 fI1 
 m11 m12 m13 · · · m1i · · · m1N   
 v̈1 

 
  
 
 

f m m m m m v̈

 
  
 
 

 I2 
 
  21 22 23 · · · 2i · · · 2N 
   
 2 

   
   
=  ···································· = (9-10)

· ·

 
  
 
 

     



 fIi 



 mi1 mi2 mi3 · · · mii · · · miN 







 v̈i 



 
 
  
      
· ···································· ·
 FORMULATION OF THE MDOF EQUATIONS OF MOTION 173

where v̈i is the acceleration of the i displacement coordinate and the coefficients mij
are the mass influence coefficients, defined as follows:

mij = force corresponding to coordinate i due to

unit acceleration of coordinate j (9-11)

Symbolically, Eq. (9-10) may be written

fI = m v̈ (9-12)

in which the matrix of mass coefficients m is called the mass matrix of the structure
and v̈ is its acceleration vector, both defined for the specified set of displacement
coordinates.
Substituting Eqs. (9-6), (9-9), and (9-12) into Eq. (9-2) gives the complete
dynamic equilibrium of the structure, considering all degrees of freedom:

m v̈(t) + c v̇(t) + k v(t) = p(t) (9-13)

This equation is the MDOF equivalent of Eq. (2-3); each term of the SDOF equation
is represented by a matrix in Eq. (9-13), the order of the matrix corresponding to the
number of degrees of freedom used in describing the displacements of the structure.
Thus, Eq. (9-13) expresses the N equations of motion which serve to define the
response of the MDOF system.

9-3 AXIAL-FORCE EFFECTS

It was observed in the discussion of SDOF systems that axial forces or any load
which may tend to cause buckling of a structure may have a significant effect on the
stiffness of the structure. Similar effects may be observed in MDOF systems; the
force component acting parallel to the original axis of the members leads to additional
load components which act in the direction (and sense) of the nodal displacements and
which will be denoted by fG. When these forces are included, the dynamic-equilibrium
expression, Eq. (9-2), becomes

fI + fD + fS − fG = p(t) (9-14)

in which the negative sign results from the fact that the forces fG are assumed to
contribute to the deflection rather than oppose it.
These forces resulting from axial loads depend on the displacements of the
structure and may be expressed by influence coefficients, called the geometric-stiffness
174 DYNAMICS OF STRUCTURES

coefficients, as follows:
     
 fG1 

 

kG11 kG12 kG13 · · · kG1i · · · kG1N 

  v1 

 

     
fG2   G21 kG22 kG23 · · · kG2i · · · kG2N
k v2 

  
 
 

 
 
 
 


 
  
  
 
=  ···································· (9-15)

· ·

 
  
 
 
      
  kGi1 kGi2 kGi3 · · · kGii · · · kGiN
 fGi   vi 

 
  
 
 

 
  

 
 
 
 
     
· ···································· ·

in which the geometric-stiffness influence coefficients kGij have the following defini-
tion:

kGij = force corresponding to coordinate i due to unit

displacement of coordinate j and resulting from
axial-force components in the structure (9-16)

Symbolically Eq. (9-15) may be written

fG = kG v (9-17)

where kG is called the geometric-stiffness matrix of the structure.

When this expression is introduced, the equation of dynamic equilibrium of the
structure [given by Eq. (9-13) without axial-force effects] becomes

m v̈(t) + c v̇(t) + k v(t) − kG v(t) = p(t) (9-18)

or when it is noted that both the elastic stiffness and the geometric stiffness are
multiplied by the displacement vector, the combined stiffness effect can be expressed
by a single symbol and Eq. (9-18) written

m v̈(t) + c v̇(t) + k v(t) = p(t) (9-19)

in which
k = k − kG (9-20)
is called the combined stiffness matrix, which includes both elastic and geometric
effects. The dynamic properties of the structure are expressed completely by the
four influence-coefficient matrices of Eq. (9-18), while the dynamic loading is fully
defined by the load vector. The evaluation of these physical-property matrices and
the evaluation of the load vector resulting from externally applied forces will be
discussed in detail in the following chapter. The effective-load vector resulting from
support excitation will be discussed in connection with earthquake-response analysis
in Chapter 26.