CE 809 - Structural Dynamics

Course Introduction
Examples of Problems related to Structural Dynamics

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Tacoma Narrows bridge

• A classic example.

• A suspension bridge built in 1940s.

• The bridge was designed by one of the leading experts in suspension bridges at that time.

• Dead load, traffic load, and wind induced drag load (lateral force) were considered in the structural
design.

• However, the bridge collapsed during a wind storm in which the wind velocity was much lower than
the maximum wind speed used in the design.

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Flutter of Tacoma Narrows Bridge

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Tacoma Narrows bridge

• The design, based on static concept, was perfectly correct, but the dynamic effects were not
considered.

• From the recorded motion picture, we found that the bridge collapsed by a certain unstable dynamic
excitation mechanism (torsional flutter).

• Starting from small amplitude torsional oscillation, the motion grew up until suspended ropes broke
by fatigue, and then the bridge collapsed.

• After this failure, many studies on bridge dynamics were conducted, and every bridge engineer
involved in the design of long-span bridges has to learn the theory of structural dynamics.

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Flutter of Tacoma Narrows Bridge

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 Wind Effects on Structures
Deformation due to time-averaged aerodynamic force

Static Stress due to wind-induced pressure or force

effects Torsional divergence (negative stiffness)
Static
instability Lateral buckling

due to atmospheric turbulence

Buffeting (random Limited-
Forced vibration) due to body-induced turbulence (wake) amplitude
vibration response
Vortex excitation

Dynamic Galloping
effects Wake galloping
Dynamic
Divergent-
instability
Torsional flutter amplitude
(negative response
damping) Coupled flutter

Rain-induced vibration
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A Hospital Building subjected to an earthquake

• Structural safety is the main concern.

• A hospital building was subjected to the San Fernando

earthquake in 1971, and it was severely damaged.

• The building vibrated like a large rigid mass shaking on

flexible columns. These columns had to resist large
cyclic shear force, and after few cycles they failed.

• The dynamic shear force is proportional to the product

of mass and acceleration of the building Olive View Hospital
(First story has a permanent displacement of 2 feet (61 cm)
𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎
Courtesy: P. C. Jennings and G. W. Housner 9
Earthquake Loading on Structures

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 A Hospital Building subjected to an earthquake (continued)

Collapsed first story of Psychiatric building at

Olive View Hospital after February 1971 San
Olive View Hospital
Fernando earthquake

During the 9 February 1971 San Fernando earthquake the new Olive View Hospital building was
severely damaged. In response to very strong ground shaking. the building vibrated essentially as a Second story column fracture in
large mass on relatively flexible columns. The spirally reinforced concrete columns were deformed Olive View Hospital
far beyond the requirements of the building code.
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Courtesy: P. C. Jennings and G. W. Housner
A Hospital Building subjected to an earthquake (continued)

• In many current seismic resistant design codes, a regular building may be designed by a static
method, that is, the building may be designed to resist an equivalent static lateral force (of
earthquake).

• Although the analysis involved is static analysis, the equivalent static force is entirely formulated
from the consideration of the dynamic behavior of the building.

• For the seismic design of complex structures and/or important structures, an explicit dynamic
analysis may be required.

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Balakot, Kashmir Earthquake (2005)
Magnitude = 7.6
Death Toll = 79,000

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Wenchuan Earthquake (2008), China
Magnitude = 7.9
Death Toll > 70,000

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Yogyakarta Earthquake (2006)
Magnitude = 6.2
Death Toll = 5,000

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Kobe Earthquake (1995)
Magnitude = 6.9
Death Toll > 6000

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Earthquake Motion: Kobe Earthquake, 1995

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Typical Commercial Concrete Buildings

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Building Response to EQ Ground Shaking

Lateral-Torsional Movement (period = 0.50 sec) 20

First-story Collapse of Commercial Buildings
The 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake (Taiwan)

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 Why This Course?

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Location of Major Earthquakes in Last 100 Years
 Why This Course?

Seismic zonation of Pakistan as per

Building Code of Pakistan (BCP). The
areas in red color (Zone 4) are under
severe threat of earthquakes.
The areas in dark blue and light
blue are relatively less exposed
to seismic threat.

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Tower Structures

• Marine observation towers, airport control towers, tall and slender buildings (see the following
slides).

• These structures are safe against wind and earthquake.

• But the wind-induced vibration may causes human discomfort – motion sickness, difficult to perform
desk work, furniture and fixtures make sounds

• Serviceability problems

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The Yokohama Marine
Tower (Japan, 1961)

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The Sydney Tower
(Australia, 1981)

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 The CN Tower
(Canada, 1976)

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Tall Buildings - Dynamic Wind Effects need to be considered !

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 Tall Buildings - Dynamic Wind Effects need to be considered !

Photo Courtesy: [Link] Photo Courtesy: [Link]

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Wind force (Drag)

Response of a mid-rise
building with a high
natural frequency

Response of a high-rise
building with a low natural
frequency

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A Steel Stack

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A Steel Stack
Pendulum Tuned Mass Damper
Suspended
Wire Rope

Steel Ring

Viscous Damper
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A Pedestrian Bridge

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A Pedestrian Bridge

• 2000 pedestrians walk across the bridge in the same time.

• The bridge is subjected to human-induced force in both vertical and horizontal directions.

• The bridge girder vibrates laterally, and the stay cables also vibrate with very large lateral vibration
amplitudes, says up to 50 cm.

• The dynamic stresses are so low that the structure will never fail.

• And the vibrations are too low to cause any difficulty on the walking mode of pedestrians.

• But many pedestrians are afraid to walk. Many people complain about the vibration, and many of
them think that the bridge was poorly designed and constructed.

• Problem of ‘human perception of vibration’

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 Why This Course? - Course Objectives
• As modern structures are becoming slender and light, they are also becoming more susceptible to
dynamic loadings.

• Various examples of real-life dynamic problems that frequently confront civil engineers include:
• Aerodynamic stability of long-span bridges
• Earthquake response of multi-story buildings
• Impact of moving vehicles on highway structures, etc.

• The traditional engineering solutions to these problems, based on "static force" and "static
response", are no longer valid in most cases.

• Many of these problems have to be tackled by applying the knowledge of structural dynamics. Thus,
a basic understanding of the dynamic behavior of structures as well as the underlying principles is
essential for structural engineers.
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Learning Outcomes

• Develop the basic understanding of principles of structural dynamics

• Develop the ability to integrate the principles of structural dynamics in structural analysis/ design of
buildings and structures

• Develop the ability to analyze and solve problems in dynamic response and behavior of buildings and
structures

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Course Outline

1) Dynamics of Simple Structures (single-degree-of-freedom systems)

a. Equation of motion
b. Free vibrations
c. Response to harmonic force
d. Response to periodic force
e. Response to arbitrary dynamic force
f. Nonlinear dynamic response

2) Multi-Degree-Of-Freedom Structures
a. Formulation of matrix equations of motion
b. Analysis of free vibrations
c. Modal analysis and forced vibrations
d. Nonlinear dynamic response

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Course Outline
3) Continuous Structures
a. Partial differential equations of motions (for strings, bars, beams)
b. Modal analysis
c. Wave propagation analysis

4) Earthquake Response
a. Response spectrum concept
b. Application to earthquake engineering

5) Random Vibrations
a. Probability theory, random processes
b. Correlation and spectral density functions
c. Response to stationary random excitations
d. Crossing, peak distributions, extreme value analysis, evaluation of fatigue life
e. Application to wind engineering

6) Control of Dynamic Response

a. Overview of vibration control

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• Instructor: Dr. Muhammad Usman

• Texts:
• R.R. Craig, Jr., Structural Dynamics, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Mario Paz Structural Dynamics: Theory and Computation
• A.K. Chopra, Dynamics of Structures, Prentice Hall, Inc.
• J.W. Tedesco, W.G. McDougal and C.A. Ross, Structural Dynamics, Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

• The final grade will be computed according to the following weight distribution:

• MSE: 25%

• Assignments: 10%

• Quizzes: 15%

• Final Exam: 50%

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• Term Project (optional) 10%
 Introduction
⚫ System Analysis
⚫ Structures
Input System Output
- Architectural structures: buildings
Engineering system - Civil structures: bridges, dams, roads
Civil system: structural system, environmental system - Nuclear power plants
Mechanical system - Offshore structures
Electrical system - Vehicle structures
Economic system - Aircraft structures
Social system - Ship structures
- Plant structures
- Power transmission towers
- Machines
- Tires, etc.

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⚫ Structural Analysis

Load(Force) Structure Response

(Displacement, Stress)
Given: Structures, Loads
Find: Responses (Displacements, Stresses & etc.)

⚫ Structural Design
Given : Loads, Responses
Find:: Structures

⚫ System Identification (SHM)

Given : Responses
Find:: Structure Health
● External Loads (forces)
- Static loads
- Dynamic loads: Loads are time-varying (mag., dir., position)
. Wind loads
. Earthquake loads
. Vehicle loads
. Impact loads (Blast, Collision, Jump, etc.)

● Wind Velocity (Lift/Drag Force)

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40
V (m/sec)

Roughness length: 0.001 m (for sand)

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Height: 40 m
Reference velocity: 30 m/sec
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Reference spectrum: reduced Kaimal PSD
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0 50 100 150 200
time (sec)
 ● Seismic Loads (forces)
• Release of energy from earth crust/tectonic forces
• Most severe load placed on civil structures
• EQ loading is quite complex in nature
• Loads are stochastic (random)

• Near Field
– High Amplitude
– Dominated by pulse load

• Far Field
– Attenuated
– Highly dependent on geotechnical conditions
– Filtered signal
– Not dominated by pulse load
 ● San Fernando Earthquake(Feb. 9, 1981, S16E Component)
PGA: 1.170g
15
10 San Fernando
5
Accleration(g)
0
-5
-10
-15
0 5 10 15 20
Time(sec)

● Kobe Earthquake(Jan. 17, 1995, N00S Component)

PGA: 0.834g
10
Kobe
5

Accleration(g) 0

-5

-10
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time(sec)
Pedestrian bridge
 ● Impact Load

Force in steel bar, L = 4D

Impact a rigid surface at 10 m/s

Fig. 1. Axial force in bar, 4μs after impact. Fig. 2. Axial force in bar, 7μs after impact.
● Classification of Structural analysis
- Static analysis: Response analysis of structures under static loads
- Dynamic analysis: Response analysis of structures under dynamic loads

- Deterministic analysis: Loads are prescribed (known)

- Random/Probabilistic analysis: Loads are known only in a statistical sense

- Linear analysis:
- Nonlinear analysis: material non-linearity,
geometric non-linearity

We would only limit to Linear Time Invariant (LTI) Systems in this course
● Classification of Structural Models

• Distributed Parameter Model : Continuous Systems

– Realistic
– Difficult to analyse
– Exact in nature
– Involves PDE

• Distcrete Parameter Model : Lumped Mass System

– Ideallization needed
– Easy to analyse
– Approximate in nature
– Involves ODE
 The Science and Art of Structural Dynamics
1.1 Introduction to Structural Dynamics
• Dynamic means time-varying.
• A dynamic load is one whose magnitude, direction, or point of
application varies with time; while the resulting time-varying
deflections and stresses constitute the dynamic response.
• The prescribed loading: the loading is a known function of time.
→ a deterministic analysis: the analysis of a specified structural
system to a prescribed loading.
• The random loading: the time history of the loading is not
completely known but is known only in a statistical sense.

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• Differences between a structural dynamics and static problems
• The time varying nature of the excitation
• The role played by accelerations in a structural dynamics problem

• The acceleration of the beam gives rise to a distributed inertia force.

• If the inertia force contributes significantly to the deflections and internal
stresses in the structure, then a dynamical investigation is required.

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Types of Loading on Structures
Static Vs Dynamic Loading
A load can be considered to be
“slowly applied” and dynamic
effects can generally be
ignored if the rise time is longer
than about 3Tn).

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● Steps of Structural analysis

Physical Systems (Models)

(Physical Laws & Principles)

Mathematical Systems (Models)

(Mathematics)

Solutions (Responses)

Responses: Displacements, Velocities, Accelerations,

Stresses, etc.

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• Diagram of the typical steps in a dynamic investigation

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Thank you