Modal Analysis of a 4 Story Shear Building

Pagina 1 di 4

Modal Analysis of a 4 Story Shear Building

[ Problem Description ] [ Input File ] [ Output File ] [ Analysis Results ]
In this example we compute the eigenvalues, natural periods of vibaration, and modal shapes for a
4 story shear building.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
Figure 1 is a schematic of the 4 story shear building, and its corresponding mass and stiffness
matrices.

Figure 1 : Shear Building with Mass and Stiffness Matrices

A simplified model of the building is obtained by assuming that all of the building mass is lumped
at the floor levels, that the floor beams are rigid, and that the columns are axially rigid. Together
these assumptions allow for the generation of a model commonly known as a shear-type building
model, where displacements at each floor level may be described by one degree-of-freedom alone.
Hence, only four degrees of freedom are needed to describe total displacements of the structure.

INPUT FILE
We employ a three-part input file to define the mass and stiffness matrices, solve the
eigenproblem, and print the corresponding eigenvectors and natural periods of vibrations. Details
of the ALADDIN input file are as follows:

https://www.isr.umd.edu/~austin/aladdin.d/matrix-appl-building.html

22/12/2015

Modal Analysis of a 4 Story Shear Building

Pagina 2 di 4

/* [a] : Define working variables for eigenproblem analysis */

no_eigen = 4;
/* [b] : Form mass and stiffness matrices */
mass = ColumnUnits( 1500*[ 1,
0,
0,
0,

0,
2,
0,
0,

0,
0,
2,
0,

0;
0;
0;
3], [kg] );

stiff = ColumnUnits( 800*[ 1, -1, 0, 0;

-1, 3, -2, 0;
0, -2, 5, -3;
0, 0, -3, 7], [kN/m] );
PrintMatrix(mass, stiff);
/* [c] : Compute and print eigenvalues, natural periods of */
/*
vibration, and eigenvectors.
*/
eigen
= Eigen(stiff, mass, [no_eigen]);
eigenvalue = Eigenvalue(eigen);
eigenvector = Eigenvector(eigen);
for(i = 1; i <= no_eigen; i = i + 1) {
print "Mode", i ," : w^2 = ", eigenvalue[i][1];
print " : T = ", 2*PI/sqrt(eigenvalue[i][1]) ,"\n";
}
PrintMatrix(eigenvector);

Points to note:
The parameter no_eigen stores the number of eigenvalues and eigenvectors to be
computed by the Subsspace iteration algorithm.
The matrix eigenvalue has 4 columns and 1 row, and stores the circular natural frequency
squared, for each of the periods of vibration.
The modal shapes are stored in the columns of matrix eigenvector .

OUTPUT FILE
We have used the parameter no_eigen to control the number of eigenvalues/vectors that are
computed by the subspace iteration, and printed.
MATRIX : "mass"
row/col

1
kg
1.50000e+03
0.00000e+00
0.00000e+00
0.00000e+00

3
kg
0.00000e+00
0.00000e+00
3.00000e+03
0.00000e+00

4
kg
0.00000e+00
0.00000e+00
0.00000e+00
4.50000e+03

1
2
3
N/m
N/m
N/m
8.00000e+05 -8.00000e+05 0.00000e+00
-8.00000e+05 2.40000e+06 -1.60000e+06

4
N/m
0.00000e+00
0.00000e+00

units
1
2
3
4

2
kg
0.00000e+00
3.00000e+03
0.00000e+00
0.00000e+00

MATRIX : "stiff"
row/col
units
1
2

https://www.isr.umd.edu/~austin/aladdin.d/matrix-appl-building.html

22/12/2015

Modal Analysis of a 4 Story Shear Building

3
4

Pagina 3 di 4

0.00000e+00 -1.60000e+06 4.00000e+06 -2.40000e+06

0.00000e+00 0.00000e+00 -2.40000e+06 5.60000e+06

*** SUBSPACE ITERATION CONVERGED IN

Mode
Mode
Mode
Mode

1
2
3
4

:
:
:
:

w^2
w^2
w^2
w^2

=
=
=
=

117.8
586.5
1125
2082

2 ITERATIONS
1/sec^2
1/sec^2
1/sec^2
1/sec^2

:
:
:
:

T
T
T
T

=
=
=
=

0.5789
0.2595
0.1873
0.1377

sec
sec
sec
sec

MATRIX : "eigenvector"
row/col

units
1
2
3
4

1.00000e+00 1.00000e+00 -9.01452e-01 1.54356e-01

7.79103e-01 -9.96248e-02 1.00000e+00 -4.48172e-01
4.96553e-01 -5.39887e-01 -1.58595e-01 1.00000e+00
2.35062e-01 -4.37613e-01 -7.07973e-01 -6.36879e-01

ANALYSIS RESULTS
Figure 2 shows the four modal shapes of vibration and associated natural periods of vibration.

Figure 2 : Modal Shapes and Natural Periods of Vibration

Points to note:
The left-most column of matrix eigenvector stores the first mode of vibration, the second
left-most column the second mode of vibration, and so forth.
In interpreting the physical meaning of each mode, you should notice that the structural
degrees of freedom x_1 ... x_4 progress from the roof down to the first floor. Hence for
mode 1, the largest modal displacement is at the roof-level (as expected).
The number of sign changes in the modal shapes increases with the modal number. From
the matrix eigenvector, and Figure 2, we see that there are no sign changes in mode 1, one
sign change in mode 2, two sign changes in mode 3, and three sign changes in mode 4.

https://www.isr.umd.edu/~austin/aladdin.d/matrix-appl-building.html

22/12/2015

Modal Analysis of a 4 Story Shear Building

Pagina 4 di 4

Developed in June 1996 by Mark Austin

Last Modified June 26, 1996
Copyright 1996, Mark Austin, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Maryland

https://www.isr.umd.edu/~austin/aladdin.d/matrix-appl-building.html

22/12/2015