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Dynamic property analysis of the

space-frame structure using the
spectral element method
a a b
Shu-Rui Wen , Nian-Li Lu & Zhi-Jing Wu
a
School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of
Technology, Harbin, China
b
School of Astronautics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin,
China
Published online: 01 Jul 2014.

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To cite this article: Shu-Rui Wen, Nian-Li Lu & Zhi-Jing Wu (2014) Dynamic property analysis of the
space-frame structure using the spectral element method, Waves in Random and Complex Media,
24:4, 404-420, DOI: 10.1080/17455030.2014.930758

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 Waves in Random and Complex Media, 2014
Vol. 24, No. 4, 404420, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17455030.2014.930758

Dynamic property analysis of the space-frame structure using the

spectral element method
Shu-Rui Wena*, Nian-Li Lua and Zhi-Jing Wub
a
School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China; bSchool of
Astronautics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
(Received 23 March 2014; accepted 29 May 2014)
Downloaded by [Erciyes University] at 18:23 06 January 2015

In this paper, the space-frame structure is analyzed using the spectral element
method (SEM). It is periodic and composed of many geometrically uniform
components. They can be considered as space beam-column elements. The
spectral stiffness matrixes of the elements are established by using the varia-
tional method and the discrete Fourier transform theory. Then frequency
responses of the structure are obtained by solving the spectral equations. In
comparison with the results of the nite element method, those in the SEM
are more accurate by taking less time, and the vibration bandgaps are
observed from the responses of the structure. Moreover, the span, the
substructure height, the substructure number, the material combination,
the structural damping and the load location have obvious inuences on the
structural dynamic properties. These ndings will provide the engineers with
new ideas of the structural and the vibration isolation design.

1. Introduction
As a result of the high ratio of strength to weight, space-frame structures are widely
used in aerospace, construction machinery, civil engineering and so on.[16] Usually,
these structures are composed of the same substructures in order to raise the construc-
tion speed, i.e. they are the periodic structures.[7] Certain frequency waves can be com-
pletely reected by this kind of structure. It creates bandgaps in the frequency response
of the periodic structure. The bandgap property is one of the most essential dynamic
properties for periodic structures. It comes from the investigation of phononic bandgaps
which are rst experimentally demonstrated in 1998.[811] This property provides peri-
odic structures with the ability to isolate vibration, which is signicant for both the sci-
ence research and the design of the engineering structure. In this paper, the dynamic
property of the space-frame structure is investigated, and specic attention is paid to the
bandgap analysis in order to provide new ideas for the structural design of the vibration
isolation in the engineering.
Up to now, the bandgap property in periodic structures has received considerable
attention.[1215] A great number of methods have been applied on the analysis of this
property, which include the nite element method (FEM),[16,17] the boundary element
method,[18] the plane wave expansion method,[19] the transfer matrix method,[20] the

*Corresponding author. Email: wenshurui@163.com

2014 Taylor & Francis

 Waves in Random and Complex Media 405

harmonic balance approach [21] and the wavelet method.[22,23] But, very few studies
have tried to use the frequency domain methods.
Doyle [24,25] proposes the spectral element method (SEM) which is the exact
analytical solution of the wave equation in the frequency domain. The interpolation
functions of elements are accurate in the frequency domain as they are based on the
eigenfunctions of the structural equation of motion.[26,27] In this method, each geomet-
rically uniform component in the structure can be represented with only one spectral
element.[28] The SEM can signicantly reduce the degrees of freedom compared with
other methods.[29] Despite the advantages of the SEM, there are not always the exact
wave solutions for most complex and multi-dimensional problems. Hence, the exact
spectral element models are mostly for one-dimensional problems.[27] But, it is still
appropriate for the structures which include many repeated uniform members such as
the space-frame structures.
To the authors knowledge, there are no reported analysis on the dynamic properties
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of the space-frame structure using the SEM, although there are unique advantages of
the method and the signicance for the structural design of the vibration isolation in the
engineering. Thus, in the present work, we use the SEM to analyze the dynamic proper-
ties of the space-frame structure. Based on the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) theory
and the variational method, the spectral stiffness matrix of the space beam-column ele-
ment is deduced in Section 2. The frequency responses of the structure are calculated
and compared with the results obtained by the conventional FEM. Then the dynamic
properties are discussed in Section 3.

2. Spectral element method

The variational method is used to formulate the spectral stiffness matrix of the beam-
column element in the space-frame structure. All the theoretical derivations are on the
assumption of small elastic deformation. The material used in this work is isotropic, the
cross-section has two axes of symmetry, and the centroid and the shear center coincide.
Based on the above situation, the two exural vibrations and torsional vibration are
independent,[3034] i.e. the axial deformation, the bending deformation in the two prin-
cipal planes and the torsional deformation are decoupled. So the problem can be trans-
formed to deduce the stiffness matrix of the beam, the rod and the torsion bar,
respectively. They will be deduced separately in Sections 2.12.3, and nally the spec-
tral stiffness matrix of the space beam-column element will be obtained by superimpos-
ing individual results of the rod, the beam and the torsion bar in Section 2.4.

2.1. Spectral beam element

During the process of deducing the spectral stiffness matrix of the beam element, the
shear deformations are excluded, i.e. a normal to the midsurface (neutral axis) of the
beam remains straight during deformation, and the angular rotation is equal to the slope
of the beam midsurface.[35]
The free bending vibration equation of motion for the beam is given by
@ 4 vx; t @ 2 vx; t
EI qA 0; (1)
@x 4 @t 2
 406 S.-R. Wen et al.

where E is the Youngs modulus, I is the cross-sectional moment of inertia about the
neutral axis, is the mass density, A is the sectional area and v(x, t) is the transverse
displacement in the time domain. Following the DFT theory and the Nyquist condition,
one can represent v(x, t) in the spectral form as

1XN 1
vx; t V x; xn eixn t ; (2)
N n0

where N is the number of samples in the time domain, V(x, n) is the spectral compo-
nent of the displacement v(x, t) and n is the frequency of the nth harmonic. For conve-
nience, the subscript n of n will be omitted hereinafter. Substituting Equation (2) to
Equation (1), we have
@ 4 V x; x
EI  qAx2 V x; x 0: (3)
@x4
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The general solution of Equation (3) can be represented by

V x; x Re2 C3 C4 C5 C6 T ; (4)
where C3, C4, C5 and C6 are coefcients with respect to , and
 
Re2 eikb x ekb x eikb Lx ekb Lx ; (5)
where L is the length of the beam and kb is the wavenumber for the bending wave-
mode, it can be written as
 
p qA 1=4
kb x : (6)
EI
From Equation (4), the nodal displacement vector Vbb() can be expressed as
8 9 8 9 8 9
>
> Vbb1 >
> >
> V jx0 >
> >
> C3 >
< = < 0 = < > =
Hbb1 V jx0 C4
V bb x Re3 ; (7)
>
> Vbb2 >
> >
> V jxL >
> >
> C5 >
>
: ; : 0 ; : ;
Hbb2 V jxL C6
where Vbb1, bb1, Vbb2 and bb2 are the nodal displacement components as shown in
Figure 1, and the prime () denotes the derivatives with respect to the spatial coordinate
x. The matrix Re3 is constructed as

y
Qfb1 Vbb1 Vbb2 Qfb2
Mfb1 bb1 x bb2 Mfb2

Figure 1. Nodal forces and displacements of a beam element in the frequency domain.
 Waves in Random and Complex Media 407
2 3
1 1 eikb L ekb L
6 ikb kb ikb eikb L kb ekb L 7
6
Re3 4 7: (8)
eikb L ekb L 1 1 5
ikb eikb L kb ekb L ikb kb

Based on Equations (4), (7) and (8), we can deduce that

V x; x N sb Vbb1 Hbb1 Vbb2 Hbb2 T ; (9)
where N sb Re2 R1
e3 is the dynamic shape function of the beam. From the weighted
integral, the weak form of Equation (3) becomes to
Z L 
EIV 4  qAx2 V dVdx 0; (10)
0
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where V is the arbitrary variation of V, V (4) denotes @ 4V/@x4.

The internal bending moment Mt(x, t) and the transverse shear force Qt(x, t) in the
time domain can be related to v(x, t) as
@ 2 vx; t
Mt x; t EI ; (11)
@x2

@ 3 vx; t
Qt x; t EI : (12)
@x3
Complied with the DFT theory and the Nyquist condition, the spectral form of Mt(x, t)
and Qt(x, t) can be written as

1XN 1
Mt x; t Mf x; xeixt ; (13)
N n0

1XN 1
Qt x; t Qf x; xeixt ; (14)
N n0
where Mf (x, ) and Qf (x, ) are the spectral components of the moment Mt(x, t) and
the force Qt(x, t), respectively. Substituting Equations (2), (13) and (14) into Equations
(11) and (12), we can relate Mf (x, ) and Qf (x, ) to V(x, ) in the following form:
@ 2 V x; x
Mf x; x EI ; (15)
@x2

@ 3 V x; x
Qf x; x EI : (16)
@x3
Applying the integration by parts on the rst term in Equation (10), we have
Z L Z L
L
4
EIV dVdx EIV 00 dV 00 dx  Qf dV L0  Mf dV 0 0 : (17)
0 0

By combining Equation (10) with Equation (17), Equation (10) can be rewritten as the
following form:
 408 S.-R. Wen et al.
Z L Z L
EIV 00 dV 00 dx  qAx2 V dVdx  dV Tbb f fbb 0; (18)
0 0

where ffbb is the nodal force vector of the beam in the frequency domain, it is dened
as

f fbb Qfb1 Mfb1 Qfb2 Mfb2 T ; (19)

where Qfb1, Mfb1, Qfb2 and Mfb2 are the nodal force components as shown in Figure 1.
Qfb1 = Qf (0, ), Mfb1 = Mf (0, ), Qfb2 = Qf (L, ) and Mfb2 = Mf (L, ).
Substituting Equation (9) into Equation (18), we can obtain that

Z L Z L  
00 T 00
T
dV bb EIN sb N sb dx  qAx N sb N sb dx V bb  f fbb 0:
2 T
(20)
0 0

As Vbb is arbitrary by denition, Equation (20) can be transformed to

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S b xV bb f fbb ; (21)
where Sb() is the spectral stiffness matrix of the beam element, it can be written as
Z L Z L
EIN 00 sb N 00 sb dx 
T
S b x qAx2n N Tsb N sb dx: (22)
0 0

By substituting the expression of Nsb into Equation (22), we have

2 3
R1 R2 L R3 R4 L
EI 6 R L 2
R 4L R6 L2 7
S b x 3 6 5 7; (23)
L 4 R1 R2 L 5
Sym: R5 L2
where
cos kb L sinh kb L sin kb L cosh kb Lkb3 L3
R1 ; (24a)
1  cos kb L cosh kb L

sin kb L sinh kb Lkb2 L2

R2 ; (24b)
1  cos kb L cosh kb L

sin kb L sinh kb Lkb3 L3

R3  ; (24c)
1  cos kb L cosh kb L

 cos kb L cosh kb Lkb2 L2

R4 ; (24d)
1  cos kb L cosh kb L

 cos kb L sinh kb L sin kb L cosh kb Lkb L

R5 ; (24e)
1  cos kb L cosh kb L

 sin kb L sinh kb Lkb L

R6 : (24f)
1  cos kb L cosh kb L
 Waves in Random and Complex Media 409

2.2. Spectral rod element

The free longitudinal vibration of a uniform rod can be represented by
@ 2 ux; t @ 2 ux; t
E q 0; (25)
@x 2 @t 2
where u(x, t) is the longitudinal displacement in the time domain.
Just as the process for the derivation of the beam element, the equation of motion
of the spectral rod element can be written as the following form
S r xU br f fbr ; (26)
where Ubr = [U1 U2]T is the vector of the spectral nodal displacement, ffbr = [ ff1 ff2]T is
the nodal force vector of the rod in the frequency domain, which are shown in Figure 2,
and Sr() is the spectral stiffness matrix of the rod element, it can be expressed as


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EA kr L cos kr L 1
S r x : (27)
L sin kr L 1 cos kr L

p
where kr is the wavenumber for the longitudinal wavemode, kr x q=E and L is the
length of the rod. For more detailed derivation procedure, one can refer to Ref. [27].

2.3. Spectral torsion bar element

The derivation for the spectral stiffness matrix of the torsion bar element is analogous
to that of the rod element. Thus, the results derived will be given directly in the follow-
ing form as
S s xUbs T fbs ; (28)
where bs and Tfbs are the nodal displacement vector and the nodal force vector in the
frequency domain, respectively, which are shown in Figure 3. bs = [bs1 bs2]T, Tfbs =
[Tfbs1 Tfbs2]T and Ss() is the spectral stiffness matrix of the torsion bar element, it can
be represented by


GIp ks L cos ks L 1
S s x ; (29)
L sin ks L 1 cos ks L

where G = E/[2(1 + )] is the shear modulus where is the Poissons ratio, Ip is the
polar moment of inertia and ks is dened as
r
q
ks x : (30)
G

ff1 U1 U2 ff 2

U (x, )

Figure 2. Nodal forces and displacements of a rod element in the frequency domain.
 410 S.-R. Wen et al.

Tf bs1 bs1 bs2 Tf bs2

x

Figure 3. Nodal forces and displacements of a torsion bar element in the frequency domain.

2.4. Spectral beam-column element

Figure 4 shows the space beam-column element in the frequency domain; it is subject
to the axial force, the bending moments in the two principal planes and the torques.
Based on the assumption of the small elastic deformation in Section 2, the nodal dis-
placement vector of the space beam-column element Uspb can be related to the nodal
force vector ffspb in the frequency domain as
S sp xU spb f fspb ; (31)
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where Uspb = [U1 V1 W1 z1 y1 1 U2 V2 W2 z2 y2 2]T, ffspb = [ffu1 ffv1 ffw1 Mz1

My1 T1 ffu2 ffv2 ffw2 Mz2 My2 T2]T, the directions of the nodal displacement components
and the nodal force components are shown in Figure 4, Ssp() is the spectral stiffness
matrix of the space beam-column element. By superimposing the stiffness matrix results
in Sections 2.12.3, it can be written as the following form:


S sp11 S sp12
S sp x ; (32)
Sym: S sp22
where Ssp11, Ssp12 and Ssp22 are given in Appendix 1.

Figure 4. Nodal forces and displacements of a space beam-column element in the frequency
domain.
 Waves in Random and Complex Media 411

3. Results and discussions

Figure 5 shows the space-frame structure which is widely used in the engineering. In
this section, the frequency responses of the structure are investigated, and the dynamic
properties of the vibration isolation are discussed. The geometry and the material
parameters are shown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.
In the initial model, the material of the lower layer is steel (i.e. the white part of the
substructure in Figure 5(a)), and that of the upper layer is epoxy (i.e. the blue part of
the substructure in Figure 5(a)), i.e. the material combination is steelepoxy. The geo-
metric parameters of the initial model can be obtained through Table 1 and the external
excitation force Fex = 10eit is located at the point C along the Z-direction. Based on
the initial model, frequency responses of the point G along the Z-direction are calcu-
lated by the SEM and the FEM, respectively. The FEM has long been considered as a
powerful tool to validate the correctness of new methods.[36,37] So the results of the
FEM are chosen to validate the correctness of those calculated by the SEM. The results
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that include the companion results obtained from the FEM are shown in Figure 6.
In the FEM, the coarse mesh (each component is divided into 5 elements) and the
ner mesh (each component is divided into 10 elements) are used. In Figure 6, it can
be seen that the conventional FEM results converge to the SEM results with the mesh
renement. It can be proved that the results calculated by the SEM are correct and the
method is effective for the frequency response analysis of the space-frame structure.
Furthermore, the results obtained by the SEM and the FEM have different time costs.
The calculation process of the SEM costs 220 s. For the 10-element model of the FEM,
it costs 790 s. The difference is because each component is considered as only one
spectral element in the SEM, and the minimum number of elements is used into the
calculation.

Z
Z
H G
E F

h2 HT HnT
D

h1
C
A Y
a
D C Y
X a A
B X B

(a) The substructure of the space frame. (b) The space frame composed by nT substructures.

Figure 5. The structure of the space frame.

 412 S.-R. Wen et al.

Table 1. The geometry parameters of the initial model.

Item/unit Value Item/unit Value

Span a/m 1 Radius of section r/m 0.015
Lower height h1/m 0.5 Substructure number nT 10
Upper height h2/m 0.5 Total height HnT/m 10
Section type Circular

Table 2. The material parameters used in the calculation.

Material type Density /kg m3 Poissons ratio Youngs modulus E/GPa

Steel 7800 0.3 206
Aluminum 2810 0.3 71
Epoxy 1180 0.3 4.35
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Displacement UGZ /m

SEM
FEM5
FEM10

Frequency f/ Hz

Figure 6. The frequency responses of node G in the Z-direction for the initial model.

It can be also observed that the responses in some frequency regions (such as 770
830 and 850905 Hz) are much smaller than those in other frequency regions. It means
the waves in these frequencies cannot propagate in the structure, i.e. when the structure
is applied by the external excitation force in these frequency regions, the structure can-
not vibrate. These frequency regions are called bandgaps, and the other frequency
regions are called pass bands. This phenomenon is called the bandgap property of the
structure. In other words, the structure itself has the capability of the vibration isolation.
Figure 7 shows the inuence of the span a on the dynamic property. According to
the initial model, the frequency responses are calculated when a is 1, 1.01 and 1.02 m,
respectively. With the increase of a, it can be observed that the shapes of bandgaps
change slightly, while the locations move to the lower frequency regions. This phenom-
enon becomes more obvious in the high frequency ranges. More bandgaps appear with
the span a increasing in the given frequency ranges.
 Waves in Random and Complex Media 413

Displacement UGZ /m

a=1m
a=1.01m
a=1.02m

Frequency f / Hz

Figure 7. The frequency responses of node G along the Z-direction when the span a is 1, 1.01
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and 1.02 m, respectively.

Figure 8 shows the effect of the substructure height HT on the dynamic property. HT
is the sum of the lower height h1 and the upper height h2. The frequency responses are
calculated when HT is 1, 1.01 and 1.02 m, respectively, and the corresponding h1 is
0.5, 0.505 and 0.51 m, respectively. The inuences are similar in trend to those of the
span a. It means the structure can isolate the vibration in more frequencies with the
increase of HT, so the capability of the structure to resist the vibration is improved.
Figure 9 shows the inuence of the substructure number on the dynamic property.
Based on the initial model, the frequency responses are calculated when the substruc-
ture number nT is 5, 10 and 15, respectively. With the increase of the substructure num-
ber, it can be observed that the vibration bandgap becomes clearer. While the width, the
location and the bandgap number have no changes. When the substructure number is
15, the responses in the bandgaps are the smallest. It means compared with the other
two structures, the waves propagate through the structure more hardly.
Displacement UGZ / m

HT =1m
HT =1.01m
HT =1.02m

Frequency f / Hz

Figure 8. The frequency responses of node G along the Z-direction when the substructure height
HT is 1, 1.01 and 1.02 m, respectively.
 414 S.-R. Wen et al.

Displacement UGZ /m

nT = 5
nT = 10
nT = 15

Frequency f /Hz
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Figure 9. The frequency responses of node G along the Z-direction when the substructure
number nT is 5, 10 and 15, respectively.

Figure 10 shows the inuence of material combinations on the dynamic property.

Three combination types of the lower and upper layers (i.e. steelsteel, steelaluminum
and steelepoxy) are calculated. It can be found that there is nearly no bandgap for
the case of steelsteel. For the other two cases, the bandgaps appear. Moreover, the
bandgap property of the steelepoxy combination is more obvious than that of the
steelaluminum combination. Figure 10 also illustrates that there are the most bandgaps
in the responses of the steelepoxy combination. These observations may conrm that
the greater the difference material properties of the combination, the better performance
of the dynamic property.

steel-steel steel-epoxy
steel-aluminum
Displacement UGZ / m

Frequency f / Hz

Figure 10. The frequency response of node G along the Z-direction for the material combination
steelsteel, steelaluminum and steelepoxy, respectively.
 Waves in Random and Complex Media 415

Displacement UGZ /m
=0

= 0.001
= 0.002

Frequency f / Hz
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Figure 11. The frequency responses of node G along the Z-direction when the structural loss
factor is 0, 0.001 and 0.002, respectively.

Since the actual structure damping is universal, it is worth to investigate the inu-
ence of the structural damping on the dynamic property. It can be considered by the
complex Youngs modulus E(1 + i), where is the structural loss factor. The frequency
responses are calculated as shown in Figure 11 when is 0, 0.001 and 0.002, respec-
tively. It can be found that with the increase of the structural damping, the response
amplitudes in the pass bands become smaller, but the location and the width of the
bandgap remain the same. Considering the vibration isolation, the structure damping
can work in the pass bands, while it cannot enhance the bandgap property.
Figure 12 displays the frequency responses of the node G with different load loca-
tions. The load is applied on nodes A, B and C and all the four bottom nodes along the

A C

B A, B, C and D
Displacement UGZ / m

Frequency f / Hz

Figure 12. The frequency responses of node G along the Z-direction when the load locates at A,
B and C and all nodes at the bottom along the Z-direction, respectively.
 416 S.-R. Wen et al.

Displacement UGZ /m

F_X

F_Y F_Z

Frequency f /Hz
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Figure 13. The frequency response of node G along the Z-direction when Fex is located at point
C along X-, Y- and Z-direction, respectively.

Z-direction, respectively. It can be observed that if the load is applied on the node A, B
or C, respectively, there is no obvious inuence on the bandgaps. If all the nodes at the
bottom are loaded evenly, it produces more bandgaps and increases the width of the
bandgaps. So the uniformly structural loading can make full use of the vibration
isolation performance of the structure.
Figure 13 shows the frequency responses of the node G along the Z-direction with
different load directions. The load is applied on nodes C along the X-, Y- and Z-direc-
tion, respectively. It can be seen that when the load is along the X- and Y-direction,
respectively, the two responses obtained coincide with each other. But, neither of them
agrees with the response obtained by applying the load along the Z- direction. However,
in general, there is no obvious inuence on the bandgaps. So, the effect of the load
direction on the bandgaps is negligible for this structure.

4. Conclusions
In this paper, according to the DFT theory and the Nyquist condition, the vibration
equations of the rod, the beam and the torsion bar are represented as the spectral form.
Furthermore, the dynamic shape functions are derived. Then the variational method is
used to construct the spectral stiffness matrixes. Moreover, the spectral stiffness matrix
of the space beam-column element is obtained by superimposing the stiffness matrix
results of the rod, the beam and the torsion bar. After that, the inuence factors on the
dynamic properties are analyzed from the frequency responses. Based on the results, the
main ndings in this work are as follows:

(1) Compared with the FEM, the SEM can provide extremely accurate frequency
responses of the space-frame structure by smaller element numbers and lower
time costs.
(2) The structure size has inuences on the dynamic properties. With the increase
of the span and the height of the substructure, the bandgap appears in the lower
frequency regions. With the substructure number increasing, the bandgap
 Waves in Random and Complex Media 417

becomes more obvious but the location, the width and numbers of the bandgaps
have no change.
(3) The material has inuences on the dynamic properties. It is easier to obtain the
bandgap when the components of the substructure are different materials.
Furthermore, the more different material properties, the better vibration isolation
of the structure. With the increase of the structural damping, the amplitude in
the pass bands becomes smaller but the location and the width of the bandgap
do not change.
(4) If the structure is subject to the uniform load, the bandgaps are more obvious in
comparison with that of the structure being subject to the general load, i.e. the
structure can give full play to its performance of the vibration isolation under
the uniform loads. The effect of the load direction on the bandgaps is
negligible.
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Overall, the dynamic property of the structure itself cannot be ignored. The results
presented in this paper are expected to be useful in the design of the structural vibration
isolation.
Nomenclature
E Youngs modulus
I cross-sectional moment of inertia about the neutral axis
mass density
A sectional area
v(x, t) transverse displacement in the time domain
N number of samples in the time domain
V(x, n) spectral components of the displacement v(x, t)
n frequency of the nth harmonic
C3, C4, C5, C6 coefcients with respect to
L the length
kb wavenumber for the bending wavemode
Vbb() nodal displacement vector of the beam element
Vbb1, bb1, Vbb2, nodal displacement components of the beam element
bb2
Nsb dynamic shape function of the beam element
V arbitrary variation of V
Mt(x, t), Qt(x, t) internal bending moment and transverse shear force in the time domain,
respectively
Mf(x, ), Qf(x, ) spectral components of the moment Mt(x, t) and the force Qt(x, t),
respectively
ffbb nodal force vector of the beam element in the frequency domain
Qfb1, Mfb1, Qfb2, Mfb2 nodal force components of the beam element
Sb() spectral stiffness matrix of the beam element
u(x, t) longitudinal displacement in the time domain
Ubr vector of the spectral nodal displacement of the rod element in the
frequency domain
U1, U2 nodal displacement components of the rod element
ffbr nodal force vector of the rod element in the frequency domain
ff1, ff2 nodal force components of the rod element
Sr() spectral stiffness matrix of the rod element
kr wavenumber for the longitudinal wavemode
bs, Tfbs nodal displacement vector and nodal force vector in the frequency
domain, respectively
 418 S.-R. Wen et al.

bs1, bs2 nodal displacement components of the torsion bar element

Tfbs1, Tfbs2 nodal force components of the torsion bar element
Ss() spectral stiffness matrix of the torsion bar element
G shear modulus
Poissons ratio
Ip polar moment of inertia
ks wavenumber for the torsional wavemode
Uspb, ffspb nodal displacement and nodal force vector of the space beam-column
element in frequency domain, respectively
U1, V1, W1, z1, y1, left nodal displacement components of the space beam-column element
1
U2, V2, W2, z2, y2, right nodal displacement components of the space beam-column element
2
ffu1, ffv1, ffw1, Mz1, left nodal force components of the space beam-column element
My1, T1
ffu2, ffv2, ffw2, Mz2, right nodal force components of the space beam-column element
My2, T2
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Ssp() spectral stiffness matrix of the space beam-column element

Fex external excitation force
a span of the space-frame structure
h1, h2 lower and upper height of the space-frame structure, respectively
r radius of section
nT substructure number
HnT total height of the space-frame structure
structural loss factor

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express gratitude for the support provided by the National Key Technology
R&D Program during the Twelfth Five-year Plan Period under Grant Number 2011BAJ02B01-02
for this research work.

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Appendix 1.
Ssp11, Ssp12 and Ssp22 in Equation (32) can be expressed as
2 EAk 3
r cos kr L
sin kr L 0 0 0 0 0
6 7
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EIz R1 EIz R2
6 0 0 0 7
6 L3 L2
7
6 EIy R1
0
EI R
 Ly2 2 0 7
S sp11 x 6
6
L3 7; (A1)
0 7
GIp ks cos ks L
6 0 7
6 sin ks L
7
4 Sym:
EIy R5
L 0 5
EIz R5
L

2 3
 sin
EAkr
kL 0 0 0 0 0
6 0 r EIz R3 7
EIz R4
6 0 0 0 7
6 L3 L2
7
6 0 0
EIy R3
0
EI R
 Ly2 4 0 7
S sp12 x 6
6 0
L3 7; (A2)
0 7
GI k
6 0 0  sin pks sL 0 7
6 7
4 0 0
EIy R4
L2 0
EIy R6
L 0 5
0  EILz2R4 0 0 0 EIz R6
L

2 EAk 3
r cos kr L
sin kr L 0 0 0 0 0
6 EIz R1
 EILz2R2 7
6 0 0 0 7
6 L3
7
6 EIy R1
0
EIy R2
0 7
S sp22 x 6
6
L3 L2 7; (A3)
0 7
GIp ks cos ks L
6 0 7
6 sin ks L
7
4 Sym:
EIy R5
L 0 5
EIz R5
L
where Iy and Iz are the area moment of inertia about y- and z-axes, respectively.