INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DELHI

Laboratory Report
TORSINALLY COUPLED SINGLE DEGREE OF FREEDOM SYSTEM BY
PERFORMING EIGEN VALUE ANALYSIS

Submitted To:
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Delhi

Submitted By:
Prajwol Karki
CES152770
 EXPERIMENT-7

TORSINALLY COUPLED SINGLE DEGREE OF FREEDOM SYSTEM BY

PERFORMING EIGEN VALUE ANALYSIS

OBJECTIVES:

To study and compare the natural frequency of a torsionally coupled single degree of freedom
system (by performing eigen value analysis) with that obtained from experimental setup.

THEORY:

An eccentric system is defined as a system with non-coincident centre of mass and centre of
stiffness which may arise due to non-uniform stiffness of the lateral load carrying elements. When
such a system is subjected to dynamic excitations (e.g., earthquakes, wind, ocean waves), the
inertia forces can be modelled as acting through the centre of mass, while the resultants of the
resisting forces respond through the centre of stiffness. This creates a moment between the two
opposing forces, resulting into a torsional effect, coupled with the lateral motion as shown in the
figure (a).In this experiment, a one-story structure model composed of a rigid rectangular top plate
supported by four columns is taken into consideration.. The x-axis (along the lateral direction)
crosses the y-axis (along longitudinal. direction) at the centre of mass of the superstructure (top
plate + added weights). The coordinate system of the structure is shown in the figure(b) below:

Fig a: Torsionally coupled system. Fig b: Representation of axis and degrees of freedoms

The columns of the model are assumed to be inextensible and their mass negligible compared to
the mass of the whole system. The top plate is quasi-rigid in and out of plane. Thus, the system
has three degrees of freedom, namely ux, uy, and uθ as shown in the above fib(b) . Columns are
placed symmetrically in both the x and y directions so that the center of rigidity is located at the
geometric center of the top plate. Different levels of eccentricity are introduced into the structure
by placing additional concentrated masses at various pre-determined locations on the top plate. As

Submitted By: Prajwol Karki, 2015CES2770 Page 1

a result, the center of mass of the whole system varies according to the location of the added
masses. For the purpose of this experiment, the model is excited only in the y-direction and
eccentricity is imposed only along the x-axis. The distance between the two centre’s (centre of
mass, c.m., and center of stiffness, c.s.) along the x- and y-direction is denoted as eccentricity along
the x-direction, Ex, and eccentricity along the y-direction, Ey, respectively.The general equation of
motion for an undamped multiple-degree-of-freedom system undergoing free vibration is derived
from Newton’s second law and takes the form

M 0 0  ux   K x 0 K x E y  u x 
0     
 M 0  uy    0 Ky K y E x  u y   (0);
 0 0 M R  u   K x E y K y Ex K   u  

Where,

M = mass lumped at the floor level

MR = rotational mass of the system

Kx = stiffness of system in x-direction

Ky = stiffness of system in y-direction

Eigen value analysis can be performed using the following equation to obtain the natural
frequencies.

[ K ]  [ M ] 2  0;

EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP

The model of a SDOF shear frame considered in this experiment consists of four columns (of
which three are made up of steel and remaining one is made up of aluminium), a rigid steel plate.
There are two accelerometers connected to monitor the response in x and y directions as shown in
figure below

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 Steel plate
Aluminium column

Figure 3: Experimental setup and Representation.

PROCEDURE
Accelerometers were attached at the defined position. Frequency generators were used for exciting
single storey unsymmetrical frame from bottom. These accelerometers were connected to data
acquisition system in which the different frequencies were applied to the frame .Response of frame
to each frequency was observed with the help of data acquisition system and maximum response
was noted down for each frequency. These values were checked with the theoretical values and
results were interpreted.

OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS

Sr. Frequency Acceleration in x- Acceleration in y-

No. (Hz) direction (max. direction (max. value)
value)
1. 2 -0.0912 0.0374
2. 3 0.0921 -0.0391
3. 4 -0.0863 -0.0400
4. 5 0.0929 0.0449
5. 6 -0.470 0.1710
6. 7 -0.4693 -0.1442
7. 8 -0.4635 0.2333
8. 9 0.1977 0.2422
9. 10 -0.3144 0.2925
10. 11 -0.3161 -04309
11. 12 -0.4531 0.5298
12. 13 0.1430 0.3380
13. 14 -0.1728 0.3410
14. 15 -0.1858 0.5609
15. 16 0.1770 0.6267
16. 17 0.1196 0.2555
17. 18 - 0.1695 -0.3562
18. 19 -0.5804 -0.6580
19. 20 0.5948 -0.7868

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 20. 21 1.3690 -1.6229
21. 22 -1.3888 -1.4698
22. 23 1.3970 1.6706
23. 24 0.6838 -0.5810
24. 25 1.0811 0.7240

Lumped mass at first storey (M) = 3.926 Kg

4 4
Rotational mass (MR) = M r  M d
i 1
i
2

i 1
i
2
(using parallel axis theorem) = 0.442 Kg-m

K y
i 1
i i
 Kx
4
i 1 i i
c.s.x = 4
= 124.4 mm ; c.s.y = 4
62.5 mm ; c.m.x = 150 mm ; c.m.y = 75 mm
K
i 1
i K
i 1
i

Ex = 25.60 mm ; Ey = 12.80;

φal = diameter of aluminium = 9.2 mm

φst = diameter of steel = 8.7 mm

Kx = Ky = 19094.625 ;

Using the above values, calculated natural frequencies are as follows

f1 = 5.79 Hz ; f2 = 11.10 Hz ; f3 = 11.15 Hz ;

CONCLUSIONS:

After eigen value analysis of torsionally coupled single degree of freedom, fundamental frequency
was found to be 5.79.

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