GEM 218E - Structural Dynamics

Course Objectives

To understand the key concepts and ideas of structural dynamics as well as the place of vibration in everyday life
To transform dynamic engineering problems into representative models, which are realistic enough and suitable for mathematical treatment
To perform linear dynamic analysis of mechanical systems in a systematic way
To study alternative solution approaches for dynamic structural analysis and learn to apply on proper type of problems
To evaluate dynamic performance of mechanical systems by analyzing the obtained numerical results
To appreciate the importance of numerical approximations for engineering computations

Course Description

Fundamentals of structural vibration: basic concepts and elements, excitations and their effects, main principles; Linear vibration of single- and multi-degrees-of-freedom structural systems: free vibration, forced vibration (harmonic, periodic and general excitations), eigenvalue problem and dynamic characteristics, principles of structural dynamics (principle of virtual work, D’Alembert’s principle, Hamilton’s principle, Lagrange’s equations), analytical and numerical solution techniques; Linear vibration of continuous systems