Structural Dynamic Analysis with Generalized Damping Models: Analysis

Chapter 1Introduction to Damping Models and Analysis Methods

It is true that the grasping of truth is not possible without empirical basis. However, the deeper we penetrate and the more extensive and embracing our theories become, the less empirical knowledge is needed to determine those theories.

Albert Einstein, December 1952

Problems involving vibration occur in many areas of mechanical, civil and aerospace engineering: wave loading of offshore platforms, cabin noise in aircrafts, earthquake and wind loading of cable-stayed bridges and high-rise buildings, performance of machine tools – to pick only few random examples. Quite often vibration is not desirable and the interest lies in reducing it by dissipation of vibration energy or damping. Characterization of damping forces in a vibrating structure has long been an active area of research in structural dynamics. Since the publication of Lord Rayleigh’s classic monograph Theory of Sound (1877), a large body of literature can now be found on damping. Although the topic of damping is an age old problem, the demands of modern engineering have led to a steady increase of interest in recent years. Studies of damping have a major role in vibration isolation in automobiles under random loading due to surface irregularities and buildings subjected to earthquake loadings. The developments in the fields of robotics and active structures have provided impetus toward developing procedures for dealing with general dissipative forces in the ...