Generalized Coordinates and Rayleigh’s Method

Abstract

In the preceding chapters we concentrated our efforts in obtaining the response to dynamic loads of structures modeled by the simple oscillator, that is, structures that may be analyzed as a damped or undamped spring-mass system. Our plan in the present chapter is to discuss the conditions under which a structural system consisting of multiple interconnected rigid bodies or having distributed mass and elasticity can still be modeled as a one-degree of-freedom system. We begin by presenting an alternative method to the direct application of Newton’s Law of Motion, the principle of virtual work.