where a and b are real-valued constants. Since, in Eq. (7.83), the damping
matrix is a combination of a matrix proportional to the mass matrix
and a matrix proportional to a stiffness matrix , we use the designation
proportional damping.
On substituting Eq. (7.83) into Eq. (7.81), we arrive at the eigenvalue
problem
(7.84)
which is rewritten in the form
(7.85)
Next, we compare the eigenvalues l
dk
of the proportionally damped system
with the eigenvalues l
k
of the undamped system determined from Eq. (7.25).
These eigenvalues are determined by the following characteristic equations
determined from Eq. (7.26) and Eq. (7.85), respectively.
Undamped system
(7.86)
Damped system
(7.87)
When the two characteristic polynomials given by Eqs. (7.86) and (7.87) are
compared, it is clear that l
dk
l
k
; that is, the eigenvalues for the proportion-
ally damped case are not the same as those for the undamped case. Since
and are real and symmetric matrices, the eigenvalues of the undamped
system are real and l
k
jv
k
, where v
k
are the system natural frequen-
cies. By contrast, the eigenvalues of the proportionally damped system are
complex-valued quantities.
To carry out a proper comparison of the eigenvectors of a damped system
with those of the corresponding undamped system, the state-space formula-
tion discussed in Section 8.3 is needed. From such a formulation, it can be es-
tablished that the eigenvectors of the proportionally damped system and the
eigenvectors of the associated undamped system have a similar structure; in
particular, the ratios of the modal components corresponding to the displace-
ment states are the same in the undamped and damped cases.
29
This informa-
tion will now be used to determine the relationship between l
dk
and l
k
.
Let {X}
k
be the eigenvector associated with the eigenvalue of the un-
damped system described by Eq. (7.25). Then, setting l l
dk
and {X}
{X}
k
in Eq. (7.85) we obtain
(7.88)
Pre-multiplying Eqs. (7.88) by {X}
T
k
, we arrive at
311 bl
dk
23K 4 l
dk
1l
dk
a23M 445X6
k
506
k 1, 2, . . ., N
l
2
k
l
2
dk
l
2
k
3M 4
3K 4
det 311 bl23K 4 l1l a23M 44 0
det 33K 4 l
2
3M 44 0
311 bl23K4 l1l a23M445X6 506
3l
2
3M 4 la3M4 bl3K4 3K 445X6 506
3K 4
3M 43C 4
400 CHAPTER 7 Multiple Degree-of-Freedom Systems
29
P. C. Müller and W. O. Schiehlen, ibid.