
8.2 Normal-Mode Approach 449
Solving for X
j
from Eqs. (8.36), we obtain
(8.37)
where the term in the denominator has the form
(8.38)
and a
1
and a
2
are given by Eqs. (7.46). When D
o
0, we have the character-
istic equation given by Eq. (7.45).
From Eqs. (8.37), it is evident that whenever the excitation frequency v
is equal to a natural frequency of the system, that is, when v v
1
or v v
2
,
the displacement responses X
j
become infinite; hence, each of these frequency
relationships between the excitation frequency and a system natural fre-
quency is called a resonance relation and at these excitation frequencies, the
system is said to be in resonance. In Chapter 5, it was seen that for a linear
single degree-of-freedom system there is one excitation frequency at which
we have a resonance. Since a linear two degree-of-freedom system has two
natural frequencies, there are two excitation frequencies at which we can have
a resonance. By extension, since a linear system with N degrees of freedom
has N natural frequencies, there are N excitation frequencies at which we can
have a resonance. It is also noted from the stability discussion of Section 7.5
that an undamped multiple degree-of-freedom system is unbounded when ex-
cited at one of its resonances.
In a manner similar to that for a single degree-of-freedom system, we
construct the system frequency-response functions. To this end, we set F
2
0
in Eqs. (8.37) and obtain
(8.39)
Similarly, setting F
1
0 in Eqs. (8.37), we find that
(8.40)
In Eqs. (8.39) and (8.40), the frequency-response functions H
ij
() are
nondimensional, the subscript i is associated with the response of inertial el-
ement m
i
and the subscript j is associated with the force input to the inertial
element m
j
. Transfer functions and associated frequency-response functions
are obtained for more general cases in Section 8.5.
X
2
F
2
/k
2
H
22
1 2
v
2
r
11 v
2
r
m
r
2
2
D
o
X
1
F
2
/k
2
H
12
1 2
m
r
v
4
r
D
o
X
2
F
1
/k
1
H
21
1 2
v
2
r
D
o
X
1
F
1
/k
1
H
11
1 2
v
2
r
11 k
32
2
2
D
o
D
o
4
a
1
2
a
2
X
2
v
2
r
D
o
31F
1
/k
1
2 1F
2
/k
2
231 v
2
r
m
r
2
44
X
1
1
D
o
31F
1
/k
1
23v
2
r
11 k
32
2
2
4 1F
2
/k
2
2m
r
v
4
r
4