Free Vibrations of Multi-Degree Structures: Solving Quadratic Eigenvalue Problems with an Excitation and Fast Iterative Detection Method

For the free vibrations of multi-degree mechanical structures appeared in structural dynamics, we solve the quadratic eigenvalue problem either by linearizing it to a generalized eigenvalue problem or directly treating it by developing the iterative detection methods for the real and complex eigenvalues. To solve the generalized eigenvalue problem, we impose a nonzero exciting vector into the eigen-equation, and solve a nonhomogeneous linear system to obtain a response curve, which consists of the magnitudes of the n-vectors with respect to the eigen-parameters in a range. The n-dimensional eigenvector is supposed to be a superposition of a constant exciting vector and an m-vector, which can be obtained in terms of eigen-parameter by solving the projected eigen-equation. In doing so, we can save computational cost because the response curve is generated from the data acquired in a lower dimensional subspace. We develop a fast iterative detection method by maximizing the magnitude to locate the eigenvalue, which appears as a peak in the response curve. Through zoom-in sequentially, very accurate eigenvalue can be obtained. We reduce the number of eigen-equation to n−1 to find the eigen-mode with its certain component being normalized to the unit. The real and complex eigenvalues and eigen-modes can be determined simultaneously, quickly and accurately by the proposed methods.