Forms of System and Vibration in Structural Dynamics

The components of dynamic system generate resisting force against external dynamic force. Each of them is correlated with one structural response: displacement, velocity and acceleration.

A building may be idealized as single degree of freedom (SDOF) or multi degree of freedom (MDOF) system. As its name suggests, SDOF denotes the model possessing only one displaceable mass component, and a MDOF possesses multiple number of it.

Furthermore, a structural vibration may be categorized as free and forced vibration. A system requires initial displacement, velocity or acceleration before it can undergo free vibration.

In real-life cases, almost all the systems are considered damped system. Only in theoretical scenario, we may consider them as undamped system to achieve certain objectives.

The following introduces the forms of system and vibration in a dynamic system. Watch the video above for full details.