Multi Mass Spring Development

Solid bar continuous model

Below is a solid model of a spring, represented as a longitudinal beam.

Figure 1. A solid bar fixed on one end and free on the other is examined for its free
vibration properties.
The solid mass m
S
and stiffness k
S
yield a base natural frequency that is some
unknown fraction n of the nominal value sqrt(k
S
/m
S
). The materials and
geometry properties are:
E is the modulus of elasticity
is the mass density
A is the uniform cross-sectional area
L is the total length of the bar.

From a solid mechanics point of view the wave equation in a bar is

2
2
2 2
2
1
dt
u d
c dx
u d
= (1)
where:
u is the instantaneous longitudinal deflection
c is the speed of sound in the material defined as

E
c = (2)

The general form of the longitudinal waves is
) sin( ) sin( ) , ( t x U t x u = (3)
where:
U is arbitrary vibration amplitude constant
is wave shape constant
is wave frequency constant

Using the wave equation the wave frequency is evaluated
0 ) sin( ) sin(
2
2
2
=
|
|

\
|
t x
c
U

} = c (4)

This frequency represents the base natural frequency of the bar and thus
= c
S
(5)
AL m
S
=
L EA k
S
/ =
S S S
m k n / =
F
X
For the free vibration problem the end force F
X
must be equal to zero and thus
the boundary equation must be satisfied
0 = =
=L x
X
dx
du
EA F (6)
which yields the wave shape constant of
0 ) cos( = = L U EA F
X
} ) 2 /( L = (7)

Combining (4) and (7) yields the natural base frequency of the bar

L
c
S
=
2

(8)
Using the notation in Figure 1 the natural frequency is

AL
L EA
n
S

/
= }
2

= n (9)
The effective mass of the bar is defined as

EFF
S
S
m
k
= (10)
yielding a mass fraction dependent on n as
405 . 0
4 1
2 2
= = =
n m
m
S
EFF
(11)
Multi mass spring model
A discrete mass spring system is used to represent the same bar

with each individual mass m
i
located at a node and a spring k
i
between nodes. If
all masses and springs are identical then the overall mass is spring rate is

i S
m N m = & N k k
i S
/ = (12)
where:
N is the number of springs in system

The equations of motion for each node is

i i i i
x m f f & & =
+1
(13)
where:
f
i
is the internal force of spring i.

i
x& & is the acceleration of node i.

The spring force is a function of the nodal positions such as
) (
1
=
i i i i
x x k f (14)
where:
x
i
is deflection of node i.

i
m
i
k
1 0 2 N i i+1 F
X
Matrix Notation
Overall considering a branch matrix Y with

(
(
(
(
(
(

=
1
1 1
1 1
1 1
O Y (15)

The motion equations are represented in matrix form as
F u M f Y + = & & (16)
and the spring forces are represented in matrix form as
u Y K f
T
= (17)
where:
Y is a branch matrix with structure
f is the vector of spring forces
( )
N N
f f f f f
1 2 1
= L
u& & is the vector of nodal deflections
( )
N N
u u u u u
1 2 1
= L
with nodal accelerations
( )
N N
u u u u
dt
u d
u & & & & L & & & & & &
1 2 1 2
2

= =
M is the mass matrix

(
(
(

=
N
m
m
M O
1

K is the stiffness matrix

(
(
(

=
N
k
k
K O
1

F is the vector of applied forces
( )
X
F F 0 0 0 L =

Combining the two equations yields
F u M u Y K Y
T
+ = & & ) ( (18)
and considering a harmonic response to the deflections
) sin( ) ( ) , ( t x U t x u = (19)
and
) , ( ) , (
2
t x u t x u
S
= & & (20)
0 = F (21)
To find the natural frequencies the following eigenvalue problem needs to be
solved
| | 0 ) (
2 1
=

u Y K Y M
S
T

Since M and K are diagonal matrices the following scaling can be done
| | 0 1 = u Y Y
T

where:
is the lowest eigenvalue

S S
S
i i
S
m k N m k /
1
/
2
2
2

= = (22)

The base natural frequency is then equal to

S S S S S
m k n m k N / / = = } N n = (23)

Based on the structure of Y the first eigenvalue converges when N to

2
2
4N

= } 2 / = n (24)
so the discrete case converges with the solid case when the # of nodes goes to
infinity. Below is a plot of n=N as a function of N. It is evident that the value
converges rapidly to /2 for N>30.
5 10 15 20 25 30
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
Count of springs
N
a
t
u
r
a
l

f
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

f
r
a
c
t
i
o
n
Vibration of multi mass spring

Below is the MATLAB code to produce this plot
Y = @(n) eye(n)-diag(ones(n-1,1),1); % define branch matrix Y(n)
S.type = (); % define structure to get first element
S.subs = {1,1}; % from matrix
ratio = @(n)n*sqrt(subsref(schur(Y(n)*Y(n)'), S)); %r=N(n)
for n=1:30, omg(n,1)=ratio(n); end % cache value for n=1..30
plot(omg) % plot

Example
A multi mass spring system with N=3 springs is examined.

(
(
(

=
1 0 0
1 1 0
0 1 1
Y
1981 . 0 ) (
1 1
= =
T
Y Y eig
3351 . 1
1
= = N n

S
S
S
m
k
3351 . 1 =

So the effective mass ratio of the spring is
561 . 0
3351 . 1
1
2
= =
S
EFF
m
m

which is higher than in the continuous bar case by 38.4%.