Software Verification
PROGRAM NAME: SAP2000
REVISION NO.: 6
EXAMPLE 6-005
LINK – DAMPER ELEMENT UNDER HARMONIC LOADING
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
In this single degree of freedom example a spring-mass-damper system is
subjected to a harmonic load. The frequency of the harmonic load is chosen to be
equal to the frequency of the spring-mass-damper system. The damper is
assumed to provide 5% of critical damping. The displacements of the spring-
mass-damper system at various arbitrary times and the steady-state deformation
of the system are compared with results that are hand calculated using formulas
presented in Chopra 1995.
The SAP2000 model consists of a single joint, labeled joint 1, and two link
elements. One of the link elements is a linear spring element and the other is a
damper element.
The model is created in the XZ plane. Only the Uz degree of freedom is active for
the analysis. The link elements are modeled as single-joint link elements at joint
1. This means that one end of the link element is connected to the ground and the
other end is connected to joint 1. The link elements are oriented such that their
positive local 1 axes are parallel to the positive global Z axis. This is the default
orientation of single joint link elements. Only U1 degree of freedom properties
are defined for the link elements. The stiffness of the linear link element is 100
k/in. For linear analyses, the damper element has zero stiffness and damping
properties, and for nonlinear analyses its stiffness is 10,000 k/in and its damping
coefficient, c, is 1 kip-sec/in. The damping exponent is set equal to 1, meaning
that the force versus velocity characteristics of the damper are linear. The
derivation of those properties for the damper element is presented later in this
example.
A 1 kip-sec2/in translational mass in the Uz direction is assigned to joint 1. Also a
10 kip point load is assigned to joint 1 in the positive Uz direction.
A nonlinear time history analysis must be performed to obtain the desired
damper element behavior. For this example both a modal time history load case
named NLMHIST1 and a direct integration time history load case named
NLDHIST1 are used. A sine wave function that defines the variation of the 10
kip point load over time is created for use in these load cases.
EXAMPLE 6-005 - 1
Software Verification
PROGRAM NAME: SAP2000
REVISION NO.: 6
Both the NLMHIST1 and the NLDHIST1 load cases use an output step time size
of 0.01 second and 2,550 total output steps, yielding results for 25.5 seconds,
which is just over 40 cycles of loading. The sine wave function is defined for 41
cycles of loading.
GEOMETRY, PROPERTIES AND LOADING
Linear Link Properties (U1 DOF)
Harmonic load, p(t), is Linear ks = 100 k/in
p(t) = posinwnt applied with a frequency, Damper Properties (U1 DOF)
wn, equal to the natural
Linear kd = 0 k/in
frequency of the system
Linear cd = 0 k-sec/in
u(t)
m Nonlinear kd = 10,000 k/in
Damper element (dashpot Nonlinear cd = 1 k-sec/in
Linear spring cd in series with a spring) Joint Mass
link element properties are set to provide
ks m = 1 k-sec2/in
pure damping at a level
Z kd equal to 5% of critical Loading
damping (ξ = 0.05) po = 10 k
wn = 10 radians/sec
X Active Degrees of Freedom
Uz only
EXAMPLE 6-005 - 2
Software Verification
PROGRAM NAME: SAP2000
REVISION NO.: 6
DERIVATION OF DAMPER ELEMENT PROPERTIES
The natural frequency, ωn, of the system is calculated as:
ks 100
n 10 radians/sec
m 1
The damping coefficient for the damper, cd, is calculated as:
c d 2 n m 2 * 0.05 * 10 * 1 1 kip-sec/in
If pure damping behavior is desired from the damper element, as is the case in
this example, the effect of the spring can be made negligible by making its
stiffness, kd, sufficiently stiff. The spring stiffness should be large enough so that
the characteristic time of the spring-dashpot damper element, given by τ = cd/kd,
is approximately two to three orders of magnitude smaller than 1/ωn. Care must
be taken not to make kd excessively large because numerical sensitivity may
result.
For this example the spring stiffness is initially based on τ being three orders of
magnitude smaller than 1/ωn. Thus τ can be expressed as:
cd 1 n
k d 1,000
Solving for kd yields:
k d 1,000 n c d 1,000 * 10 * 1 10,000 k/in
TECHNICAL FEATURES OF SAP2000 TESTED
Damper element links
Linear link elements
Nonlinear modal time history analysis
Nonlinear direct integration time history analysis
Joint force loads
EXAMPLE 6-005 - 3
Software Verification
PROGRAM NAME: SAP2000
REVISION NO.: 6
RESULTS COMPARISON
Independent results are hand calculated using equation 3.2.6 on page 70 in
Chopra 1995.
Results for Model A
Output Percent
Parameter Load Case SAP2000 Independent Difference
Uz (jt 1) displ NLMHIST1 -0.10488 0%
at t = 0.50 sec -0.10488
in NLDHIST1 -0.10483 -0.05%
Uz (jt 1) displ NLMHIST1 -0.88875 +0.02%
at t = 5.00 sec -0.88858
in NLDHIST1 -0.88835 -0.03%
Uz (jt 1) displ NLMHIST1 0.99453 -0.04%
at t = 11.00 sec 0.99497
in NLDHIST1 0.99454 -0.04%
Steady-state NLMHIST1 0.99971 -0.03%
deformation 1.00000
in NLDHIST1 0.99965 -0.04%
Model B is created to demonstrate that the steady-state results can also be
obtained using a steady-state load case. Because the steady-state load case is a
linear load case and the damper element behaves differently for linear analyses
and nonlinear analyses the damper element properties are different in Models A
and B.
The figure to the right illustrates the
damper element properties used for cnonlinear
nonlinear and linear analyses. For
nonlinear analyses the damper element klinear clinear
knonlinear
acts as a spring in series with a dashpot
and uses the specified nonlinear spring
stiffness and damping coefficient for the Damper Properties Damper Properties
for for
damper. In contrast, for linear analyses, Nonlinear Analyses Linear Analyses
the damper element acts as a spring in
parallel with a dashpot and uses the
EXAMPLE 6-005 - 4
Software Verification
PROGRAM NAME: SAP2000
REVISION NO.: 6
specified linear spring stiffness and damping coefficient for the damper. This
difference in nonlinear and linear behavior occurs for most types of link
elements.
Model B uses only a damper link element. The linear link element is not used.
The linear spring stiffness for the damper is set to 100 k/in and the damping
coefficient is set to 1 k-sec/in. The steady-state load case is defined with no
hysteretic damping. If hysteretic damping were defined in the steady-state case, it
would be used instead of the damping specified for the damper element.
The following table presents the results obtained for Model B. The comparison
with the independent results is exact.
Results for Model B
Output Load Percent
Parameter Case SAP2000 Independent Difference
Steady-state
deformation at freq
SS1 1.00000 1.00000 0%
= 1.5915 sec
in
COMPUTER FILES: Example 6-005a, Example 6-005b
CONCLUSION
The SAP2000 results show an acceptable comparison with the independent
results.
EXAMPLE 6-005 - 5
Software Verification
PROGRAM NAME: SAP2000
REVISION NO.: 6
HAND CALCULATION
EXAMPLE 6-005 - 6
Software Verification
PROGRAM NAME: SAP2000
REVISION NO.: 6
EXAMPLE 6-005 - 7
Software Verification
PROGRAM NAME: SAP2000
REVISION NO.: 6
EXAMPLE 6-005 - 8
