| Abstract: | An efficient numerical algorithm is developed to solve the quadratic eigenvalue problems arising in the dynamic analysis of damped structural systems. The algorithm can even be applied to structural systems with non-symmetric matrices. The algorithm is based on the use of Arnoldi's method to generate a Krylov subspace of trial vectors, which is then used to reduce a large eigenvalue problem to a much smaller one. The reduced eigenvalue problem is solved and the solutions are used to construct approximate solutions to the original large system. In the process, the algorithm takes full advantage of the sparseness and symmetry of the system matrices and requires no complex arithmetic, therefore, making it very economical for use in solving large problems. The numerical results from test examples are presented to demonstrate that a large fraction of the approximate solutions calculated are very accurate, indicating that the algorithm is highly effective for extracting a number of vibration modes for a large dynamic system, whether it is lightly or heavily damped. |
