Stationary response of combined linear dynamic systems to stationary excitation

The stationary response of a broad class of combined linear systems to stationary random excitation is determined by the normal mode method. The systems are characterized by a viscously damped simple beam (or string, membrane, thin plate or shell, etc.) connected at discrete points to a multiplicity of viscously damped linear oscillators and/or masses. The solution of the free vibration problem by way of Green functions and the deterministic forced vibration problem by modal analysis for both proportional and non-proportional damping is reviewed. The orthogonality relation for the natural modes of vibration is used to derive a unique relationship between the cross-spectral density functions of the applied forces and the cross-spectral density functions of the generalized forces. Finally, the response spectral density functions and the mean square responses of the beam and oscillators are derived in closed form, exact for the proportionally damped system and approximate for the non-proportionally damped system.