1 s2.0 S0094114X02000411 Main

Dynamic instability analysis of high-speed exible
four-bar mechanisms
S.D. Yu
a
, W.L. Cleghorn
b,*
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, Ont. M5B 2K3, Canada
b
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont. M5S 3G8, Canada
Received 30 September 1998; received in revised form 1 December 2000; accepted 29 April 2002
Abstract
This paper presents an ecient and accurate procedure for determining values of critical running speeds
that cause a high-speed exible mechanism to become dynamically unstable because of parametric reso-
nance. The nite element method is employed to model each unconstrained exible link for axial and lateral
deformations. The global equations of motion for the entire mechanism are formulated using the aug-
mented Lagrange equations. To solve the equations of motion having periodically varying mass, gyroscopic
and stiness matrices, eigenanalysis of the mechanism is rst performed at each fast Fourier transform
conguration. Harmonic compositions of all natural frequencies and their corresponding modal vectors are
then obtained. With the help of the modal superposition method, the equations of motion of large di-
mensions in terms of nodal variables are reduced to much smaller dimensions in terms of modal variables.
The harmonic balancing method is subsequently used to obtain a periodic solution to the reduced equations
of motion, and to transform the dynamic stability problem into a standard eigenvalue problem for which
values of all critical running speeds may be readily computed.
2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
1. Introduction
A four-bar crank-rocker mechanism in high-speed motion may become unstable when its input
link rotates at a speed falling within an unstable range. Signicant deformations, strains and
stresses may develop in one or more exible links. When designing a exible mechanism, it is
important to identify those ranges of operating speeds. As a exible mechanism conguration
evolves with time, there exist two types of excitations in the dynamical systemthe forced
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: cleghorn@mie.utoronto.ca (W.L. Cleghorn).
0094-114X/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
PII: S0094- 114X( 02) 00041- 1
Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 12611285
www.elsevier.com/locate/mechmt
excitations appearing as inhomogeneous terms on the right-hand sides of the governing dier-
ential equations, and the parametric excitations appearing as coecients on the left-hand side.
Both forced and parametric excitations may cause signicant responses in a exible mechanism
when resonance occurs. In the case of forced resonance, response in a mechanism becomes innite
at the absence of damping according to linear deformation theory. The level of damping in the
system limits the magnitude of response. In the case of parametric resonance, the response also
becomes innite according to linear deformation theory. Presence of damping may change the
resonance conditions. However, damping does not limit the response from growing indenitely
with time once a parametric resonance occurs. Geometric nonlinearity must be considered when
studying response of a dynamical system under a parametric resonance. Because of the simul-
taneous presence of the two types of excitations, both forced resonance and parametric resonance
may be equally important.
In this paper, critical running speeds dened as the lower and upper limits associated with an
unstable range are considered to be associated with parametric resonance only. Widths of these
unstable ranges tend to increase with the operating speed. Therefore, special attention is required
when dealing with the combination of exibility and high-speed operation. To determine the
critical running speeds for a exible mechanism, a kineto-elastodynamic analysis involving rigid-
body motion, longitudinal and exural motions of all links must be conducted.
Modeling and analysis of kineto-elastodynamic behaviors of a exible mechanism have at-
tracted signicant attention from many researchers over the past few decades. Comprehensive
reviews of progresses and developments in this eld may be found in articles by Erdman and
Sandor [1], Huston [2] and Shabana [3]. Various methods including nite element method [47],
lump-mass method [8,9], substructure method [10,11] and continuum mechanics method [1214].
Flexible links in a mechanism are commonly modeled as elastic beams with and without
consideration of the eects of large deformations, shear deformations, rotary inertia and axial
deformations. The boundary conditions at the joint locations are usually unknown at this stage.
Once modeling of an unconstrained link is completed, the Lagrange multiplier method or the
augmented Lagrange equations [3,15], may be used to formulate the equations of motion for the
entire mechanism by enforcing continuity conditions across the interfaces. These dierential
equations governing the kineto-elastodynamic behaviors of a mechanism may be solved directly
using numerical or analytical methods [1619]. Because of the large size of the dynamical equa-
tions, computing time for an accurate dynamic analysis becomes a concern. This is especially true
for high-order vibration modes. Various methods have been employed to rst reduce the di-
mensions of the dynamical equations to a desired level based on design requirements and com-
puter capacity. Imam et al. [20] studied the deections and stresses in a planar mechanism using a
cubic polynomial as the approximate mode shape for bending. Midha et al. [21] developed an
eective approximate method in dynamic analysis of elastic linkages. Winfrey [22] presented a
simple reduction method for determining response of a single point.
The main objectives of a stability analysis are to determine the conditions at which a dynamical
system becomes unstable; and identify the relationships between critical running speeds and
natural frequencies of various modes. Kalaycioglu and Bagci [23] suggested a simple method for
determining the critical running speeds associated with forced resonance from the minima of
natural frequencies of a mechanism during a cycle of kinematic motion. Smith and Maunder [24]
studied the parametric instability problem of a four-bar linkage with a exible coupler. Badlani
1262 S.D. Yu, W.L. Cleghorn / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 12611285
and Kleinhenz [25] developed rst-order approximations of instability boundaries of a crank-
slider mechanism using the perturbation method. Cleghorn et al. [18] investigated the dynamic
stability of exible planar four-bar mechanisms using the nite element method and harmonic
balance method. Alexander and Lawrence [26] conducted various experiments in dynamic strains
in a four-bar elastic mechanism. Most recently, Wang [27], Hsieh and Shaw [28], and Beale and
Lee [29] investigated dynamic stability problems of high-speed crank-slider mechanisms having a
exible coupler.
Because of the need for accurate prediction of all unstable regions caused by parametric res-
onance of dierent order and dierent modes, it is more advantageous to employ the modal
summation method for reduction purposes. The nodal coordinates are transformed into
modal coordinates through a linear modal transformation. The number of degrees of freedom in
the reduced dynamical equations is equal to the number of interested vibration modes.
Experience has shown that instability ranges for typical mechanisms shrink rapidly with the
increase in the order of vibration modes. This indicates that in practice a mechanism is more
likely to lose its dynamic stability at lower vibration modes than at higher vibration modes. If the
elements used in eigenanalysis are enough to provide accurate natural frequencies and mode
shapes of desired order, then all information obtained from the reduced dynamical equations is
accurate.
In this paper, each unconstrained exible link experiencing large scale rigid-body motion and
small elastic longitudinal and lateral deections is modeled as a two-dimensional elastic beam
using three-node beam elements. Each node has three variables, namely, the lateral displacement,
the angle of rotation, and the longitudinal displacement. All three-nodal displacements are
measured with respect to its rigid-body conguration. Within each element, the shape function is a
quintic polynomial for the lateral displacement and a quadratic polynomial for the longitudinal
displacement. Because higher-order elements are employed, more accurate results concerning
higher vibration modes may be achieved using fewer degrees of freedom.
Once equations of unconstrained links are obtained, the global equations of motion for the
entire mechanism are formulated using the Lagrange multiplier method. Unlike the practice
suggested by Shabana [3], the Lagrange multiplier vector is eliminated from the modied global
equations in this paper because of the need for reliable mechanism eigenanalysis involving only
displacements at numerous rigid-body congurations. This practice was found to be very eective
and free of any numerical singularities.
For a general kineo-elastodynamic analysis of exible mechanisms, the governing equations of
motion are inhomogeneous ordinary dierential equations with periodically time-varying coe-
cients. For dynamic stability analysis, the inhomogeneous terms are dropped. Depending on the
rotational speed of the input link and other system parameters, the system response may be pe-
riodic, ever increasing, ever decreasing with time. In the parameter plane, the regions for ever-
increasing and ever-decreasing responses are separated by the curves corresponding to periodic
responses. The key is then to determine the conditions at which the system response is periodic.
Various methods such as the multiple scale perturbation method developed by Nayfeh [30] and
harmonic balancing methods used extensively by Bolotin [31] for dynamic stability problems may
be employed to obtain a periodic solution to a system of dierential equations with periodic
coecients. Because the perturbation method is generally restricted to systems with weak exci-
tations, the harmonic balancing method is employed in this paper.
S.D. Yu, W.L. Cleghorn / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 12611285 1263
2. Lagrangian of an unconstrained link
Fig. 1 shows a rigid-body conguration of a four-bar crank-rocker mechanism consisting of
three moving links and one base link. Because of the exibility of each moving link and dynamic
forces, the mechanism actually takes on a deformed conguration shown in Fig. 2. To study how
elastic deections of a exible link vary with time and mechanism conguration, a set of moving
coordinates shown in Fig. 3 is employed. At the position shown, the origin of the body-xed
coordinate moves at a velocity v
o;i
and rotates at an angular velocity of x
i
. A material point on the
exible link may be considered as the simultaneous superposition of elastic deections to rigid-
body motion. Point P located x
i
distance from the reference point on the neutral axis of exible
link i before deformation moves to P
0
after deformation. The displacements measured in the body-
Fig. 1. Rigid-body conguration of a planar four-bar crank-rocker mechanism.
Fig. 2. Deformed and undeformed mechanism congurations.
xed coordinate system xoy
i
are u
i
x; t in the longitudinal direction and v
i
x; t in the lateral
direction. In the space-xed coordinate system XOY , the position of P
0
may be written as
R
i
R
o;i
f e
x;i
e
y;i
g
x
i
u
i
v
i
_ _
1
where R
o;i
is the rigid-body position vector of reference point o
i
, e
x;i
and e
y;i
are unit vectors in the
x
i
and y
i
directions, respectively.
The absolute instantaneous velocity of point P
0
may be written in the body-xed coordinate
system as
_
RR
i

v
o;i;x
v
o;i;y
_ _
x
i
v
i
x
i
x
i
u
i
_ _
_ uu
i
_ vv
i
_ _
2
where v
o;i;x
and v
o;i;y
are the two components of velocity of reference point o
i
in the body-xed
coordinate directions; _ uu
i
and _ vv
i
are the time rates of longitudinal and lateral deections of point P
with respect to the moving coordinate system; x
i
is the angular velocity of the moving coordinate
frame.
As indicated in the introduction, the nite element method will be used here to model each
exible link in a planar mechanism. Assume that N
e;i
three-node beam elements are employed for
link i. A typical beam element, shown in Fig. 4, has nine nodal displacements. They consist of
three longitudinal nodal displacements, u
e
1;i
, u
e
2;i
and u
e
3;i
; three lateral displacements, v
e
1;i
, v
e
2;i
and
v
e
3;i
; and three angles of rotation, h
e
1;i
, h
e
2;i
and h
e
3;i
. To facilitate the element analysis, a local co-
ordinate originating at the rst node of a beam element is used. For a straight link, the local
element coordinate and link coordinate are related by n
i
x
i
x
e
1;i
, where x
e
1;i
is the axial coor-
dinate of the rst node of element e, and n
i
is the local coordinate for element e. The lateral
displacement of a material point anywhere within the element may be determined by the shape
function and element nodal variables as
Fig. 3. Deformed link and body-xed coordinates.
u
e
i
v
e
i
_ _

N
u
n
i
0
0 N
v
n
i
_ _
D
e
u;i
0
0 D
e
v;i
_ _
fq
e
u;i
g
fq
e
v;i
g
_ _
0 6n
i
6l
e
i
3
where the element shape function matrices N
u
n
i
and N
v
n
i
, element geometric matrices D
e
u;i
and D
e
v;i
, and element nodal vectors fq
e
u;i
g and fq
e
v;i
g for longitudinal and lateral deformations are
given in Appendix A. To formulate the link equations of motion, the following element nodal
displacement vector is introduced
fq
e
i
g f u
e
1;i
v
e
1;i
h
e
1;i
u
e
2;i
v
e
2;i
h
e
2;i
u
e
3;i
v
e
3;i
h
e
3;i
g
T
4
The element nodal displacement vector is related to the longitudinal and lateral nodal displace-
ments by
fq
e
u;i
g T
e
u;i
fq
e
i
g; fq
e
v;i
g T
e
v;i
fq
e
i
g 5
where transformation matrices T
e
u;i
and T
e
v;i
are dened in Appendix A.
The kinetic energy of an unconstrained link excluding the rotary inertia is
T
i

1
2
_
l
i
0
qA
i
_
RR
i

_
RR
i
dx
i
N
e;i
e1
1
2
f_ qq
e
i
g
T
M
e;i
f_ qq
e
i
g
_

1
2
fq
e
i
g
T
M
e;i
fq
e
i
gx
2
i
f_ qq
e
i
g
T
G
e;i
fq
e
i
gx
i
_
T
o;i
6
where the mass and gyroscopic matrices are given in Appendix A. In Eq. (6), T
o;i
contains terms
associated with rigid-body motion and terms that are linearly dependent on the nodal displace-
ments and velocities. These terms do not aect stability of a mechanism because they appear only
in the inhomogeneous terms of the governing equations.
The strain energy associated with longitudinal deformation and bending, according to the
EulerBernoulli beam theory, is
V
i

1
2
_
l
i
0
EA
i
ou
ox
i
_ _
2
dx
i

1
2
_
l
i
0
EI
i
o
2
v
ox
2
i
_ _2
dx
i

1
2
N
e;i
e1
fq
e
i
g
T
K
e;i
fq
e
i
g 7
where the element stiness matrix K
e;i
is given in Appendix A.
Fig. 4. A three-node beam element along with the nine nodal variables.
To determine the work potential of the axial force for a exible link, the axial force distribution
must be determined everywhere within an element. If the axial force at the reference point is P
o;i
and the axial acceleration of the reference point is a
o;i;x
, then the axial force at an arbitrary
location may be determined from the following equation
P
i
P
o;i
qA
i
x
i
a
o;i;x

1
2
qA
i
x
2
i
x
2
i

PP
o;i
_
qA
i
x
i
~ aa
o;i;x

1
2
qA
i
x
2
i
~ xx
2
i
_
x
2
2
8
where ~ xx
i
is the angular speed of link i normalized with respect to x
2
. Joint forces and accelerations
due to rigid-body motion may be determined using the matrix method [32]. According to Mei-
rovitch [33], the work potential may be determined from
W
i

1
2
_
l
i
0
P
i
ou
ox
i
_ _
2
dx
i

1
2
N
e;i
e1
fq
e
i
g
T
K
d;e;i
fq
e
i
gx
2
2
9
where the dynamic stiness matrix K
d;e;i
normalized with respect to the angular speed of the input
link is given in Appendix A.
To derive the Lagrangian for an unconstrained exible link, the following set of link nodal
variables for a total of NN nodes is introduced
fq
i
g f uu
1
vv
1

hh
1
uu
2
vv
2

hh
2
uu
NN
vv
NN

hh
NN
g
i
10
The element nodal displacement vector is related to the link displacement vector by means of
transformation matrix T
e!i
as follows
fq
e
i
g T
e!i
fq
i
g 11
where the link node numbering starts from the link reference point for the input link and the
coupler, and from the distant end for the output link.
The Lagrangian for an unconstrained link may be written as
L
i
T
i
V
i
W
i
1
2
f_ qq
i
g
T
M
i
f_ qq
i
g
1
2
fq
i
g
T
M
i
fq
i
g ~ xx
2
i
x
2
2
f_ qq
i
g
T
G
i
fq
i
g ~ xx
i
x
2
T
o;i

1
2
fq
i
g
T
K
i
fq
i
g
1
2
fq
i
g
T
K
d;i;0
PP
o;i
K
d;i;1
~ aa
o;i;x
K
d;i;2
~ xx
2
i
fq
i
gx
2
2
12
where

PP
o;i
and ~ aa
o;i;x
are the axial force and axial acceleration of the reference point normalized with
respect to x
2
2
. The link structural mass, link gyroscopic, link structural stiness and link dynamic
stiness matrices may be determined from
M
i

N
e;i
e1
T
e!i
T
M
e;i
T
e!i
; G
i

N
e;i
e1
T
e!i
T
G
e;i
T
e!i
K
i

N
e;i
e1
T
e!i
T
K
e;i
T
e!i
; K
d;i;0

N
e;i
e1
T
e!i
T
K
d;e;i;0
T
e!i
K
d;i;1

N
e;i
e1
T
e!i
T
K
d;e;i;1
T
e!i
; K
d;i;2

N
e;i
e1
T
e!i
T
K
d;e;i;2
T
e!i
13
3. System dynamic equations of motion
A planar four-bar mechanism consists of three moving links joined together through two
moving pins and two stationary pins. Table 1 summarizes the nature of all constraints and their
mathematical descriptions that are of interest in this paper. Other types of constraints may also be
handled. For simple boundary conditions involving displacements of a single exible link, they are
implemented using the penalty method by modifying the stiness matrix. For continuity condi-
tions involving displacements of two adjacent links, a set of Lagrange multipliers are introduced.
For constraints described in Table 1, there are two sets of constraint equations. Each set contains
two equations. They are written as
uu
1
vv
1
_ _
3
cos/
2
/
3
sin/
2
/
3
sin/
2
/
3
cos/
2
/
3
_ _
uu
NN
vv
NN
_ _
2
or
uu
1
vv
1
_ _
3
C
1
uu
NN
vv
NN
_ _
2
0
0
_ _
uu
1
vv
1
_ _
4
cos/
3
/
4
sin/
3
/
4
sin/
3
/
4
cos/
3
/
4
_ _
uu
NN
vv
NN
_ _
3
or
uu
1
vv
1
_ _
4
C
2
uu
NN
vv
NN
_ _
3
0
0
_ _
14
In order for the four constraint equations to be satised at all mechanism congurations and at all
times, two Lagrange multiplier vectors, fk
c1
g f k
1
k
2
g
T
and fk
c2
g f k
3
k
4
g
T
, are intro-
duced to the following augmented Lagrangian
Table 1
Summary of constraint equations for all cases
Joint Link 1 Link 2 Constraints
O
12
Base link Input link Crank shaft has innitely large exural rigidity:
u
2
j
x
2
0
0; v
2
j
x
2
0
0
Crank shaft has innitely large rotational rigidity:
h
2
j
x
2
0
0
O
23
Input link Coupler Continuous displacements:
u
2
j
x
2
l
2
e
i/
2
v
2
j
x
2
l
2
exp i /
2
_ _

p
2
__
u
3
j
x
3
0
e
i/
3
v
3
j
x
3
0
exp i /
3
_ _

p
2
__
Two links rotate freely with respect to each other:
M
2
j
x
2
l
2
0; M
3
j
x
3
0
0
O
34
Coupler Output link Continuous displacements:
u
3
j
x
3
l
3
e
i/
3
v
3
j
x
3
l
3
exp i /
3
_ _

p
2
__
u
4
j
x
4
l
4
e
i/
4
v
4
j
x
4
l
4
exp i /
4
_ _

p
2
__
Two links rotate freely with respect to each other:
M
3
j
x
3
l
3
0; M
4
j
x
4
l
0
O
41
Output link Base link Output shaft has innitely large exural rigidity:
u
4
j
x
4
0
0; v
4
j
x
4
0
0
Output link rotates freely about the output shaft:
M
4
j
x
4
0
0
L
4
i2
L
i
fk
c1
g
uu
1
vv
1
_ _
3
_
C
1
uu
NN
vv
NN
_ _
2
_
fk
c2
g
uu
1
vv
1
_ _
4
_
C
2
uu
NN
vv
NN
_ _
3
_
15
To handle the four dynamic constraints eectively, the link nodal displacements are divided into
interior nodal variables and interface nodal variables. For the input and output links, there is one
set of interface variables at one end; for the coupler, there are two sets of interface nodal variables
at both ends. These three link displacement vectors are arranged in terms of interior and interface
sub-vectors as
fqq
2
g
q
2
0
q
2
1
_ _
; fqq
3
g
q
3
1
q
3
0
q
3
2
_
_
_
_
; fqq
4
g
q
4
2
q
4
0
_ _
16
where sub-vectors having subscript 0 contain only interior variables; sub-vectors having subscripts
1 or 2 contain only interface variables; all superscripts enclosed within parentheses refer to the link
number.
To nalize the formulation of global equations of motion of the mechanism, the following
transformation is used
fq
i
g T
i
fqq
i
g 17
where fqq
i
g are the new link displacement vectors; T
i
is a constant sparse matrix for which a
similarity transformation may be eciently carried out. With the help of the above transforma-
tion, the augmented Lagrangian for the entire mechanism may then be written in terms of the
modied link displacement vectors as
L
1
2
4
i2
f
_
qqqq
i
g
T
M
i
f
_
qqqq
i
g
_
fqq
i
g
T
M
i
fqq
i
g ~ xx
2
i
x
2
2
2f
_
qqqq
i
g
T
G
i
fqq
i
g ~ xx
i
x
2
_
4
i2
T
o;i
1
2
4
i2
fqq
i
g
T
K
i
_
K
i
d
x
2
2
_
fqq
i
g fq
3
1
g
T
fk
c1
g fq
2
1
g
T
C
1
T
fk
c1
g fq
4
2
g
T
fk
c2
g fq
3
2
g
T
C
2
T
fk
c2
g 18
The global structural mass, gyroscopic, structural stiness and dynamic stiness matrices are
M
i
T
i
T
M
i
T
i
G
i
T
i
T
G
i
T
i
K
i
T
i
T
K
i
T
i
K
i
d
T
i
T
K
d;i;0
T
i
PP
o;i
K
d;i;1
~ aa
o;i;x
K
d;i;2
~ xx
2
i
T
i
19
To obtain the global equations of motion, the following Lagrange equations are used
d
dt
oL
of_ xxg
T

oL
ofxg
T
0 20
Seven sets of dierential equations may be obtained if fxg is replaced by the seven sub-vectors
in all three modied link displacement vectors. They are written as
M
qq
2
0
qq
2
1
qq
3
1
qq
3
0
qq
3
2
qq
4
2
qq
4
0
_
_
_
GGx
2
_ qq
2
0
_ qq
2
1
_ qq
3
1
_ qq
3
0
_ qq
3
2
_ qq
4
2
_ qq
4
0
_
_
_
_
K
KKx
2
2
q
2
0
q
2
1
q
3
1
q
3
0
q
3
2
q
4
2
q
4
0
_
_
_
0
C
1
T
fk
c1
g
fk
c1
g
0
C
2
T
fk
c2
g
fk
c2
g
0
_
_
_
_
0 21
where all matrices in the above equation are given in Appendix A.
It is desirable to eliminate all Lagrange multipliers from the global equations of motion because
the modal summation method is used for stability analysis. For this purpose, the third set of
equations is pre-multiplied by constraint matrix C
1
T
and added to the second set of equations;
the sixth set of equations is pre-multiplied by constrain matrix C
2
T
and added to the fth set of
equations. To reduce the total number of dynamic equations to that of unknown variables, the
dynamic constraint equations relating the two sets of interface variables at two moving joints are
utilized. After elimination of the Lagrange multipliers and interface variables q
3
1
and q
4
2
, the
reduced global equations of motion satisfying all boundary conditions and dynamic constraint
conditions are written as
M
r
fqq
r
g K
r
fq
r
g x
2
GG
r
f_ qq
r
g x
2
2
KK
r
fq
r
g 0 22
where the reduced mass, structural stiness, gyroscopic, and dynamic stiness matrices are dened
in Appendix A. The reduced nodal displacement vector is
fq
r
g
q
2
0
q
2
1
q
3
0
q
3
2
q
4
0
_
_
_
_
23
In the reduced global equations of motion, the mass and structural stiness matrices are de-
pendent on time or mechanism conguration because of the constraints between exible links.
This indicates that the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the entire mechanism vary peri-
odically with the mechanism conguration or angular position of the input link. Eigenanalysis of
the mechanism at the N
FFT
congurations will be discussed in the next section.
4. Eigenanalysis
In free vibration analysis, the motion-dependent terms associated with the gyroscopic terms
and dynamic stiening terms are dropped from the global equations of motion. The dierential
equations of free vibration at a mechanism conguration may be written as
M
r
/
2
fqq
r
g K
r
/
2
fq
r
g 0 24
The natural frequencies and modal vectors of the exible mechanism are determined from the
following standard eigenvalue equations
K
r
/
2;k
fXg x
2
n
M
r
/
2;k
fXg 25
Because the mass and structural stiness matrices are 2p-period functions of the angular position
of the input link, all natural frequencies and modal vectors must also be 2p-period functions. To
obtain harmonic compositions of these eigen-quantities eciently and accurately, the fast Fourier
transform (FFT) technique is used. The eigenvalue problem is subsequently solved at these
mechanism congurations dened by /
2;k
2pk=N
FFT
, where k 0; 1; . . . ; N
FFT
1. The
number of sampling points or congurations used in an FFT analysis is dependent on the ac-
curacy required of the highest order harmonic composition. According to Walker [34], the
number of sampling congurations must be at least eight times the highest harmonic order. In this
paper, N
FFT
is taken to be 1024. This ensures the FFT analysis accurate up to the 256th harmonic
order. A typical run takes less than 1 min to complete on a Sun Enterprise 450 workstation. Less
computing time is needed if interested order of harmonics is lower than 256.
To facilitate the subsequent stability analysis, all eigenvectors fUg
j;k
, j 1; 2; . . ., at the kth
mechanism conguration are normalized with respect to the mass matrix. In other words, the
modal vectors satisfy the following orthogonality conditions
fUg
T
i;k
M
r
/
2;k
fUg
j;k
d
ij
; fUg
T
i;k
K
r
/
2;k
fUg
j;k
x
2
n;j;k
d
ij
j 1; 2; . . . N
m
26
It must be pointed out that the eigenanalysis performed at an instantaneous rigid-body cong-
uration is independent of the rate of change of the mechanism conguration. In reducing the
dynamical equations using the modal summation method, the rates of changes in the normalized
modal vectors must be considered. After obtaining the modal vectors at all N
FFT
congurations,
the instantaneous rst and second rates of the modal vectors with respect to time may be de-
termined using the numerical dierentiation method (see [28]). For a stability analysis, the input
link rotates at a constant speed. The following formulae with an error of order oh
4
, where
h 2p=N
FFT
, may be used to determine the rst and second derivatives with respect to time
f
_
UUg
j;k
x
2
d
d/
2
fUg
j;k

x
2
12h
ffUg
j;k2
8fUg
j;k1
8fUg
j;k1
fUg
j;k1
g
f
UUg
j;k
x
2
2
d
2
d/
2
2
fUg
j;k

x
2
12h
2
ffUg
j;k2
16fUg
j;k1
30fUg
j;k
16fUg
j;k1
fUg
j;k1
g
27
5. Solutions to system equations of motion
Care must be exercised when solving directly the equations of motion established using the
nite element method. These dynamic equations, no matter how many elements are used in an
analysis, always contain inaccurate information. In other words, a continuous dynamical system
of innite number of degrees of freedom cannot be truly represented by a discrete system of nite
degrees of freedom. In the case of stability, it is dicult to tell which critical running speeds are
credible and which are not when facing a large number of computed potential critical running
speeds. It is, therefore, detrimental to lter out the incorrect information contained in the gov-
erning dierential equations before a solution is sought. The modal summation method is ideal for
such an application. Assuming that the natural frequencies and modal vectors are accurate for the
rst N
m
modes, a solution accurate to the rst N
m
modes may be written as
fq
r
/
2
; tg
N
m
j1
fU/
2
g
j
f
j
t Uff g 28
where the modal matrix U and the generalized modal vector ff g are dened as
U fU/
2
g
1
fU/
2
g
2
fU/
2
g
N
m
;
ff g f f
1
t f
2
t f
N
m
t g
T
29
Substituting Eq. (28) into Eq. (22), pre-multiplying the so-obtained equations by U/
2
T
, and
utilizing the orthogonality, we obtain
f
ff g K/
2
ff g x
2
C/
2
f
_
ff g x
2
2
P/
2
ff g 0 30
where
K/
2

x
2
n;1
/
2
x
2
n;2
/
2
.
.
.
x
2
n;N
m
/
2
_
_
_
C/
2
U/
2
GG
r
U/
2
U/
2
T
M
r
U
0
/
2
P/
2
U/
2
KK
r
T
U/
2
T
M
r
U
00
/
2
U/
2
GG
r
U
0
/
2
In the above equations, values of all matrices and natural frequencies are already evaluated at
1024 mechanism congurations in the eigenanalysis.
Because the input link rotates at a constant rate, it is convenient to use angle /
2
instead of time
t in Eq. (30). The equations of motion in terms of the new variable may be written as
ff
00
g
1
x
2
2
K/
2
ff g C/
2
ff
0
g P/
2
ff g 0 31
where single and double primes in the above equations represent rst and second derivatives with
respect to /
2
.
To identify the resonance characteristics of an unstable range, it is often convenient to intro-
duce a ctitious parameter e. This parameter is used to scale down the actual dynamic stiness and
gyroscopic matrices between zero and unity. Obviously, solutions and instability boundaries
obtained for values of e other than unity are not those of the original mechanism. When e ap-
proaches 0, the unstable ranges shrink to the same point in the e x
2
parameter plane. In the case
of crossings of multiple critical curves at one point, examination of local shapes and their de-
velopment becomes indispensable in order to draw a correct conclusion about the state of the
mechanism at e 1. Introducing the ctitious parameter into the analysis, Eq. (31) may be written
as
ff
00
g
1
x
2
2
K/
2
ff g eC/
2
ff
0
g eP/
2
ff g 0 32
When the input link rotates at a constant rate, all matrices in Eq. (32) are 2p-periodic functions of
/
2
and can be expanded into Fourier series. For example, matrix K/
2
may be expanded into
K/
2

N
1
m0;1
K
c
cos m/
2
K
s
sin m/
2
33
where N
1
is an integer, representing the highest harmonics retained in an analysis; K
c
and K
s
are
constant diagonal matrices. To determine the sine and cosine harmonic compositions in all these
periodic variables using the FFT technique, all periodic variables are sampled at 1024 mechanism
congurations. The magnitudes of higher harmonic components for a periodic variable associated
with motion of a mechanism usually diminish quickly with the order of harmonics.
According to Bolotin [31], the stable and unstable motions of a periodic dynamic system are
separated by the periodic solutions of 2p and 4p periods. There exist an innite number of ranges
of crank speeds separated by the critical values at which the system responses are periodic. Ranges
that are enclosed by critical values of the same period correspond to unstable or ever-increasing
motion. Ranges separated by critical values of dierent periods correspond to stable motion due
to an initial disturbance.
To determine the critical speeds of a exible mechanism, the harmonic balancing method is
used to obtain a periodic solution to equations. A solution of 2p period may be written in the
Fourier series form as
ff g f
ff g
o

2N
2
n2;4;...
f
ff g
n
cos
n/
2
2
_
f
^
ff g
n
sin
n/
2
2
_
34
where N
2
is an integer, representing the desired order of harmonic truncation in the solution.
Substituting Eq. (34) into Eq. (32) and equating coecients of the same cosine and sine har-
monics of the resulting equations, one obtains the following homogeneous algebraic equations
Ae
_

1
x
2
2
I
_
fF g f0g 35
where A is a real, constant square matrix; I is a unit matrix; vector fF g is dened as
fF g f
ff
0
g
T
f
ff
2
g
T
f
^
ff
2
g
T
f
ff
2N
2
g
T
f
^
ff
2N
2
g
T
_ _
T
At this stage, the stability problem is reduced to a standard eigenvalue problem for which values
of critical running speeds may be calculated as eigenvalues of a real matrix. The dimensions of the
real matrix depend on the highest harmonic retained in the periodic solution.
Similar procedures may be followed for obtaining a 4p periodic solution. In this case, a solution
may be assumed to take the form
ff g
2N
2
1
n1;3;...
f
ff g
n
cos
n/
2
2
_
f
^
ff g
n
sin
n/
2
2
_
36
6. Numerical results
Four test cases were employed to test the methodology and procedure presented in this paper.
For reference, material and geometric properties of all ve exible mechanisms are summarized in
Table 2.
Case 1 is designed to check the nite element procedure, implementation of Lagrange multiplier
method for handling the constraints, reliability, convergence and accuracy of eigenanalysis of a
four-bar mechanism. A sensitivity study was conducted using (i) ve beam elements (one for input
link, two for the coupler and two for the follower), and (ii) ten beam elements (two for input link,
four for coupler and four for output link. Results shown in Table 3 indicate that the dierences in
the rst 10 natural frequencies obtained from the two dierent meshing schemes are very small. In
fact, the maximum percentage dierence is within 0.5% for all 10 modes and two mechanism
congurations. To verify whether the computed results converge to the exact values, ANSYS
version 5.5, a commercially available, general-purpose nite element program, was used to con-
duct eigenanalysis of the same mechanism at two mechanism congurations represented by
/
2
0 and /
2
90. In the two ANSYS runs, 10 elastic beam elements were used for each
exible link for a total of 30 elements. The rst 10 natural frequencies obtained using two in-
dependent methods are very close. The maximum dierence is about 0.8% (tenth mode and
/
2
90 conguration). To evaluate the procedure employed in this paper for any conguration,
eigenanalysis of a four-bar mechanism dened in Table 2 was performed at 1024 congurations.
Table 2
Geometric and material properties for all cases
Moving links Cases E (GPa) q (kg/m
3
) h (mm) b (mm) L (mm)
Input link Case 1 200.0 7800.0 1.60 25.4 100.0
Case 2 68900.0 2698.8 4.24 25.4 101.6
Case 3
68.9 2698.8 4.24 25.4 101.6

Case 4 68900.0 2698.0 1.6 25.4 100.0
Coupler Case 1 200.0 7800.0 1.6 25.4 279.4
Case 2 68.9 2923.5 1.6 25.4 279.4
Case 3
68.9 2923.5 1.6 25.4 279.4

Case 4 68.9 2698.0 1.6 25.4 500.0
Output link Case 1 200.0 7800.0 1.6 25.4 266.7
Case 2 68.9 2923.5 1.6 25.4 266.7
Case 3
68.9 2923.5 1.6 25.4 266.7

Case 4 68900.0 2698.0 1.6 25.4 200.0
Notes: (i) A concentrated mass of 0.0271 kg is added to the two moving pins to account for the weights of the bearing
and pin at the ends of the coupler in the experimental mechanism used by Alexander [26] for cases 3, (ii) base link length
is 254 mm for cases 13 and 500 mm for case 4, (iii) base link254 mm for all cases.
Fig. 5 shows that the methodology used for eigenanalysis is robust for arbitrary mechanism
congurations. To appreciate the relative weight of harmonic compositions of dierent orders, an
FFT analysis of the rst two natural frequencies was conducted. Results accurate up to the 256th
harmonic were obtained and presented in Table 4. The signicant order of harmonic compositions
in the natural frequencies is about 10. Because of this, the highest harmonics retained in the
Fourier series representations for all periodic variables was 16 in this paper. The highest har-
monics retained in a solution was 33.
Case 2 was designed to test the critical running speeds against those obtained previously by
Cleghorn et al. [18] using a dierent approach for a four-bar mechanism consisting of a rigid input
link, a exible coupler and a exible output link. To simulate the rigid input link, a large value of
the elastic modulus is used in this paper. In the stability analysis, two generalized coordinates were
retained. Results in Table 5 show that the maximum dierence the present paper and Ref. [18] is
about 2% for all critical running speeds. Examinations were also conducted to conrm that the
tabulated critical running speeds correspond to the same vibration modes. Two indicators, the
number of oscillations per cycle of revolution of the input link, and predominant type of harmonic
(sine or cosine), were used in identifying a parametrically excited vibration mode. Fig. 6 illustrates
a stability chart in the parameter plane for the same mechanism. The interesting points of critical
curves with e 1 are the upper and lower bounds of unstable ranges. Because the critical curves
vary nonlinearly with the ctitious parameter, it is possible that these curves cross each other at
certain points in the parameter plane, as shown clearly in the stability chart.
To verify the computed critical running speeds, test case 3 was conducted to simulate an ex-
perimental four-bar crank-rocker mechanism used by Alexander and Lawrence [26]. To model the
eect of mass of the bearings mounted on the ends of the coupler, a concentrated mass of 0.0271
kg is added to each of the two rigid moving pins. This requires modications to the rigid-body
Table 3
Sensitivity and comparisons of computed natural frequencies in Hz (case 1)
Vibration
modes
Mechanism conguration at /
2
0 Mechanism conguration at /
2
90
Current paper ANSYS Current paper ANSYS
Mesh 1 Mesh 2 Mesh 3 Mesh 1 Mesh 2 Mesh 3
1 23.366 23.366 23.408 30.888 30.888 30.966
2 48.114 48.114 48.140 49.380 49.380 49.647
3 64.255 64.255 64.296 64.727 64.727 64.966
4 194.363 194.301 194.420 188.324 188.268 189.120
5 222.570 222.476 222.620 211.891 211.822 213.330
6 428.007 426.707 427.100 430.198 428.853 430.890
7 478.109 476.474 476.960 471.750 470.259 473.740
8 585.338 584.609 585.730 591.682 590.920 590.920
9 767.834 764.563 765.830 755.488 752.542 756.770
10 845.399 841.539 842.980 835.879 832.451 839.320
Note: Mesh 1: one element used for input link, two elements each used for coupler and output link; Mesh 2: two
elements used for input link; four elements each used for coupler and output link; Mesh 3: 10 elements each used for
input link, coupler and output link.
dynamic force analysis. Table 6 presents lower and upper bounds of all signicant unstable
ranges. Because two modal coordinates are retained in the analysis, when a parametric resonance
occurs, the mechanism will respond in two possible modes as shown in Fig. 7 at /
2
0. If an
unstable range is associated with the rst vibration mode, the coupler has the predominant re-
sponse. However, if the parametric resonance is associated with the second vibration mode, the
output link has the predominant response. The order of the parametric resonance is equal to the
number of times that the deformed mode shapes pass through the undeected conguration.
Unlike forced vibration resonance, in the case of parametric resonance, no signicant response
can be established if the operating speed falls outside the unstable ranges identied. This means
that a parametric resonance with a very small unstable operating speed range has no practical
signicance. Only those having wide unstable ranges associated with low order parametric res-
onance need to be identied. Table 6 shows that the motion of the mechanism will always be
unstable when the input rotates at a speed higher than 11,635 rpm. It must be kept in mind that at
such a high-speed, the elastic strains and stresses would be excessive and the links would likely
break, regardless of whether or not the motion is stable or unstable. When the operating speed
decreases (higher order parametric resonance), the instability ranges tend to shrink. For para-
metric resonance of extremely high order, the instability region shrinks to a line indicating that
instability will occur only if the input link runs exactly at the critical running speed. In practice,
this is not likely to occur. The experimental data of Alexander and Lawrence [26] for a four-bar
Fig. 5. Variation of the rst three natural frequencies throughout a cycle (case 1).
linkage designated as case 10 indicate that the measured strains peak when the crank rotates at
about 325 rpm and 370 rpm, respectively. These two peaks seem to be the results of forced vi-
bration resonance. In their experiment, the strains were measured up to the highest operating
speed of 412 rpm beyond which measured strains seem to increase uncontrollably with the run-
ning speed. This is consistent with the two lowest signicant critical running speeds in the vicinity
of 485 rpm, as shown in Table 6.
In case 4, the input and output links of a crank-rocker mechanism are assumed to be
rigid. The only exible member in the theoretical mechanism is the coupler. To simulate the rigid
assumption for the input and output links, a large value of elasticity is again used for the two rigid
Table 4
Harmonic compositions in natural frequencies in Hz (case 1)
Order First natural frequency Second natural frequency
Cosine harmonics Sine harmonics Cosine harmonics Sine harmonics
0 33.600 0.000 49.500 0.000
1 3.400 5.340 0.253 1.180
2 1.890 2.820 1.180 0.213
3 1.710 1.340 0.569 0.253
4 1.300 0.278 0.296 0.331
5 1.000 0.135 0.080 0.266
6 0.702 0.292 0.042 0.170
7 0.422 0.306 0.146 0.060
8 0.197 0.264 0.168 0.025
9 0.038 0.194 0.145 0.076
10 0.058 0.117 0.093 0.093
11 0.104 0.049 0.037 0.082
12 0.113 0.004 0.011 0.056
13 0.097 0.037 0.041 0.024
14 0.069 0.051 0.053 0.004
15 0.037 0.051 0.049 0.023
16 0.009 0.040 0.034 0.031
17 0.012 0.026 0.016 0.030
18 0.024 0.010 0.000 0.022
19 0.027 0.002 0.012 0.011
20 0.024 0.011 0.018 0.001
21 0.017 0.014 0.018 0.007
22 0.009 0.014 0.014 0.011
23 0.001 0.011 0.008 0.012
24 0.005 0.007 0.002 0.009
25 0.008 0.002 0.004 0.006
26 0.008 0.002 0.006 0.002
27 0.007 0.004 0.007 0.002
28 0.005 0.005 0.006 0.004
29 0.002 0.005 0.004 0.005
30 0.000 0.003 0.001 0.004
31 0.002 0.002 0.001 0.003
32 0.003 0.000 0.002 0.001
Fig. 6. Stability chart of a four-bar mechanism (case 2).
Table 5
Computed critical running speeds in rad/s for an RFF mechanism (case 2)
Present paper Cleghorn et al. [18] % Dierence Link with predominant response
28.2086 28.2733 0.23 Output link
28.2086 28.2733 0.23 Output link
28.4201 28.3456 0.26 Coupler
28.4201 28.3456 0.26 Coupler
31.0191 31.1019 0.27 Output link
31.0191 31.1019 0.27 Output link
31.5666 31.4975 0.22 Coupler
31.5666 31.4975 0.22 Coupler
34.4499 34.5589 0.32 Output link
34.4499 34.5590 0.32 Output link
35.4945 35.4368 0.16 Coupler
35.4946 35.4370 0.16 Coupler
38.7316 38.8793 0.38 Output link
38.7316 38.8797 0.38 Output link
40.5354 40.4988 0.09 Coupler
40.5355 40.4997 0.09 Coupler
44.2236 44.4299 0.46 Output link
44.2236 44.4331 0.47 Output link
47.2375 47.2353 0.00 Coupler
47.2380 47.2430 0.01 Coupler
links. Smith and Maunder [24] presented three approximate unstable regions for this mechanism
based on sine shape functions for a simply supported beam. Table 7 presents the rst six unstable
ranges and compared with the three unstable regions obtained by Smith and Maunder. It can be
seen that the upper and lower bounds taken from Fig. 4 of Ref. [24] are in very good agreement
with those obtained in this paper.
Fig. 7. Normalized vibration modes of an experimental mechanism at /
2
0 (case 3). (a) First vibration mode with
coupler having predominant response, (b) second vibration mode with output link having predominant response.
Table 6
Lower and upper bounds in rpm for all signicant unstable ranges (case 3)
Order Lower bound Upper bound Range Type of resonance
1 11635.32 1 1 2p
2 3041.14 9942.53 6901.39 4p
3 2202.91 2698.61 495.71 2p
4 2063.11 2698.61 635.51 2p
5 1771.89 1850.77 78.88 4p
6 1571.38 1691.97 120.59 4p
7 1358.30 1420.08 61.78 2p
8 1259.67 1312.41 52.73 2p
9 1121.47 1146.38 24.92 4p
10 1035.95 1056.51 20.56 4p
11 950.88 961.41 10.53 2p
12 874.90 883.76 8.86 2p
13 823.86 827.95 4.10 4p
14 755.41 759.27 3.86 4p
15 724.69 726.82 2.13 2p
16 663.81 665.52 1.72 2p
17 646.67 647.65 0.97 4p
18 591.63 592.38 0.75 4p
19 583.52 583.98 0.46 2p
20 533.40 533.71 0.31 2p
21 531.45 531.66 0.21 4p
22 487.82 487.90 0.09 2p
23 485.50 485.60 0.10 4p
In summary, the numerical simulation results obtained in this paper are in agreement with
those previously obtained theoretical and experimental results for mechanisms with one or more
exible links.
7. Conclusions
An ecient, accurate and reliable procedure is proposed for dynamic stability analysis of
exible mechanisms. The procedure involves the use of the nite element method, augmented
Lagrange equations, FFT, modal superposition method and harmonic balancing method.
Application of the proposed procedure reduces the stability problem of a exible mechanism to
a standard eigenvalue problem of a real matrix for which complete critical running speeds may be
determined. The computed critical running speeds for several exible mechanisms are in excel-
lent agreement with the theoretical and experimental results available in the literature. Numer-
ical simulation results reveal that the unstable ranges associated with parametric resonance
widens with the operating speeds. When a exible mechanism is designed to operate at high
speeds, special attention must be paid to avoid operating the system in a dynamically unstable
range.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the reviewers of this paper for their constructive criticism and
excellent suggestions for improvement on the modeling of constraints and application of modal
summation technique used in the original draft.
Appendix A
A.1. Matrices and vectors used in nite element analysis for a link
N
u
n
i
1 n
i
n
2
i
; N
v
n
i
1 n
i
n
2
i
n
3
i
n
4
i
n
4
i

Table 7
Lower and upper bounds in rad/s for the rst six unstable ranges (case 4)
Order Present paper Ref. [24] Present paper Ref. [24]
1 465.448 1
2 146.228 142.25 202.679
3 87.200 88.71 91.706 101.80
4 60.271 60.52 60.988 63.32
5 45.705 45.791
6 36.693 36.706
D
e
u;i

1 0 0
3
l
e;i
4
l
e;i

1
l
e;i
2
l
2
e;i
4
l
2
e;i
2
l
2
e;i
_
_
_
_; D
e
v;i

1 0 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0 0
23
l
2
e;i
6
l
e;i
16
l
2
e;i
8
l
e;i
7
l
2
e;i
1
l
e;i
66
l
3
e;i
13
l
2
e;i
32
l
3
e;i
32
l
2
e;i
34
l
3
e;i
5
l
2
e;i
68
l
4
e;i
12
l
3
e;i
16
l
4
e;i
40
l
3
e;i
52
l
4
e;i
8
l
3
e;i
24
l
5
e;i
4
l
4
e;i
0
16
l
4
e;i
24
l
5
e;i
4
l
4
e;i
_
_
_
_
fq
e
u;i
g
u
e
1;i
u
e
2;i
u
e
3;i
_
_
_
_
_
_
; fq
e
v;i
g
v
e
1;i
h
e
1;i
v
e
2;i
h
e
2;i
v
e
3;i
h
e
3;i
_
_
_
_
T
e
u;i

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
_
_
_
_
; T
e
v;i

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
_
_
_
_
M
e;i
T
e
u;i
T
D
e
u;i
T
_
l
e
i
0
qA
i
N
u
T
N
u
dn
i
_ _
D
e
u;i
T
e
u;i
T
e
v;i
T
D
e
v;i
T
_
l
e
i
0
qA
i
N
v
T
N
v
dn
i
_ _
D
e
v;i
T
e
v;i
G
e;i
T
e
v;i
T
D
e
v;i
T
_
l
e
i
0
qA
i
N
v
T
N
u
dn
i
_ _
D
e
u;i
T
e
u;i
T
e
u;i
T
D
e
u;i
T
_
l
e
i
0
qA
i
N
u
T
N
v
dn
i
_ _
D
e
v;i
T
e
v;i
K
e;i
T
e
u;i
T
D
e
u;i
T
_
l
e
i
0
EA
e
i
oN
u
on
i
_ _
T
oN
u
on
i
_ _
dn
i
_ _
D
e
u;i
T
e
u;i
T
e
v;i
T
D
e
v;i
T
_
l
e
i
0
EI
e
i
o
2
N
v
on
2
i
_ _
T
o
2
N
v
on
2
i
_ _
dn
i
_
_
_
_
D
e
v;i
T
e
v;i
K
d;e;i;0
T
e
v;i
T
D
e
v;i
T
_
l
e
i
0
oN
v
on
i
_ _
T
oN
v
on
i
_ _
dn
i
D
e
v;i
T
e
v;i
K
d;e;i;1
T
e
v;i
T
D
e
v;i
T
_
l
e
i
0
qA
e
i
x
e
1;i
n
i
oN
v
on
i
_ _
T
oN
v
on
i
_ _
dn
i
D
e
v;i
T
e
v;i
K
d;e;i;2

1
2
T
e
v;i
T
D
e
v;i
T
_
l
e
i
0
qA
e
i
x
e
1;i
_
n
i
2
oN
v
on
i
_ _
T
oN
v
on
i
_ _
dn
i
_
D
e
v;i
T
e
v;i
A.2. Matrices and vectors used in assembly of element equations for a link
fq
2
0
g f uu
1
vv
1

hh
1
uu
2
vv
2

hh
2
uu
NN1
vv
NN1

hh
NN1

hh
NN
g
T
2
fq
3
0
g f

hh
1
uu
2
vv
2

hh
2
uu
NN1
vv
NN1

hh
NN1

hh
NN
g
T
3
fq
4
0
g f

hh
1
uu
2
vv
2

hh
2
uu
NN
vv
NN

hh
NN
g; fq
2
1
g f uu
NN
vv
NN
g
T
2
fq
3
1
g f uu
1
vv
1
g
T
3
; fq
30
2
g f uu
NN
vv
NN
g
T
3
; fq
4
2
g f uu
1
vv
1
g
T
4
M
M
2
0 0
0 M
3
0
0 0 M
4
_
_
_
_; K
K
2
0 0
0 K
3
0
0 0 K
4
_
_
_
GG
GG
2
0 0
0

GG
3
0
0 0

GG
4
_
_
_
_
;
KK
KK
2
0 0
0

KK
3
0
0 0

KK
4
_
_
_
_
M
2

M
2
00
M
2
01
M
2
10
M
2
11
_ _
; M
3

M
3
11
M
3
10
M
3
12
M
3
01
M
3
00
M
3
02
M
3
21
M
3
20
M
3
22
_
_
_
_
; M
4

M
4
22
M
4
20
M
4
02
M
4
00
_ _
K
2

K
2
00
K
2
01
K
2
10
K
2
11
_
_
_
_
; K
3

K
3
11
K
3
10
K
3
12
K
3
01
K
3
00
K
3
02
K
3
21
K
3
20
K
3
22
_
_
_
_
; K
4

K
4
22
K
4
20
K
4
02
K
4
00
_
_
_
_
GG
2

GG
2
00
GG
2
01
GG
2
10
GG
2
11
_
_
_
_
;
GG
3

GG
3
11
GG
3
10
GG
3
12
GG
3
01
GG
3
00
GG
3
02
GG
3
21
GG
3
20
GG
3
22
_
_
_
_
;
GG
4

_

GG
4
22
GG
4
20
GG
4
02
GG
4
00
_
KK
2

KK
2
00
KK
2
01
KK
2
10
KK
2
11
_ _
;
KK
3

KK
3
11
KK
3
10
KK
3
12
KK
3
01
KK
3
00
KK
3
02
KK
3
21
KK
3
20
KK
3
22
_
_
_
_
;
KK
4

KK
4
22
KK
4
20
KK
4
02
KK
4
00
_ _
GG
j
2 ~ xx
j
G
j
;
KK
j
K
2
d
M
j
~ xx
2
j
G
j
c
j
A.3. Matrices used in assembly of equations for a mechanism
M
r

M
2
00
M
2
01
0 0 0
M
2
10
M
2
11
C
T
1
M
3
11
C
1
C
T
1
M
3
10
C
T
1
M
3
12
0
0 M
3
01
C
1
M
3
00
M
3
02
0
0 M
3
21
C
1
M
3
20
M
3
22
C
T
2
M
4
22
C
2
C
T
2
M
4
20
0 0 0 M
4
02
C
2
M
4
00
_
_
_
_
K
r

K
2
00
K
2
01
0 0 0
K
2
10
K
2
11
C
T
1
K
3
11
C
1
C
T
1
K
3
10
C
T
1
K
3
12
0
0 K
3
01
C
1
K
3
00
K
3
02
0
0 K
3
21
C
1
K
3
20
K
3
22
C
T
2
K
4
22
C
2
C
T
2
K
4
20
0 0 0 K
4
02
C
2
K
4
00
_
_
_
GG
r

GG
2
00
GG
2
01
0 0 0
GG
2
10
GG
2
11
C
T
1
GG
3
11
C
1
2C
T
1
M
3
11
C
0
1
C
T
1
GG
3
10
C
T
1
GG
3
12
0
0

GG
3
01
C
1
2M
3
01
C
0
1
GG
3
00
GG
3
02
0
0

GG
3
21
C
1
2M
3
21
C
0
1
G
3
20
GG
3
22
C
T
2
GG
4
22
C
2
2C
T
2
M
4
22
C
0
2
C
T
2
GG
4
20
0 0 0

GG
4
02
C
2
2M
4
02
C
0
2
GG
4
00
_
_
_
KK
r

KK
2
00
KK
2
01
0 0 0
KK
2
10
KK
2
11
C
T
1
KK
3
11
C
1
C
T
1
M
3
11
C
00
1
C
T
1
GG
3
11
C
0
1
C
T
1
KK
3
10
C
T
1
KK
3
12
0
0

KK
3
01
C
1
M
3
01
C
00
1

GG
3
01
C
0
1
KK
3
00
KK
3
02
0
0

KK
3
21
C
1
M
3
21
C
00
1

GG
3
21
C
0
1
KK
3
20
KK
3
22
C
T
2
KK
4
22
C
2
C
T
2
M
4
22
C
00
2
C
T
2
GG
4
22
C
0
2
C
T
2
KK
4
20
0 0 0

KK
4
02
C
2
M
4
02
C
00
2

GG
4
02
C
0
2
KK
4
00
_
_
_
_
References
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mechanisms, Journal of Engineering for Industry (1972) 11931205.
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mechanism, Journal of Engineering for Industry (1971) 636644.
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Journal of Engineering for Industry (1975) 542550.
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of the 6th Applied Mechanisms Conference, Denver, Colorado, XXII-1-4, 1979.
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Proceedings of the 6th Applied Mechanisms Conference, Denver, Colorado, XLIV-1-3, 1979.
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Industry (1975) 609628.
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manipulators, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering 32 (1991) 16911710.
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[19] S.D. Yu, W.L. Cleghorn, Proceedings of the International Conference on Vibration Engineering, vol. 1, Dalian,
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Industry (1972) 577582.
[23] S. Kalaycioglu, C. Bagci, Determination of the critical operating speeds of planar mechanisms by the nite element
method using planar actual line elements and lumped mass systems, Journal of Mechanical Design 101 (1979) 210
223.
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Science 13 (4) (1971) 237242.
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153.
[26] R.M. Alexander, K.L. Lawrence, Experimentally determined dynamic strains in an elastic mechanism, Journal of
Engineering for Industry (1975) 791794.
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resonance, International Journal of Solids and Structures 36 (1999) 42254250.
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model, Journal of Sound and Vibration 170 (1) (1994) 2549.
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Theory 31 (2) (1996) 215227.
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Dynamic instability analysis of high-speed exible

68.9 2698.8 4.24 25.4 101.6

68.9 2923.5 1.6 25.4 279.4

68.9 2923.5 1.6 25.4 266.7

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