09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?

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SohaibNazar
KingKhalidUniversity

Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisand
responsespectrumanalysis?

Onwhatbasiswecanevaluatestructureperformancebasedonthesemethods?
Whatislimitationsofthesemethods.

TOPICS

StructuralDesign StructuralAnalysis SpectrumAnalysis

Feb19,2015

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QUESTIONFOLLOWERS (14)

ALLANSWERS (10)

C.RainieriUniversitdegliStudidelMolise Views 4596

Intimehistoryanalysesthestructuralresponseiscomputedata
numberofsubsequenttimeinstants.Inotherwords,timehistoriesofthe Followers 14
structuralresponsetoagiveninputareobtainedadaresult.In
responsespectrumanalysesthetimeevolutionofresponsecannotbe
Answers 10
computed.Onlythemaximumresponseisestimated.Noinformationis
availablealsoaboutthetimewhenthemaximumresponseoccurs.I
hopethiscanhelp

Article:Proceedingsofthe8th
InternationalConferenceonStructural
Dynamics,EURODYN2011:Leuven,
Belgium,46July2011
GEURODYNDeRoeckInternationalConference
StructuralDynamicsKatholiekeUniversiteitEURODYN

Feb19,2015

ClaesRichardFredQringTechnologyIntl.AB
Hi

Inaddtiontotheaboveanswer,perhapsitisusefultoknowthatatime
history,convolvedwiththetransferfunctionofssingledegreeof
freedom(sdof)systemiswhatproducestheresponsespectrum.Morein
detail,thefrequencyaxisoftheresponsespectrumisnotordinary
frequencybutratherthenaturalfrequencyofthesdofsystem.

Theproceduresimplifiesdownstreamestimationofmaximumresponse
andallowscombinationofmultipletimehistories.Inessence,whatis
neededissimplemodalanalysis,themultiplicationofthemodalreponse
bytheresponsespectrumamplitudeatthenaturalfrequencyofthe
computedmodes.

Also,thereisadifferencebetweenshockresponsespectrum(SRS)and
responsespectrumanalysiswherethelatterreferstosdofbasemass
relativemotionandtheformerreferesto(absolute)fixedframemotion
ofthesdofmass.

Theprocedureisusedforshocks,seismicanalysis,packagingdesign
andmanyotheranalyseswheresimpleanswersarehardfound.

Thefoundationsofthemethodcanbehardtocomprehend,atleastI
hadtroubleunderstandingwhereitallcamefrom,butisstatedinold
versionoftheShockandVibrationHandbookbyHarris.Thereed(see
picturebelow),isaninstrumentcomprisedofstemsofvaryinglengths

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_difference_between_time_history_analysis_and_response_spectrum_analysis 1/11
09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?ResearchGate
withvaryingnaturalfrequencywereinthedaysofoldusedbothto
determinefrequencyandvibrationamplitude(fromloggingreedtip
motion).Theresponsespectrumbasicallyiswhatareedinstrument
wouldhaverecorded.

Sincerely

Claes

Feb19,2015

MohammadSadeqEskandarjuyShirazUniversityofTechnology
Afulltimehistorywillgivetheresponseofastructureovertimeduring
andaftertheapplicationofaload.Tofindthefulltimehistoryofa
structure'sresponse,youmustsolvethestructure'sequationofmotion.

Responsespectrumanalysis(RSA)isalineardynamicstatistical
analysismethodwhichmeasuresthecontributionfromeachnatural
modeofvibrationtoindicatethelikelymaximumseismicresponseofan
essentiallyelasticstructure.Responsespectrumanalysisprovides
insightintodynamicbehaviorbymeasuringpseudospectral
acceleration,velocity,ordisplacementasafunctionofstructuralperiod
foragiventimehistoryandlevelofdamping.Itispracticaltoenvelope
responsespectrasuchthatasmoothcurverepresentsthepeak
responseforeachrealizationofstructuralperiod.Responsespectrum
analysisisusefulfordesigndecisionmakingbecauseitrelatesstructural
typeselectiontodynamicperformance.Structuresofshorterperiod
experiencegreateracceleration,whereasthoseoflongerperiod
experiencegreaterdisplacement.Structuralperformanceobjectives
shouldbetakenintoaccountduringpreliminarydesignandresponse
spectrumanalysis.

Feb20,2015

DominikStengelBundesanstaltfrMaterialforschungundprfung
Responsespectrumanalysisarelimitedtolinearassumptionsonthe
system'sresponse.Whereasitispossibletoincludematerialor
geometricalnonlinearitiesintimedomainanalysis.

Feb24,2015

TahaIbrahimBenhaUniversity
Aresponsespectrumissimplyaplotofthepeakorsteadystate
response(displacement,velocityoracceleration)ofaseriesof
oscillatorsofvaryingnaturalfrequency,thatareforcedintomotionby
thesamebasevibrationorshock.Theresultingplotcanthenbeusedto
pickofftheresponseofanylinearsystem,givenitsnaturalfrequencyof
oscillation.Onesuchuseisinassessingthepeakresponseofbuildings
toearthquakes.Thescienceofstronggroundmotionmayusesome
valuesfromthegroundresponsespectrum(calculatedfromrecordings
ofsurfacegroundmotionfromseismographs)forcorrelationwith
seismicdamage.

Iftheinputusedincalculatingaresponsespectrumissteadystate
periodic,thenthesteadystateresultisrecorded.Dampingmustbe
present,orelsetheresponsewillbeinfinite.Fortransientinput(suchas
seismicgroundmotion),thepeakresponseisreported.Somelevelof
dampingisgenerallyassumed,butavaluewillbeobtainedevenwithno
damping.

Responsespectracanalsobeusedinassessingtheresponseoflinear

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_difference_between_time_history_analysis_and_response_spectrum_analysis 2/11
09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?ResearchGate
systemswithmultiplemodesofoscillation(multidegreeoffreedom
systems),althoughtheyareonlyaccurateforlowlevelsofdamping.
Modalanalysisisperformedtoidentifythemodes,andtheresponsein
thatmodecanbepickedfromtheresponsespectrum.Thesepeak
responsesarethencombinedtoestimateatotalresponse.Atypical
combinationmethodisthesquarerootofthesumofthesquares
(SRSS)ifthemodalfrequenciesarenotclose.Theresultistypically
differentfromthatwhichwouldbecalculateddirectlyfromaninput,since
ResearchGateistheprofessionalnetworkforscientistsandresearchers.
phaseinformationislostintheprocessofgeneratingtheresponse
spectrum.

Themainlimitationofresponsespectraisthattheyareonlyuniversally
applicableforlinearsystems.Responsespectracanbegeneratedfor
nonlinearsystems,butareonlyapplicabletosystemswiththesame
nonlinearity,althoughattemptshavebeenmadetodevelopnonlinear
seismicdesignspectrawithwiderstructuralapplication.Theresultsof
thiscannotbedirectlycombinedformultimoderesponse.

HarmonicForcingFunction

Theharmonicforcingfunctionvariesinasinusoidalfashionandrequires
Aoandtobespecified.TheequationtakesontheformA(t)=
Ao*sin(*t)andA(t)multipliesallstaticloadsplacedinthetimehistory
loadcaseatvarioustimes.Harmonicallyvaryingloadsareprobably
mostcommonwhenanalyzingtheeffectsofmachineryonastructure.
Oftenunbalancedrotatingmachineryorpartsaremostapplicable.Note
thattheunitsonaresuchthat*thasangleunitsofradians.

FactoredForcingFunctions(LoadAmplitude)

TheLoadAmplitudetimehistoryoptionessentiallyusesatextfileto
specifythefractionoftheloadatspecifictimes.Thetextfilerequirestwo
columns,time(t)andA(t)whichistheamplificationfactor.Shownbelow
isasampleofwhatwouldappearinthetextfilealongwithaplotofthe
data.Notethetext"Force"onthefirstline.Whenthistextfileisreadinto
VisualAnalysisthefirstlineindicatesthetypeofdata.

Force
0.00.0
0.051.0
0.11.0
0.10010.0
9.00.0

Aswiththeharmonicfunction,A(t)multipliesthestaticloadsappliedto
thestructureinthetimehistoryloadcaseatvarioustimes.Load
Amplitudeloadsarecommonlyusedtomodelwindloads,impactloads,
andpossiblyblastloadings.

BaseDisplacement

LiketheLoadAmplitudeloadingtype,theBaseDisplacementusesa
textfileforinput.Thebasedisplacementisexactlyasitsounds,the
structureisforcedthroughsomevaryinggrounddisplacementovertime.
ThesedisplacementscanactindependentlyintheglobalX,Y,andZ
directions.Thedisplacementscanbeanycombinationofallorsomeof
thesedirections.(I.e.Ifyouwantedtomodelaneventata45degree
angletotheXandYdirectionsyoucouldspecifythenecessary
componentsintheXandYdirectionsrespectively.)Unitsforthetextfile
arealwaysassumedtobesecondsandinches.Afterthefileisreadin
thedatawillbeconvertedtothecurrentunitsystem.Forexample,ifone
ofthedisplacementvalueswas6initwouldbereadinas0.5ftifyour
currentprojectunitswerelbft.Thetextfilerequiresatleasttwocolumns
andcanhaveuptofour(refertotheTextFileNotessectionbelowfor
moreinformation).Thesecolumnswouldbethetime,t,ux(t),uy(t),and
uz(t).

Displacement
0.00.00.00.0
1.05.00.00.0
2.05.00.00.0

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_difference_between_time_history_analysis_and_response_spectrum_analysis 3/11
09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?ResearchGate
3.05.00.00.0

Notethatthelineisextrapolatedlinearlybetweenthet=2.0sandt=
3.0svaluesbutourtimeincrementslimitthedisplacementto2.5
seconds.Intheexampletheuy(t)anduz(t)columnsareincludedbut
havenoeffect.Notealsothatifyouareworkinginaplanestructurethe
uz(t)columnwillalwaysbeignored.Youmustbeworkinginaspace
framestructuretohavezdisplacements.

BaseAcceleration

Again,theBaseAccelerationloadingtypeusesatextfileforinput.The
baseaccelerationisverysimilartothebasedisplacementand
representsputtingthestructurethroughsomevaryingground
accelerationovertime.Logically,thebaseaccelerationisjustthe
secondderivativesofthebasedisplacements.Similarly,the
accelerationscanactinthex,y,andzdirectionsandagaintheycanbe
anycombinationofallorsomeofthesedirections.Thetextfilerequires
atleasttwocolumnsandcanhaveuptofour(refertotheTextFile
Notessectionbelowformoreinformation).Thesecolumnswouldbe
time(t),x(t),y(t),andz(t)wheretheaccelerationsarespecifiedasa
decimalfractionofG(I.e."0.5"wouldbe50%ofG).Notebelowthetext
fileisshowninaspacedelimitedformat.

Acceleration
0.00.00.00.0
1.01.00.00.0
2.00.00.00.0
2.010.00.00.0
3.00.00.00.0

BaseDisplacementandBaseAccelerationNotes

Withthebasedisplacementandbaseaccelerationanalysistypesstatic
loadsonlyhaveaninertialeffectonthestructure.Withtheharmonicand
amplitudeanalysistypes,thestaticloadsappliedwithinthetimehistory
casearevarieddynamicallyaccordingtowhatisspecified.Forthe
displacementandaccelerationtypes,VisualAnalysisconvertsany
staticallyappliedloadinthetimehistoryloadcaseactinginthepositive
ornegativeYdirectiontoamass.Itthenhasaninertialeffectonthe
resultssimilartoaddinglumpedmasstonodes.Anystaticallyapplied
loadsthatdonotactinthegravitydirection(positiveornegativeY)and
anymomentsaresimplyignoredbyVisualAnalysisandwillhaveno
effectonthedisplacementoraccelerationanalysisresults.

TextFileNotes

Somegeneralnotesabouttheinputtextfiles.Thetextfilescanbe
comma,space,ortabdelimited.TheForce,Displacement,or
Acceleration"headings"onthefirstlinearenotessentialforthefileto
workbutitisrecommended.

Oncethedatafileisopenedandreadsuccessfully,thedataisstoredin
yourprojectfile(*.vap)andtheconnectiontothedatafileisnot
maintained.Ifyoueditormodifyyourdatafile,youwouldneedtoedit
theTimeHistoryloadcasetoreloadthedatafromthefile.Storingthe
datafileintheprojectfileallowstheprojecttobesenttoacolleagueor
openedatsomefuturetimewhenthetextfileisnotavailableormay
haveadifferentlocation.

Asnotedabove,thenumberofcolumnsinthedatafilewillchange
basedonthestructuretype.Thetablebelowsummarizesthedata
requiredforthevariousstructuretypes.

StructureTypeColumnsPerLineDataInColumns
PlaneTruss3T,X,Y
PlaneFrame3T,X,Y
SpaceTruss4T,X,Y,Z
SpaceFrame4T,X,Y,Z
Lastly,thevaluesinthetextfilesarealwayslinearlyinterpolateduntil
yousetanewvalue.Forexample,inthesampleaccelerationdatawe
wantedtheaccelerationtobezeroatatimeof2secondsandbeyond.
Toaccomplishthiswespecifiedanaccelerationofzeroatt=2.0sec

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_difference_between_time_history_analysis_and_response_spectrum_analysis 4/11
09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?ResearchGate
andalsoatt=2.01sec.Ifwehadnotaddedthet=2.01secentrythe
programwouldsimplyhavecontinuedtointerpolateastraightline
betweentheaccelerationof1att=1secandzeroatt=2.0secand
continuingonpast2.0seconds.

Amplitude,Acceleration,andDisplacementInput

Intimehistoryanalysisproceduresthereareanumberofwaysto
numericallyintegratethefundamentalequationofmotion.Manyofthese
arediscussedintextbooksincludingthereferencedtextsincludedin
thisdocument.VisualAnalysisusestheNewmarkmethodofnumerical
integrationwhichisconsideredageneralizationofthelinearacceleration
method.TheparametersoftheNewmarkmethodaredescribedinwhat
follows.

NumberofStepsThisisthenumberoftimestepsoverwhichyouwish
toanalyze.

DeltatThisisthetimeincrementforeachstep.Thetimestep
incrementcanbeveryimportantaswell.E.L.Wilsonin[3]recommends
t1/(MAX*(/2)).Forlargemultidegreeoffreedomstructural
systemsthereisadifferentlimit.Thisduetocomputermodelsoflarge
realstructuresnormallycontainingalargenumberofperiodswhichare
smallerthantheintegrationtimesteptherefore,itisessentialthatone
selectanumericalintegrationmethodthatisunconditionalforalltime
steps.Forafurtherdiscussionreferto[1],[3],and[4].

GammaandBetaTheNewmarkmethodisbasicallyconsidereda
generalizationofthelinearaccelerationmethod(WilsonTheta).Gamma
andBetareplacedthe1/2and1/6coefficientsontheincremental
accelerationtermsoftheequationforincrementaldisplacement,as
derivedbytheWilsonthetamethod.E.L.Wilsonpresentsagood
discussionin[3]regardingthebetaandgammaparametersfor
Newmark'smethod.Manytextbooksonthesubjectalsodescribethese
parameters.Thedefaultvaluesofgamma=1/2andbeta=1/4maybe
usedunlessyouaresureotherwise.Thesedefaultvaluesmakethe
Newmarkmethodunconditionallystableandprovidesatisfactory
accuracy.Usingothervalues,particularlygammagreaterthan1/2can
leadto"numericaldamping"and"periodelongation".

DeltaDeltadefinestheamountofdampingandisusuallydefinedas
thelogarithmicdecrement,whichisthenaturallogoftheratioofanytwo
successivepeakamplitudesinfreevibration.NotethatVisualAnalysis
usesviscousdamping.Thisistheeffectofinternaldampingdueto
materials,connections,etc.andaddingmasstothestructure.Most
dynamicstextsdiscussdampingincludingthosereferencedbelow.

Relatingtomass,notethatitisusuallymoreaccuratetosplitthe
membersofyourmodeltogetabettermassdistributionandabetter
solution.Thisisdiscussedformodeshapesandresponsespectraand
appliestotimehistoryanalysistoo.YoucanalsorefertotheTime
Historytutorialwheremembersaresplittoimprovetheanalysis
accuracy.

TimeHistoryDialog

Toperformatimehistoryanalysis,youmustfirstcreateanewtime
historycase.ThisisdoneontheLoadmenuinVisualAnalysis.The
dialogwillrequireanameforthetimehistorycaseandtheparameters
discussedabovemustbeentered.Thesecondpageofthedialogis
whereyouspecifythetypeofloadingyouwouldlikeappliedtothe
structure.Foraharmonicallyvaryingforcingfunctionsimplyselect
Harmonicfromthedropdownlist,thenspecifyAoand.Theother
loadingtypesrequireatextfileinputso"Fromfile"wouldbeselected
fromthedropdownlist.Clickingtheellipsisbuttonwillopenanewdialog
whereyoucanbrowseforthetextfilecontainingtheamplitude,
displacement,oraccelerationinformation.Aftercreatingatimehistory
caseandapplyinganynecessaryloadstothestructurewithinthiscase,
theanalysisisperformedasusual.

TimeHistoryResults

WheninaResultView,thetimehistorycaseisselectedinthestatusbar

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_difference_between_time_history_analysis_and_response_spectrum_analysis 5/11
09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?ResearchGate
likeanyotherloadcaseinVisualAnalysis.Theuniquecharacteristicof
timehistorycasesisyoucanviewresultsforeverytimestep.Avery
usefulwaytolookatresultsistousethegraphfeature.Forexample,
whileinaResultViewyoucanrightclickanodeinyourtimehistorycase
andselect"GraphNodeResults"fromthecontextmenu.Thiswillallow
youtoplotdisplacement,forces,andmomentsovertimeforthe
selectednode.

TimeHistoryReports

Therearethreemainreportitemsavailablefortimehistoryloadcases:
TimeHistoryCases,ForcingFunctionDetails,andForcingFunction
Summary.TheTimeHistoryCasesitemincludesanumberofitemswith
themostcommononesbeingthenumberoftimesteps,timestep
increment,gamma,beta,anddeltavalues,andtheforcingtype.The
ForcingFunctionDetailsandForcingFunctionSummaryreportitems
areverysimilar.Theybothincludethetimehistorycasename,the
forcingtype,thelocationofthesourcetextfilethatwasused(if
applicable)andthenumberofdatapoints.Theonlyextrainformation
theForcingFunctionDetailsreportgivesisthedatathatwasreadin
fromthetextfileinatabledformat.Notethatmanyofthestaticreports
areavailableataspecifictimeincrementinatimehistoryanalysis.For
example,youcanviewmemberinternalforcesatanyofthetime
incrementsduringtheanalysis.Also,theuseofenvelopedresults
becomesveryusefulforprocessingtimehistoryresults.Logically,using
anenvelopewouldquicklyallowyoutoseetheoverallmaximumand
minimumextremesforjustthetimehistorycaseorformultipleload
cases.RefertotheEnvelopedResultssectionformoreinformation.

Mar5,2015

TahaIbrahimBenhaUniversity
Aresponsespectrumissimplyaplotofthepeakorsteadystate
response(displacement,velocityoracceleration)ofaseriesof
oscillatorsofvaryingnaturalfrequency,thatareforcedintomotionby
thesamebasevibrationorshock.Theresultingplotcanthenbeusedto
pickofftheresponseofanylinearsystem,givenitsnaturalfrequencyof
oscillation.Onesuchuseisinassessingthepeakresponseofbuildings
toearthquakes.Thescienceofstronggroundmotionmayusesome
valuesfromthegroundresponsespectrum(calculatedfromrecordings
ofsurfacegroundmotionfromseismographs)forcorrelationwith
seismicdamage.

Iftheinputusedincalculatingaresponsespectrumissteadystate
periodic,thenthesteadystateresultisrecorded.Dampingmustbe
present,orelsetheresponsewillbeinfinite.Fortransientinput(suchas
seismicgroundmotion),thepeakresponseisreported.Somelevelof
dampingisgenerallyassumed,butavaluewillbeobtainedevenwithno
damping.

Responsespectracanalsobeusedinassessingtheresponseoflinear
systemswithmultiplemodesofoscillation(multidegreeoffreedom
systems),althoughtheyareonlyaccurateforlowlevelsofdamping.
Modalanalysisisperformedtoidentifythemodes,andtheresponsein
thatmodecanbepickedfromtheresponsespectrum.Thesepeak
responsesarethencombinedtoestimateatotalresponse.Atypical
combinationmethodisthesquarerootofthesumofthesquares
(SRSS)ifthemodalfrequenciesarenotclose.Theresultistypically
differentfromthatwhichwouldbecalculateddirectlyfromaninput,since
phaseinformationislostintheprocessofgeneratingtheresponse
spectrum.

Themainlimitationofresponsespectraisthattheyareonlyuniversally
applicableforlinearsystems.Responsespectracanbegeneratedfor
nonlinearsystems,butareonlyapplicabletosystemswiththesame
nonlinearity,althoughattemptshavebeenmadetodevelopnonlinear
seismicdesignspectrawithwiderstructuralapplication.Theresultsof

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_difference_between_time_history_analysis_and_response_spectrum_analysis 6/11
09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?ResearchGate
thiscannotbedirectlycombinedformultimoderesponse.

HarmonicForcingFunction

Theharmonicforcingfunctionvariesinasinusoidalfashionandrequires
Aoandtobespecified.TheequationtakesontheformA(t)=
Ao*sin(*t)andA(t)multipliesallstaticloadsplacedinthetimehistory
loadcaseatvarioustimes.Harmonicallyvaryingloadsareprobably
mostcommonwhenanalyzingtheeffectsofmachineryonastructure.
Oftenunbalancedrotatingmachineryorpartsaremostapplicable.Note
thattheunitsonaresuchthat*thasangleunitsofradians.

FactoredForcingFunctions(LoadAmplitude)

TheLoadAmplitudetimehistoryoptionessentiallyusesatextfileto
specifythefractionoftheloadatspecifictimes.Thetextfilerequirestwo
columns,time(t)andA(t)whichistheamplificationfactor.Shownbelow
isasampleofwhatwouldappearinthetextfilealongwithaplotofthe
data.Notethetext"Force"onthefirstline.Whenthistextfileisreadinto
VisualAnalysisthefirstlineindicatesthetypeofdata.

Force
0.00.0
0.051.0
0.11.0
0.10010.0
9.00.0

Aswiththeharmonicfunction,A(t)multipliesthestaticloadsappliedto
thestructureinthetimehistoryloadcaseatvarioustimes.Load
Amplitudeloadsarecommonlyusedtomodelwindloads,impactloads,
andpossiblyblastloadings.

BaseDisplacement

LiketheLoadAmplitudeloadingtype,theBaseDisplacementusesa
textfileforinput.Thebasedisplacementisexactlyasitsounds,the
structureisforcedthroughsomevaryinggrounddisplacementovertime.
ThesedisplacementscanactindependentlyintheglobalX,Y,andZ
directions.Thedisplacementscanbeanycombinationofallorsomeof
thesedirections.(I.e.Ifyouwantedtomodelaneventata45degree
angletotheXandYdirectionsyoucouldspecifythenecessary
componentsintheXandYdirectionsrespectively.)Unitsforthetextfile
arealwaysassumedtobesecondsandinches.Afterthefileisreadin
thedatawillbeconvertedtothecurrentunitsystem.Forexample,ifone
ofthedisplacementvalueswas6initwouldbereadinas0.5ftifyour
currentprojectunitswerelbft.Thetextfilerequiresatleasttwocolumns
andcanhaveuptofour(refertotheTextFileNotessectionbelowfor
moreinformation).Thesecolumnswouldbethetime,t,ux(t),uy(t),and
uz(t).

Displacement
0.00.00.00.0
1.05.00.00.0
2.05.00.00.0
3.05.00.00.0

Notethatthelineisextrapolatedlinearlybetweenthet=2.0sandt=
3.0svaluesbutourtimeincrementslimitthedisplacementto2.5
seconds.Intheexampletheuy(t)anduz(t)columnsareincludedbut
havenoeffect.Notealsothatifyouareworkinginaplanestructurethe
uz(t)columnwillalwaysbeignored.Youmustbeworkinginaspace
framestructuretohavezdisplacements.

BaseAcceleration

Again,theBaseAccelerationloadingtypeusesatextfileforinput.The
baseaccelerationisverysimilartothebasedisplacementand
representsputtingthestructurethroughsomevaryingground
accelerationovertime.Logically,thebaseaccelerationisjustthe
secondderivativesofthebasedisplacements.Similarly,the
accelerationscanactinthex,y,andzdirectionsandagaintheycanbe

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_difference_between_time_history_analysis_and_response_spectrum_analysis 7/11
09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?ResearchGate
anycombinationofallorsomeofthesedirections.Thetextfilerequires
atleasttwocolumnsandcanhaveuptofour(refertotheTextFile
Notessectionbelowformoreinformation).Thesecolumnswouldbe
time(t),x(t),y(t),andz(t)wheretheaccelerationsarespecifiedasa
decimalfractionofG(I.e."0.5"wouldbe50%ofG).Notebelowthetext
fileisshowninaspacedelimitedformat.

Acceleration
0.00.00.00.0
1.01.00.00.0
2.00.00.00.0
2.010.00.00.0
3.00.00.00.0

BaseDisplacementandBaseAccelerationNotes

Withthebasedisplacementandbaseaccelerationanalysistypesstatic
loadsonlyhaveaninertialeffectonthestructure.Withtheharmonicand
amplitudeanalysistypes,thestaticloadsappliedwithinthetimehistory
casearevarieddynamicallyaccordingtowhatisspecified.Forthe
displacementandaccelerationtypes,VisualAnalysisconvertsany
staticallyappliedloadinthetimehistoryloadcaseactinginthepositive
ornegativeYdirectiontoamass.Itthenhasaninertialeffectonthe
resultssimilartoaddinglumpedmasstonodes.Anystaticallyapplied
loadsthatdonotactinthegravitydirection(positiveornegativeY)and
anymomentsaresimplyignoredbyVisualAnalysisandwillhaveno
effectonthedisplacementoraccelerationanalysisresults.

TextFileNotes

Somegeneralnotesabouttheinputtextfiles.Thetextfilescanbe
comma,space,ortabdelimited.TheForce,Displacement,or
Acceleration"headings"onthefirstlinearenotessentialforthefileto
workbutitisrecommended.

Oncethedatafileisopenedandreadsuccessfully,thedataisstoredin
yourprojectfile(*.vap)andtheconnectiontothedatafileisnot
maintained.Ifyoueditormodifyyourdatafile,youwouldneedtoedit
theTimeHistoryloadcasetoreloadthedatafromthefile.Storingthe
datafileintheprojectfileallowstheprojecttobesenttoacolleagueor
openedatsomefuturetimewhenthetextfileisnotavailableormay
haveadifferentlocation.

Asnotedabove,thenumberofcolumnsinthedatafilewillchange
basedonthestructuretype.Thetablebelowsummarizesthedata
requiredforthevariousstructuretypes.

StructureTypeColumnsPerLineDataInColumns
PlaneTruss3T,X,Y
PlaneFrame3T,X,Y
SpaceTruss4T,X,Y,Z
SpaceFrame4T,X,Y,Z
Lastly,thevaluesinthetextfilesarealwayslinearlyinterpolateduntil
yousetanewvalue.Forexample,inthesampleaccelerationdatawe
wantedtheaccelerationtobezeroatatimeof2secondsandbeyond.
Toaccomplishthiswespecifiedanaccelerationofzeroatt=2.0sec
andalsoatt=2.01sec.Ifwehadnotaddedthet=2.01secentrythe
programwouldsimplyhavecontinuedtointerpolateastraightline
betweentheaccelerationof1att=1secandzeroatt=2.0secand
continuingonpast2.0seconds.

Amplitude,Acceleration,andDisplacementInput

Intimehistoryanalysisproceduresthereareanumberofwaysto
numericallyintegratethefundamentalequationofmotion.Manyofthese
arediscussedintextbooksincludingthereferencedtextsincludedin
thisdocument.VisualAnalysisusestheNewmarkmethodofnumerical
integrationwhichisconsideredageneralizationofthelinearacceleration
method.TheparametersoftheNewmarkmethodaredescribedinwhat
follows.

NumberofStepsThisisthenumberoftimestepsoverwhichyouwish
toanalyze.

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_difference_between_time_history_analysis_and_response_spectrum_analysis 8/11
09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?ResearchGate
DeltatThisisthetimeincrementforeachstep.Thetimestep
incrementcanbeveryimportantaswell.E.L.Wilsonin[3]recommends
t1/(MAX*(/2)).Forlargemultidegreeoffreedomstructural
systemsthereisadifferentlimit.Thisduetocomputermodelsoflarge
realstructuresnormallycontainingalargenumberofperiodswhichare
smallerthantheintegrationtimesteptherefore,itisessentialthatone
selectanumericalintegrationmethodthatisunconditionalforalltime
steps.Forafurtherdiscussionreferto[1],[3],and[4].

GammaandBetaTheNewmarkmethodisbasicallyconsidereda
generalizationofthelinearaccelerationmethod(WilsonTheta).Gamma
andBetareplacedthe1/2and1/6coefficientsontheincremental
accelerationtermsoftheequationforincrementaldisplacement,as
derivedbytheWilsonthetamethod.E.L.Wilsonpresentsagood
discussionin[3]regardingthebetaandgammaparametersfor
Newmark'smethod.Manytextbooksonthesubjectalsodescribethese
parameters.Thedefaultvaluesofgamma=1/2andbeta=1/4maybe
usedunlessyouaresureotherwise.Thesedefaultvaluesmakethe
Newmarkmethodunconditionallystableandprovidesatisfactory
accuracy.Usingothervalues,particularlygammagreaterthan1/2can
leadto"numericaldamping"and"periodelongation".

DeltaDeltadefinestheamountofdampingandisusuallydefinedas
thelogarithmicdecrement,whichisthenaturallogoftheratioofanytwo
successivepeakamplitudesinfreevibration.NotethatVisualAnalysis
usesviscousdamping.Thisistheeffectofinternaldampingdueto
materials,connections,etc.andaddingmasstothestructure.Most
dynamicstextsdiscussdampingincludingthosereferencedbelow.

Relatingtomass,notethatitisusuallymoreaccuratetosplitthe
membersofyourmodeltogetabettermassdistributionandabetter
solution.Thisisdiscussedformodeshapesandresponsespectraand
appliestotimehistoryanalysistoo.YoucanalsorefertotheTime
Historytutorialwheremembersaresplittoimprovetheanalysis
accuracy.

TimeHistoryDialog

Toperformatimehistoryanalysis,youmustfirstcreateanewtime
historycase.ThisisdoneontheLoadmenuinVisualAnalysis.The
dialogwillrequireanameforthetimehistorycaseandtheparameters
discussedabovemustbeentered.Thesecondpageofthedialogis
whereyouspecifythetypeofloadingyouwouldlikeappliedtothe
structure.Foraharmonicallyvaryingforcingfunctionsimplyselect
Harmonicfromthedropdownlist,thenspecifyAoand.Theother
loadingtypesrequireatextfileinputso"Fromfile"wouldbeselected
fromthedropdownlist.Clickingtheellipsisbuttonwillopenanewdialog
whereyoucanbrowseforthetextfilecontainingtheamplitude,
displacement,oraccelerationinformation.Aftercreatingatimehistory
caseandapplyinganynecessaryloadstothestructurewithinthiscase,
theanalysisisperformedasusual.

TimeHistoryResults

WheninaResultView,thetimehistorycaseisselectedinthestatusbar
likeanyotherloadcaseinVisualAnalysis.Theuniquecharacteristicof
timehistorycasesisyoucanviewresultsforeverytimestep.Avery
usefulwaytolookatresultsistousethegraphfeature.Forexample,
whileinaResultViewyoucanrightclickanodeinyourtimehistorycase
andselect"GraphNodeResults"fromthecontextmenu.Thiswillallow
youtoplotdisplacement,forces,andmomentsovertimeforthe
selectednode.

TimeHistoryReports

Therearethreemainreportitemsavailablefortimehistoryloadcases:
TimeHistoryCases,ForcingFunctionDetails,andForcingFunction
Summary.TheTimeHistoryCasesitemincludesanumberofitemswith
themostcommononesbeingthenumberoftimesteps,timestep
increment,gamma,beta,anddeltavalues,andtheforcingtype.The
ForcingFunctionDetailsandForcingFunctionSummaryreportitems
areverysimilar.Theybothincludethetimehistorycasename,the

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_difference_between_time_history_analysis_and_response_spectrum_analysis 9/11
09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?ResearchGate
forcingtype,thelocationofthesourcetextfilethatwasused(if
applicable)andthenumberofdatapoints.Theonlyextrainformation
theForcingFunctionDetailsreportgivesisthedatathatwasreadin
fromthetextfileinatabledformat.Notethatmanyofthestaticreports
areavailableataspecifictimeincrementinatimehistoryanalysis.For
example,youcanviewmemberinternalforcesatanyofthetime
incrementsduringtheanalysis.Also,theuseofenvelopedresults
becomesveryusefulforprocessingtimehistoryresults.Logically,using
anenvelopewouldquicklyallowyoutoseetheoverallmaximumand
minimumextremesforjustthetimehistorycaseorformultipleload
cases.RefertotheEnvelopedResultssectionformoreinformation.

Mar5,2015

ClaesRichardFredQringTechnologyIntl.AB
Hi

Ifyouwanttolookatrelatedmethodsandassumptions/limitations,the
NasaEnvironmentalHandbookisagoodread.
http://snebulos.mit.edu/projects/reference/NASAGeneric/NASAHDBK
7005.pdf

Sincerely

Claes

Mar5,2015

AhmedGuerineInstitutNationaldesSciencesAppliquesdeRouen
Hi

Responsespectrumconsidersthespectrumofaresponsequantitylike
accelerationwithrespecttofrequency.Thisspectrumisusedto
generateaccelerationcoefficientsfordifferentmasseswhichinturn
givestheforce.

Ontheotherhand,timehistoryanalysisusesthetimehistoryofinput
forceoraccelerationdirectlywhichisthencombinedtogetthe
response.

Bestregards

May25,2015

AhmedGuerineInstitutNationaldesSciencesAppliquesdeRouen
Hi

Responsespectrumanalysisisalineardynamicstatisticalanalysis
methodwhichmeasuresthecontributionfromeachnaturalmodeof
vibrationtoindicatethelikelymaximumseismicresponseofan
essentiallyelasticstructure.Responsespectrumanalysisprovides
insightintodynamicbehaviorbymeasuringpseudospectral
acceleration,velocity,ordisplacementasafunctionofstructuralperiod
foragiventimehistoryandlevelofdamping.Itispracticaltoenvelope
responsespectrasuchthatasmoothcurverepresentsthepeak
responseforeachrealizationofstructuralperiod.

Responsespectrumanalysisisusefulfordesigndecisionmaking
becauseitrelatesstructuraltypeselectiontodynamicperformance.
Structuresofshorterperiodexperiencegreateracceleration,whereas
thoseoflongerperiodexperiencegreaterdisplacement.Structural
performanceobjectivesshouldbetakenintoaccountduringpreliminary
designandresponsespectrumanalysis.

Bestregards

May28,2015

NitishSheteIndianInstituteofTechnology(BanarasHinduUniversity)

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_difference_between_time_history_analysis_and_response_spectrum_analysis 10/11
09/09/2015 Whatisdifferencebetweentimehistoryanalysisandresponsespectrumanalysis?ResearchGate
Varanasi
ResponsespectrumanalysisisplotofmaximumresponseofSDOF
systemwhichonlygivespositivemaximumbetweenappliedfrequency
rangeduetowhichitisfastbutitcannotgivethetimestepatwhich
maximumresponseoccurs.Also,ifappliedfrequencyrangeisoutside
thenaturalfrequencyofsystem(ascanhappeninseismicanalysis),you
cannotgetaccurateresponse.

Timehistoryanalysisisdetailedanalysisinwhichresponseiscalculated
foreachtimestep.Itrequiresmoretimebutgivesgoodresults.

Jun29,2015

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