Structural dynamics is a basic core course at the Master’s level in Structural Engineering and an advanced elective course at the undergraduate level in most Civil Engineering programme at most universities in India.
The present Structural Dynamics course introduces the basic concepts of dynamic loading and the response of structures to such loads, and then uses these concepts to illustrate applications in practical structures.
It begins with the derivation of the basic equations of motion for an ideal single degree-of-freedom structure using various approaches, and the solution of these equations for different types of loading, with the emphasis on the physical behaviour of the structure to different types of loads to establish simplified methods of analysis (Topic 2).
A focus on the numerical methods for response analysis is given in Topic 3, and an emphasis on earthquake response of structures is provided in Topic 4.
This naturally then leads to development of equations for multi-degree-of-freedom structures, with multi‐storied buildings as the example structures, and free and forced vibration response analysis of these multi‐storied buildings (Topics 5‐7).
A simplified analysis of MDOF systems using the concept of generalized single degree‐of‐freedom systems is introduced in Topic 8.
An introduction to the dynamics of continuous systems is provided in Topic 9. Example problems are solved throughout the course to illustrate the theoretical concepts.