Frequency analysis

In a frequency analysis the lowest eigenfrequencies and eigenmodes of the structure are calculated. In CalculiX, the mass matrix is not lumped, and thus a generalized eigenvalue problem has to be solved. The theory can be found in any textbook on vibrations or on finite elements, e.g. [74]. A crucial point in the present implementation is that, instead of looking for the smallest eigenfrequencies of the generalized eigenvalue problem, the largest eigenvalues of the inverse problem are determined. For large problems this results in execution times cut by about a factor of 100 (!). The inversion is performed by calling the linear equation solver SPOOLES. A frequency step is triggered by the key word *FREQUENCY and can be perturbative or not.

If the perturbation parameter is not activated on the *STEP card, the frequency analysis is performed on the unloaded structure, constrained by the homogeneous SPC's and MPC's. Any steps preceding the frequency step do not have any influence on the results.

If the perturbation parameter is activated, the stiffness matrix is augmented by contributions resulting from the displacements and stresses at the end of the last non-perturbative static step, if any, and the material parameters are based on the temperature at the end of that step. Thus, the effect of the centrifugal force on the frequencies in a turbine blade can be analyzed by first performing a static calculation with these loads, and selecting the perturbation parameter on the *STEP card in the subsequent frequency step. The loading at the end of a perturbation step is reset to zero.

If the input deck is stored in the file ``problem.inp'', where ``problem'' stands for any name, the eigenfrequencies are stored in the ``problem.dat'' file. Furthermore, if the parameter STORAGE is set to yes (STORAGE=YES) on the *FREQUENCY card the eigenfrequencies, eigenmodes and mass matrix are stored in binary form in a "problem.eig" file for further use (e.g. in a linear dynamic step).

All output of the eigenmodes is normalized by means of the mass matrix, i.e. the generalized mass is one. The eigenvalue of the generalized eigenvalue problem is actually the square of the eigenfrequency. The eigenvalue is guaranteed to be real (the stiffness and mass matrices are symmetric), but it is positive only for positive definite stiffness matrices. Due to preloading the stiffness matrix is not necessarily positive definite. This can lead to purely imaginary eigenfrequencies which physically mean that the structure buckles.

A special kind of frequency calculations is a cyclic symmetry calculation for which the keyword cards *SURFACE, *TIE, *CYCLIC SYMMETRY MODEL and *SELECT CYCLIC SYMMETRY MODES are available. This kind of calculation applies to structures consisting of identical sectors ordered in a cyclic way such as in Figure 122.

Figure 122: Cyclic symmetry structure consisting of four identical sectors

For such structures it is sufficient to model just one sector (also called datum sector) to obtain the eigenfrequencies and eigenmodes of the whole structure. The displacement values on the left and right boundary (or surfaces) of the datum sector are phase shifted. The shift depends on how many waves are looked for along the circumference of the structure. Figure 123 shows an eigenmode for a full disk exhibiting two complete waves along the circumference. This corresponds to four zero-crossings of the waves and a nodal diameter of two. This nodal diameter (also called cyclic symmetry mode number) can be considered as the number of waves, or also as the number of diameters in the structure along which the displacements are zero.

Figure 123: Eigenmode for a full disk with a nodal diameter of two

The lowest nodal diameter is zero and corresponds to a solution which is identical on the left and right boundary of the datum sector. For a structure consisting of N sectors, the highest feasible nodal diameter is N/2 for N even and (N-1)/2 for N odd. The nodal diameter is selected by the user on the *SELECT CYCLIC SYMMETRY MODES card. On the *CYCLIC SYMMETRY MODEL card, the number of base sectors fitting in $360^{\circ}$ is to be provided. On the same card the user also indicates the number of sectors for which the solution is to be stored in the .frd file. In this way, the solution can be plotted for the whole structure, although the calculation was done for only one sector.

Mathematically the left and right boundary of the datum sector are coupled by MPC's with complex coefficients. This leads to a complex generalized eigenvalue problem with a Hermitian stiffness matrix, which can be reduced to a real eigenvalue problem the matrices of which are twice the size as those in the original problem.

The phase shift between left and right boundary of the datum sector is given by $2 \pi N/M$, where N is the nodal diameter and M is the number of base sectors in $360^{\circ}$. Whereas N has to be an integer, CalculiX allows M to be a real number. In this way the user may enter a fictitious value for M, leading to arbitrary phase shifts between the left and right boundary of the datum sector (for advanced applications).

For models containing the axis of cyclic symmetry (e.g. a full disk), the nodes on the symmetry axis are treated differently depending on whether the nodal diameter is 0, 1 or exceeds 1. For nodal diameter 0, these nodes are fixed in a plane perpendicular to the cyclic symmetry axis, for nodal diameter 1 they cannot move along the cyclic symmetry axis and for higher nodal diameters they cannot move at all. For these kind of structures calculations for nodal diameters 0 or 1 must be performed in separate steps.

Finally one word of caution on frequency calculations with axisymmetric elements. Right now, you will only get the eigenmodes corresponding to a nodal diameter of 0, i.e. all axisymmetric modes. If you would like to calculate asymmetric modes, please model a segment with volumetric elements and perform a cyclic symmetry analysis.