Optimal Method for Determination of Rayleigh Damping Co-efficients for Different Materials using Modal Analysis

Rayleigh damping co-efficients are the essential parameters to determine the damping matrix of a system in dynamic analysis. For the systems with multiple degrees of freedom, it is difficult to arrive for suitable Rayleigh damping co-efficients. This paper represents a simple and effective method for the determination of Rayleigh co-efficients α and β for the system with multiple degrees of freedom. An unrealistic constant damping ratio for all modes is assumed to get rational value of α and β, which leads the determination of progressively varying damping ratio for all modes. By comparing the damping ratio arrived from assumed α and β with assumed unrealistic damping ratio, the suitable and most precise values are determined. This method is implemented for different materials with different boundary conditions by considering different significant modes and the effect of above parameters on α and β values are also discussed.