A solution of Mx(double dot) + Cx(dot) + Kx = 0 applicable to the design of active dampers

A solution is presented for the equations of motion for the damped linear oscillator, Mx(double dot) + Cx(dot) + Kx = 0. The algorithm solves a transformed set of equations in terms of the modal variables of the undamped system and, at the same time, solves the adjoint equation of the transformed problem. The adjoint solution is normalized to give the inverse of the solution matrix of the transformed problem. The normalized inverse is useful in design for direct computation of sensitivity derivatives of damping ratios with respect to damping rates. The algorithm is programmed to reduce storage requirements by a factor of three-fourths compared to standard complex eigenvalue subroutines. A numerical example is included.