Rayleigh Quotient and Dissipative Systems

Abstract

Rayleigh quotients in the context of linear, nonconservative vibrating systems with viscous and nonviscous dissipative forces are studied in this paper. Of particular interest is the stationarity property of Rayleigh-like quotients for dissipative systems. Stationarity properties are examined based on the perturbation theory. It is shown that Rayleigh quotients with stationary properties exist for systems with proportional viscous and nonviscous damping forces. It is also shown that the stationarity property of Rayleigh quotients in the case of nonproportional damping (viscous and nonviscous) is conditional upon the diagonal dominance of the modal damping matrix.