Mass-spring-damper model
The mass-spring-damper model consists of discrete mass nodes distributed throughout an object and interconnected via a network of springs and dampers. This model is well-suited for modelling object with complex material properties such as nonlinearity and viscoelasticity. Packages such as MATLAB may be used to run simulations of such models.[1] As well as engineering simulation, these systems have applications in computer graphics and computer animation.[2]

Derivation (Single Mass)
Deriving the equations of motion for this model is usually done by examining the sum of forces on the mass:
By rearranging this equation, we can derive the standard form:[3]
- where
is the undamped natural frequency and is the damping ratio. The homogeneous equation for the mass spring system is:
This has the solution:
If then is negative, meaning the square root will be negative the solution will have an oscillatory component.
References
- "Solving mass spring damper systems in MATLAB" (PDF).
- "Fast Simulation of Mass-Spring Systems" (PDF).
- Longoria, Prof. R.G. "Modeling and Experimentation: Mass-Spring-Damper System Dynamics" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-11-19.
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