Generalized mass
The “generalized mass” associated with mode is
where is the structure's mass matrix and is the eigenvector for mode . The superscripts N and M refer to degrees of freedom of the finite element model.
Abaqus/Standard allows the user to choose between two types of eigenvector normalization: the eigenvectors can be scaled so that the largest entry in each vector is unity, or they can be normalized so that the generalized mass for each vector is unity (). The choice of eigenvector normalization type does not influence the results of subsequent modal dynamic steps. The normalization type determines only the manner in which the eigenvectors are represented.