Abstract
Vibration modes obtained from a modal analysis can be better explained from a screw theoretical standpoint. A vibration mode can be geometrically interpreted as a pure rotation about the vibration center in a plane and as the twisting motion on a screw in a three dimensional space. This paper, presents the method to diagonalize a spatial stiffness matrix by use of a parallel axis congruence transformation. It also describes that the stiffness matrix diagonalized by a congruence transformation, can have the planes of symmetry depending on the location of the center of elasticity. For a plane of symmetry, any vibration mode can be expressed by the axis of vibration. Analytical solutions for the axis of vibration has been derived.