Some interesting tid-bits which are nicely described Adams in "Rotating Machinery Vibration".
Symmetric terms in the stiffness matrix represent conservative forces.
Example: typical spring behavior.
Symmetric terms in the damping matrix represent non-conservative forces.
Example: typical damping behavior.
Skew symmetric terms in the stiffness matrix represent non-conservative forces.
Example: skew-symmetric component of fluid bearing stiffness. Radial displacement of CCW rotating shaft in the x direction causes force in the y direction (oil flows tangentially in the clearance). Radial displacement in y direction causes force in -x direction
Fy = Kxy * x
Fx = - Kxy * y
Skew symmetric terms in the damping matrix represent conservative forces.
Example: gyroscopic effect. Note that we use "forces" in the generalized sense.
Something like:
d^2/dt^2 (I * theta_x) - w*I*theta_y = Mx
d^2/dt^2 (I * theta_y) + w*I*theta_x = My
where theta_x and theta_y are tilt angle of the disk