Model validation using data from modal tests is now widely practiced in many industries for advanced structural dynamic design analysis, especially where structural integrity is a primary requirement. These industries tend to demand highly efficient designs for their critical structures which, as a result, are increasingly operating in regimes where traditional linearity assumptions are no longer adequate. In particular, many modern structures are found to contain localized areas, often around joints or boundaries, where the actual mechanical behaviour is far from linear. Such structures need to have appropriate representation of these nonlinear features incorporated into the otherwise largely linear models that are used for design and operation. This paper proposes an approach to this task which is an extension of existing linear techniques, especially in the testing phase, involving only just as much nonlinear analysis as is necessary to construct a model which is good enough, or ‘valid’: i.e. capable of predicting the nonlinear response behaviour of the structure under all in-service operating and test conditions with a prescribed accuracy. A short-list of methods described in the recent literature categorized using our framework is given, which identifies those areas in which further development is most urgently required.
Modal testing is widely used today as a means of validating theoretical (Finite Element) models for the dynamic analysis of engineering structures, prior to these models being used for optimisation of product design. Current model validation methodology is confined to linear models and is primarily concerned with (i) correcting inaccurate model parameters and (ii) ensuring that sufficient elements are included for these cases, using measured data. Basic experience is that this works quite well, largely because the weaknesses in the models are relatively sparse and, as a result, are usually identifiable and correctable. The current state-of-the-art in linear model validation has contributed to an awareness that residual errors in FE models are increasingly the consequence of some unrepresented nonlinearity in the structure. In these cases, additional, higher order parameters are required to improve the model so that it can represent the nonlinear behaviour. This is opposed to the current practice of simply refining the mesh. Again, these nonlinear features are generally localised, and are often associated with joints. We seek to provide a procedure for extending existing modal testing to enable these nonlinear elements to be addressed using current nonlinear identification methods directed at detection, characterisation, location and then quantification -in order to enhance the elements in an FE model as necessary to describe nonlinear dynamic behaviour. Emphasis is placed on the outcome of these extended methods to relate specifically to the physical behaviour of the relevant components of the structure, rather than to the nonlinear response characteristics that are the result of their presence.
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