On exact and approximated formulations for scaling-mode shapes in operational modal analysis by mass and stiffness change

When operational modal analysis (OMA) is used to estimate modal parameters, mode shapes cannot be mass normalized. In the past few years, some equations have been proposed to scale mode shapes using the mass-change method, which consists of repeating modal testing after changing the mass at different points of the structure where the mode shapes are known. In this paper, the structural-dynamic-modification theory is used to derive a set of equations, from which all the existing formulations can be derived. It is shown that the known equations can be divided into two types, the exact and the approximated equations, where the former type does in fact fulfill the equations derived from the theory of structural modification, whereas the remaining equations do not, mainly because the change of the mode shapes of the modified structure is not properly taken into account. By simulations, the paper illustrates the large difference in accuracy between the approximate and the exact formulations. The paper provides two new exact formulations for the scaling factors, one for the non-modified structure and – for the first time in the literature – one for the modified structure. The simulations indicate the influence of errors from the measured natural frequencies and mode shapes on the estimation of the scaling factors using the two exact formulations from the literature and the new exact formulation proposed in this paper. In addition, the paper illustrates statistics of the errors on mode-shape scaling. All simulations were carried out using a plate with closely spaced modes.     

Non-linear structural dynamics characterization using a scanning laser vibrometer

This paper presents the use of a scanning laser vibrometer and a signal decomposition method to characterize non-linear dynamics of highly flexible structures. A Polytec PI PSV-200 scanning laser vibrometer is used to measure transverse velocities of points on a structure subjected to a harmonic excitation. Velocity profiles at different times are constructed using the measured velocities, and then each velocity profile is decomposed using the first four linear mode shapes and a least-squares curve-fitting method. From the variations of the obtained modal velocities with time we search for possible non-linear phenomena. A cantilevered titanium alloy beam subjected to harmonic base-excitations around the second, third, and fourth natural frequencies are examined in detail. Influences of the fixture mass, gravity, mass centers of mode shapes, and non-linearities are evaluated. Geometrically exact equations governing the planar, harmonic large-amplitude vibrations of beams are solved for operational deflection shapes using the multiple shooting method. Experimental results show the existence of 1:3 and 1:2:3 external and internal resonances, energy transfer from high-frequency modes to the first mode, and amplitude- and phase-modulation among several modes. Moreover, the existence of non-linear normal modes is found to be questionable.     

矩形辐射器压电多频超声换能器的研究

研究了一种具有多个共振频率的矩形辐射器夹心式超声换能器,换能器由圆柱形后盖板、压电陶瓷晶堆及矩形六面体辐射器前盖板组合而成。利用表观弹性法和一维近似理论给出了多频换能器横向及纵向理论共振频率方程。对一种特殊情况下的此类换能器进行了有限元及实验分析,给出了各自的频率输入导纳曲线。对理论和实验结果进行分析后表明,此类矩形辐射器夹心式超声换能器可以在不同的振动模态上工作,具有多个共振频率.     

Dynamic analysis of a multi-span uniform beam carrying a number of various concentrated elements

This paper employs the numerical assembly method (NAM) to determine the “exact” frequency–response amplitudes of a multiple-span beam carrying a number of various concentrated elements and subjected to a harmonic force, and the exact natural frequencies and mode shapes of the beam for the case of zero harmonic force. First, the coefficient matrices for the intermediate concentrated elements, pinned support, applied force, left-end support and right-end support of a beam are derived. Next, the overall coefficient matrix for the whole vibrating system is obtained using the numerical assembly technique of the conventional finite element method (FEM). Finally, the exact dynamic response amplitude of the forced vibrating system corresponding to each specified exciting frequency of the harmonic force is determined by solving the simultaneous equations associated with the last overall coefficient matrix. The graph of dynamic response amplitudes versus various exciting frequencies gives the frequency–response curve for any point of a multiple-span beam carrying a number of various concentrated elements. For the case of zero harmonic force, the above-mentioned simultaneous equations reduce to an eigenvalue problem so that natural frequencies and mode shapes of the beam can also be obtained.     

Use of speckle interferometry and modal assurance criterion for identification of component modes

One of the problems encountered in performing modal analysis is the identification of different modes occurring at close natural frequencies. This paper proposes to face such a problem by an original application of the modal assurance criterion (MAC) that is typically used to verify the reliability of numerical structural models by evaluating the correspondence between numerical and experimental mode shapes. To properly apply the MAC, experimental mode shapes must be retrieved acquiring data at a high number of experimental points suitably distributed on the surface of the structure. Using usual modal analysis techniques based on pointwise transducers, difficulties can be encountered to retrieve mode shapes with the required spatial resolution. In order to overcome such difficulties, Speckle interferometry techniques can be used. This paperproposes a procedure based on the application of a highly reliable MAC evaluated by time average Speckle interferometry for recognising the modes contributing to the stationary vibration patterns. The results obtained from the modal analysis of a thin square plate have shown that the proposed procedure is capable of pointing out the component modes.     

The receptance method applied to ring-stiffened cylindrical shells: Analysis of modal characteristics

The receptance method is applied to determine the natural frequencies and mode shapes of circular cylindrical shells stiffened by rings. The receptances of cylindrical shell and of a ring to forces in the radial and circumferential directions are derived in terms of the modal characteristics of each. A matrix equation of free vibration, which must be solved by an iterative technique, results by eliminating the angular variable. An iterative solution is practical, since the size of the matrices remains at two times the number of stiffening rings, regardless of the number of modes of the unstiffened cylinder and rings included in the solution. The validity of the method is demonstrated by comparing results for specific cases with the results obtained theoretically and experimentally by others. When various stiffener configurations are being considered for a given cylindrical shell, the modal characteristics of the shell without stiffeners may be calculated once and used repeatedly to calculate the frequencies of the stiffened shell configurations. The form of the results offers potential for simplifications which are presented in a companion paper.     

Design of shaped piezoelectric modal sensor for beam with arbitrary boundary conditions by using Adomian decomposition method

The theory for designing distributed piezoelectric modal sensors is well established for beam structures. However, the current modal sensor theory is limited in scope in that it can only be applied in the case of classical boundary conditions (i.e., either clamped, free, simply supported or sliding). In this paper a solution to the problem of finding the shape of piezoelectric modal sensors for a beam with arbitrary boundary conditions is proposed, using the Adomian decomposition method (ADM). A general expression for designing the shape of a piezoelectric modal sensor is presented, in which the output signal of the designed sensor is proportional to the response of the target mode. Other modes are filtered out. The modal sensor shape is expressed as a function of the second spatial derivative of the structural mode shape function. Based on the ADM and employing some simple mathematical operations, the closed-form series solution of the second spatial derivative of the mode shapes can be determined. Then the shapes of the designed modal sensors are obtained. Finally, some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed modal sensors. It is shown that, for classical boundary conditions, the shapes of the modal sensors based on the ADM agree well with analytical and numerical results given in the literature. For general boundary conditions it is found that the shape of the modal sensors is influenced by the number of modes of interest because the second spatial derivatives of the mode shapes are not orthogonal to one another. The modal sensors for general boundary conditions can be considered as modal filters within a limited frequency band.     

Tuning natural modes of vibration by prestress in the design of a harmonic gong

Prestresses are purposefully added to an object to improve its performance, such as tuning a guitar string by adding tension. This paper reports how the normal modes of a sheet metal component can be tuned through the prestresses generated by cold-forging small dimples. Finite element analysis showed that the frequencies of specific mode shapes were differentially affected by the location of residual stress fields due to dimple formation in relation to modal stress fields. The frequencies of overtones were most sensitive to the depth of the dimples located near the maxima of modal stresses. Using this approach a series of musical gongs were designed with up to the first five overtones tuned to within 5% of the harmonic series. The balance of harmonic and inharmonic overtones in these gongs that are well resolved by the human cochlea may constitute a set of recognizable musical timbres with sufficient harmonicity to produce an unambiguous pitch for most listeners. Since many other mechanical properties of sheet metal components are affected by residual stresses this manufacturing technique may have broader application in design engineering.     

Semi-analytical determination of natural frequencies and mode shapes of multi-span bridge decks

The determination of the natural frequencies and mode shapes of structures requires an analytical, semi-analytical or numerical method. This paper presents a new semi-analytical approach to determine natural frequencies and mode shapes of a multi-span, continuous, orthotropic bridge deck. The suggested approach is based on the modal method, which differs from other approaches in its decomposition of the admissible functions defining the mode shapes. Implementation of this technique is simple and enables avoidance of cumbersome mathematical calculations. In this paper, application of the semi-analytic approach to a three-span, orthotropic roadway bridge deck is compared in the first 16 modes of previously published fully analytical results and to a finite element method analysis. The simplified implementation matches within 2 percent in all cases, with the additional benefit of including intermodal coupling. The approach can be extended to similar bridges with more than three spans.     

On the application of blind source separation for damping estimation of bridges under traffic loading

The accurate and reliable estimation of modal damping from output-only vibration measurements of structural systems is a continuing challenge in the fields of operational modal analysis (OMA) and system identification. In this paper a modified version of the blind source separation (BSS)-based Second-Order Blind Identification (SOBI) method was used to perform modal damping identification on a model bridge structure under varying loading conditions. The bridge model was created with finite elements and consisted of a series of stringer beams supported by a larger girder. The excitation was separated into two categories: ambient noise and traffic loads with noise modeled with random forcing vectors and traffic simulated with moving loads for cars and partially distributed moving masses for trains. The acceleration responses were treated as the mixed output signals for the BSS algorithm. The modified SOBI method used a windowing technique to maximize the amount of information used for blind identification from the responses. The modified SOBI method successfully found the mode shapes for both types of excitation with strong accuracy, but power spectral densities (PSDs) of the recovered modal responses showed signs of distortion for the traffic simulations. The distortion had an adverse affect on the damping ratio estimates for some of the modes but no correlation could be found between the accuracy of the damping estimates and the accuracy of the recovered mode shapes. The responses and their PSDs were compared to real-world collected data and patterns similar to distortion were observed implying that this issue likely affects real-world estimates.     

Design of shaped piezoelectric modal sensors for cantilever beams with intermediate support by using differential transformation method

In this paper a solution to the problem of finding the shape of piezoelectric modal sensors for a cantilever beam with intermediate support is proposed by using the differential transformation method (DTM). A general expression for designing the shape of a piezoelectric modal sensor is presented, in which the output signal of the designed sensor is proportional to the response of the target mode. Other modes are filtered out. The modal sensor shape is expressed as a linear function of the second spatial derivative of the structural mode shape function. By using boundary condition and continuity condition equations at intermediate support, the closed-form series solution of the second spatial derivative of the mode shapes can be determined based on DTM. Then the shapes of the designed modal sensors are obtained. Finally, numerical examples are given to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed modal sensors for the cantilever beam with intermediate support.     

Single-beam analysis of damaged beams: Comparison using Euler–Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theory

A new general formulation that is applicable to the damaged, linear elastic structures ‘unified framework’ is used to obtain analytical expressions for natural frequencies and mode shapes. The term mode shapes is used to mean the displacement modes, the section rotation modes, the sectional bending strain modes and sectional shear strain modes. The formulation is applicable to damaged elastic self-adjoint systems. The formulation has two unique aspects: First, the theory is mathematically rigorous since no assumptions are made regarding the physical behavior at a damage location, therefore there is no need to substitute the damage with a hypothetical elastic element such as a spring. Since the beam is not divided at the damage location, rather than an 8 by 8, only a 4 by 4 matrix is solved to obtain the natural frequencies and mode shapes. Second, the inertia effects due to damage which have till now been neglected by researchers are accounted for. The formulation uses a geometric damage model, perturbation of mode shapes and natural frequencies, and a modal superposition technique to obtain and solve the governing differential equation. Timoshenko beam theory is then taken as an example, and its results are compared with results using Euler–Bernoulli beam theory and finite element models. The range of applicability of the two theories is ascertained for damage characteristics such as depth and extent of damage and beam characteristics such as slenderness ratio and Poisson?s ratio. The paper considers rectangular notch like non-propagating damage as an example of the damage.     

Free vibration of a circular plate elastically restrained along some radial segments

An analysis is presented for the free vibration of a circular plate restrained against deflection along radial segments. With the reaction forces acting on the segments regarded as unknown harmonic loads, the stationary response of the plate to these loads is expressed by the use of the Green function. The force distributions along the segments are expanded into Fourier series with unknown coefficients, and the homogeneous equations for the coefficients are derived by restraint conditions on the supports. The natural frequencies and the mode shapes of the plate are determined by calculating the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the equations. The method is applied to circular plates supported along several radial segments located at equal angular intervals, the natural frequencies and the mode shapes of the plates are calculated numerically and the effect of the supports is discussed.     

Transient vibration analysis of a completely free plate using modes obtained by Gorman's superposition method

This paper shows that the transient response of a plate undergoing flexural vibration can be calculated accurately and efficiently using the natural frequencies and modes obtained from the superposition method. The response of a completely free plate is used to demonstrate this. The case considered is one where all supports of a simply supported thin rectangular plate under self weight are suddenly removed. The resulting motion consists of a combination of the natural modes of a completely free plate. The modal superposition method is used for determining the transient response, and the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the plates used are obtained by Gorman's superposition method. These are compared with corresponding results based on the modes using the Rayleigh-Ritz method using the ordinary and degenerated free-free beam functions. There is an excellent agreement between the results from both approaches but the superposition method has shown faster convergence and the results may serve as benchmarks for the transient response of completely free plates.     

Dynamic stiffness method for exponentially varying harmonic excitation of continuous systems

The dynamic stiffness method relating the amplitudes of applied forces and responses of a harmonically vibrating continuum has received wide attention. It enables the infinite number of natural modes to be represented by a finite number of nodal co-ordinates for continuous structures of beams and folded plates. However, the method has been applied almost exclusively to harmonic, or periodic, oscillations. This is due mainly to the rather misleading intuition that only harmonic vibrations can be described by solutions with separate time- and space-dependent factors. It is shown here that a much wider class of problem of exponentially varying harmonic excitations can also be analyzed by the dynamic stiffness method. The extension is achieved simply by using complex frequency parameters. The forced response (that is, the part of the response which is independent of the initial conditions) can be obtained directly by solution of linear equations. A single degree of freedom system is considered first, as an illustrative example. It is shown that the present method is equivalent to the usual Duhamel integral method except that integration is completely avoided and the transient effects due to the initial conditions can be considered separately. The method is then applied to undamped straight beam members and is modified so that damped vibration can be covered as well. Distributed loads are then considered and explicit formulae are introduced. Finally, for completeness of presentation, the responses are compared with those obtained by using modal analysis. The method is proved to be equivalent to modal analysis and has the advantages over the latter that (i) integrations in the time variable are completely avoided; (ii) the forced response can be obtained directly; (iii) decomposition into generalized forces is not required; and (iv) the force-response relation is easily visualized.     

A note on the damping of large amplitude beam vibrations

This paper presents a new series-type method for solving the eigenvalue problems of irregularly shaped plates clamped at all edges. An irregularly shaped plate is formed on a simply supported rectangular plate by rigidly fixing several segments. With the reaction forces and moments acting on all edges of an actual plate of irregular shape regarded as unknown harmonic loads, the stationary response of the plate to these loads is expressed by the use of the Green function. The force and moment distributions along the edges are expanded into Fourier series with unknown coefficients, and the homogeneous equations for the coefficients are derived by restraint conditions on the edges. The natural frequencies and the mode shapes of the actual plate are determined by calculating the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the equations. The method is applied to a cross-shaped, an I-shaped and an L-shaped plate clamped at all edges, the natural frequencies and the mode shapes of the plates are calculated numerically and the effect of the shape is discussed.     

Modal parameters of two incomplete and complete guitars differing in the bracing pattern of the soundboard

Similarities and differences in vibrational behavior of two guitars having a symmetric Torres bracing pattern and an asymmetric pattern forming a lattice on a soundboard are investigated by means of the modal analysis technique and laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) measurements. Instruments are investigated before and after a bridge and strings assembling (i.e., they are incomplete or complete). The bracing pattern and the absence/presence of the bridge and strings have some effect on modal frequencies and mode shapes. The bracing pattern does not affect the sequence of at least first three low frequency mode shapes of incomplete/complete instruments but affects their modal frequencies. Depending on frequency, the bridge behaves either as a rigid or a flexible structure.     

Experimental and numerical investigations of resonant vibration characteristics for piezoceramic plates.

Electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) is a full field, non-contact technique for measuring the surface displacement of a structure subjected to static loading or, especially, to dynamic vibration. In this article we employ an optical system called the amplitude-fluctuation ESPI with out-of-plane and in-plane measurements to investigate the vibration characteristics of piezoceramic plates. Two different configurations of piezoceramic plates, namely the rectangular and the circular plates, are discussed in detail. As compared with the film recording and optical reconstruction procedures used for holographic interferometry, the interferometric fringes of AF-ESPI are produced instantly by a video recording system. Because the clear fringe patterns will be shown only at resonant frequencies, both the resonant frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes are obtained experimentally at the same time by the proposed AF-ESPI method. Excellent quality of the interferometric fringe patterns for both the in-plane and out-of-plane vibration mode shapes is demonstrated. The resonant frequencies of the piezoceramic plates are also measured by the conventional impedance analysis. From experimental results, we find that the out-of-plane vibration modes (type A) with lower resonant frequencies cannot be measured by the impedance analysis and only the in-plane vibration modes (type B) will be shown. However, both the out-of-plane (bending) and in-plane (extensional) vibration modes of piezoceramic plates are obtained by the AF-ESPI method. Finally, the numerical finite element calculations are also performed, and the results are compared with the experimental measurements. It is shown that the numerical calculations and the experimental results agree fairly well for both the resonant frequencies and the mode shapes.     

A modal test method using sound pressure transducers based on vibro-acoustic reciprocity

A modal test method that uses sound pressure transducers at fixed locations and an impact hammer roving over a test structure is developed in this work. Since sound pressure transducers are used, the current method deals with a coupled structural–acoustic system. Based on the vibro-acoustic reciprocity, the method is equivalent to one, where acoustic excitations at fixed locations are given and the resulting acceleration of the test structure is measured. The current method can eliminate mass loading due to use of accelerometers, which can destroy existence of repeated or close natural frequencies of a symmetric structure. It can also avoid effects of a nodal line of a mode and an inactive area of a local mode, and measure all the out-of-plane modes within a frequency range of interest, including global and local ones. The coupling between the structure and the acoustic field in a structural–acoustic system introduces asymmetry in the model formulation. An equivalent state space formulation is used for a damped structural–acoustic system and the associated eigenvalue problem is derived. The biorthonormality relations between the left and right eigenvectors and the relations between the structural and acoustic components in the left and right eigenvectors are proved. The frequency response functions associated with the current method are derived and their physical meanings are explained. The guidelines for using the current method, including the types of structures that are suitable for the method, the positions of the sound pressure transducers, and the orientation of the test structure relative to the transducers, are provided. Modal tests were carried out on an automotive disk brake using the traditional and current methods, where multiple accelerometers and microphones were used to measure its dynamic responses induced by impacts, respectively. The differences between the measured natural frequencies using the current method and those from the finite element model of the disk brake are less than 3 percent for the first 18 elastic modes, and the modal assurance criterion values of the associated mode shapes are all above 90 percent. The current method was also used to measure the natural frequencies, damping ratios, and mode shapes of a light circuit board.     

Investigation into on-road vehicle parameter identification based on subspace methods

The randomness of road–tyre excitations can excite the low frequency ride vibrations of bounce, pitch and roll modes of an on-road vehicle. In this paper, modal parameters and mass moments of inertia of an on-road vehicle are estimated with an acceptable accuracy only by measuring accelerations of vehicle sprung mass and unsprung masses, which is based on subspace identification methods. The vehicle bounce, pitch and roll modes are characterized by their large damping (damping ratio 0.2–0.3). Two kinds of subspace identification methods, one that uses input/output data and the other that uses output data only, are compared for the highly damped modes. It is shown that, when the same data length is given, larger error of modal identification results can be clearly observed for the method using output data only; while additional use of input data will significantly reduce estimation variance. Instead of using tyre forces as inputs, which are difficult to be measured or estimated, vertical accelerations of unsprung masses are used as inputs. Theoretical analysis and Monte Carlo experiments show that, when the vehicle speed is not very high, subspace identification method using accelerations of unsprung masses as inputs can give more accurate results compared with the method using road–tyre forces as inputs. After the modal parameters are identified, and if vehicle mass and its center of gravity are pre-determined, roll and pitch moments of inertia of an on-road vehicle can be directly computed using the identified frequencies only, without requiring accurate estimation of mode shape vectors and multi-variable optimization algorithms.