System identification of jointed structures: Nonlinear modal testing Vs. State-space model identification

Two approaches for experimental identification of the nonlinear dynamical characteristics of jointed structures are investigated, (a) Nonlinear Modal Testing, (b) State-Space Model Identification. Both require only minimal a priori knowledge of the specimen. For method (a), the definition of nonlinear modes as periodic motions is used, in its generalized formulation recently proposed for nonconservative systems. The theoretically required negative damping compensating the frictional dissipation is experimentally realized by properly controlled excitation. This permits the extraction of modal frequencies, damping ratios and vibrational deflection shapes as a function of the vibration level. For method (b), a state-space model with multivariate polynomial nonlinear terms is identified from the vibration response to a properly designed excitation signal. Both methods are applied to a structure with bolted joints. The quality of the extracted modal and state-space models, respectively, is assessed by comparing model-based predictions of the forced vibration response to reference measurements.