THE DIRECT MEASUREMENT OF STRUCTURAL MASS, STIFFNESS AND DAMPING PROPERTIES

A method is described for directly evaluating the spatial properties (i.e., mass, stiffness and damping) of a structure from experimentally measured frequency response data. The resulting structural model can be compared directly with an equivalent finite element idealization. The effects of model reduction, such as the Guyan method, which can be employed to ensure that the experimental and theoretical models contain comparable degrees of freedom, are discussed. It is shown that it is possible to detect regions within the structure at which differences exist between the experimental and theoretical models. Further, it is demonstrated that the resulting experimentally derived models can be used to predict the effects of structural modifications upon the frequency response behaviour of the structure. © 1991.