A Global Technique for Estimation of Modal Parameters from Measured Data

An automated method for estimation of structural vibration modes from measured frequency response data is described. The technique simultaneously treats an ensemble of measured responses and identifies a set of linearly independent displacement patterns exhibited by the data. In addition, generalized frequency response functions associated with the independent displacement patterns are identified. An effective dynamic system described by the generalized frequency responses is deduced from least squares considerations, from which modal parameters of the structure are estimated.