Experimental Case Studies on Uncertainty Quantification in Structural Dynamics

Adhikari, S. Lonkar, K. and Friswell, M. I.
Proceedings of the 25th International Modal Analysis Conference (IMAC-XXV), February 2007, Orlando, Florida, USA.

The consideration of uncertainties in numerical models to obtain the probabilistic descriptions of vibration response is becoming more desirable for industrial scale finite element models. Broadly speaking, there are two `parts' in this problem. The first is the quantification of parametric and nonparametric uncertainties associated with the model and the second is the propagation of uncertainties through it. While the second part has been extensively researched in the past two decades (e.g., the stochastic finite element method), it is only relatively recently the first part is being considered seriously. This paper considers the `first part' and is aimed at gaining more insights into the nature of uncertainties in medium and high frequency vibration problems. Results from a experimental study that may be used for this purpose are discussed in detail. The experiment is on a fixed-fixed beam with twelve masses placed at random locations. The total amount of `random masses' is less than 2\% of the total mass of the beam. This experiment is aimed at simulating `random errors' in the mass matrix. The probabilistic characteristics of the frequency response functions are discussed in the low, medium and high frequency ranges.


BiBTeX Entry
@INPROCEEDINGS{cp26,
    AUTHOR={S. Adhikari and K. Lonkar and M. I. Friswell},
    TITLE={Experimental case studies on uncertainty quantification in structural dynamics},
    BOOKTITLE={Proceedings of the 25th International Modal Analysis Conference (IMAC-XXV)},
    YEAR={2007},
    Address={Orlando, Florida, USA},
    Month={February},
    Note={}
}

by Sondipon Adhikari