An integrated multivariate empirical mode decomposition method towards modal identification of structures

Abstract

In this paper, a hybrid empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method is proposed to undertake ambient modal identification of civil structures. Unlike univariate EMD that uses single channel measurement independently, multivariate EMD (MEMD) is employed to estimate the joint information of multichannel vibration measurements of structural systems. The mode mixing in the resulting modal responses from MEMD is then circumvented using ensemble EMD (EEMD). The proposed hybrid MEMD method is validated using a suite of numerical models and experimental studies including the presence of low energy modes, closely-spaced frequencies, measurement noise and reduced sensor densities. The results show the improved performance of the proposed method over the traditional EMD method and reveal the potential of MEMD as a possible candidate for the ambient modal identification method.