Separation of structural modes and harmonic frequencies in Operational Modal Analysis using random decrement

Abstract

Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) is used to extract modal parameters of a structure on the basis of their output response measured during operation. OMA, when applied to mechanical engineering structures is often faced with the problem of harmonics present in the output response. A complex structure may have many dominant frequency components in its response frequency spectrum. These may contain frequency components associated with resonant frequencies of the structure, which and the associated mode shapes and the damping factors represent the data of interest, but may also contain frequencies or harmonics associated with the excitation sources. Since in OMA the characteristics of the excitation sources are not known, one of the problems lies in separating the resonant frequencies from the harmonic excitation frequencies. Any error in this regard may lead to an error in modal identification with the consequence that a harmonic may be construed as a structural mode and vice versa. This issue is addressed in this paper and a method is presented for separating resonant frequencies from harmonic excitation frequencies using random decrement of the response. The principle of the method is presented using an analytical study on a single degree of freedom system. The effectiveness of the method is then demonstrated through numerical studies on a lumped parameter multi-degree of freedom system and a simulated plate structure. Detection of single and multiple harmonics in the response that are well separated as well as close to resonant frequencies are considered.