Approximate Structural Response Characterization Using Parametric and Envelope Models for Multimodal Systems

Abstract

In the study of the response of systems to an excitation there are circumstances when it is desirable to obtain some overall or average characterization of the system and its response rather than a detailed description. In this paper two methods are used to describe the overall features of the system: one appropriate for the frequency domain and one for the time domain. For modally dense systems the main features of the frequency response function are described in terms of low-order parametric models. While these models may be adequate for the frequency domain representation, they may not produce a good approximation to the response of the system in the time domain. The second approach relates the envelope of the input signal to the envelope of the response signal, in order to describe the overall time domain response characteristics.