Finite element model updating of complex structure using component mode synthesis technique

For real complex structures, model updating by conventional finite element model updating methods is difficult due to the heavy computational burden for the dynamic analysis. Component mode synthesis (CMS) is an effective technique for the dynamic analysis of complex structures. An updating method based on CMS was proposed to improve the efficiency of model updating of real complex structures. A condensed structural model was obtained by the CMS technique, and then an optimal objective function was generated, which consisted of frequencies of the condensed model and the modal shapes transformed from condensed coordinates to initial physical coordinates. The updated model was acquired by solving the optimization problem. The proposed method was validated by updating a scaled suspender arch bridge model using the dynamic measurement data. The result shows that the proposed method is computationally efficient and yet has a high accuracy.