Identification of stiffness and damping properties of plates by using the local equation of motion

This paper deals with the identification of stiffness and damping properties of vibrating structures by an inverse method inspired from the Force Analysis Technique (FAT). The proposed approach uses a local equation of motion assumed a priori, which provides a relative straightforward relationship between the displacement field and material properties. The spatial derivatives of the displacement in the equation are calculated using finite differences. As this operation amplifies measurement noise, a regularization step is applied before solving the inverse problem. A procedure is proposed to automatically adjust the level of regularization. The method also allows one to identify local stiffness and damping on a heterogeneous structure. Illustrations for both homogeneous and heterogeneous cases are shown using simulated and measured displacement fields.