Identification of systems containing nonlinear stiffnesses using backbone curves

This paper presents a method for the dynamic identification of structures containing discrete nonlinear stiffnesses. The approach requires the structure to be excited at a single resonant frequency, enabling measurements to be made in regimes of large displacements where nonlinearities are more likely to be significant. Measured resonant decay data is used to estimate the system backbone curves. Linear natural frequencies and nonlinear parameters are identified using these backbone curves assuming a form for the nonlinear behaviour. Numerical and experimental examples, inspired by an aerospace industry test case study, are considered to illustrate how the method can be applied. Results from these models demonstrate that the method can successfully deliver nonlinear models able to predict the response of the test structure nonlinear dynamics.