A Output-Based Approach for the Control of Dynamically Substructured Systems with Real-Time Finite Element Substructures

Structural tests using dynamic substructuring methods require a robust controller to synchronise the numerical and physical responses, and a stable and accurate algorithm to simulate the numerical components. The proposed new substructuring strategies use real-time finite element methods to guarantee modelling accuracy and output-based controllers to achieve robust synchronisation. Output-based controller design is generic and requires no a priori information of the specimen’s dynamics. A beam-spring-damper system is developed as an example for illustration of the concepts, where the beam is simulated numerically and the spring-damper is tested physically. Iterative design procedure is required in order to achieve a trade-off between mesh density and sampling time. The result of this work offers the prospect of testing engineering systems with large-dimension or multiple finite element components in the future.