Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a theoretical derivation and reports on a numerical verification of a model-free method for identification of added masses in truss structures. No parametric numerical model of the monitored structure is required, so that there is no need for initial model updating and fine tuning. This is a continuation and an improvement of a previous research that resulted in a time-domain identification method, which was tested to be accurate but very time-consuming. A general methodology is briefly introduced, including the inverse problem, and a numerical verification is reported. The aim of the numerical study is to test the accuracy of the proposed method and its sensitivity to various parameters (such as simulated measurement noise and decay rate of the exponential FFT window) in a numerically controlled environment. The verification uses a finite element model of the same real structure that was tested with the time-domain version of the approach. A natural further step is a lab verification based on experimental data.