Comparative study on modal identification methods using output-only information

In this paper, several modal identification techniques for output-only structural systems are extensively investigated. The methods considered are the power spectral method, the frequency domain decomposition method, the Ibrahim time domain method, the eigensystem realization algorithm, and the stochastic subspace identification method. Generally, the power spectral method is most widely used in practical area, however, the other methods may give better estimates particularly for the cases with closed modes and/or with large measurement noise. Example analyses were carried out on typical structural systems under three different loading cases, and the identification performances were examined throught the comparisons between the estimates by various methods.