A modal correction method for non-stationary random vibrations of linear systems

The computational effort in determining the dynamic response of linear systems is usually reduced by adopting the well-known modal analysis along with modal truncation of higher modes. However, in the case in which the contribution of higher modes is not negligible, modal correction methods have been introduced to improve the accuracy of the dynamic response, for both deterministic and stochastic input. In the latter case the random response is usually corrected via various methods determined as rough extensions of methods originally proposed for deterministic input. Consequently the efficiency of the correction methods is not suitable, from both theoretical and computational points of view. In this paper, a new approach to cope with the non-stationary response of linear systems is presented. The proposed modal correction method provides a correction term determined as a pseudo-stationary contribution of the equation governing either first-order or second-order statistics. Owing to the fact that no truncation criteria are well established for random vibration study, the proposed modal correction method offers a suitable vehicle for determining very accurately the stochastic response of MDOF linear systems under Gaussian stationary and non stationary excitation as evidenced in the numerical applications. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.