Free-interface dual-compatibility modal synthesis substructure method in large-scale structures

Free-interface dual-compatibility modal synthesis method(compatibility of both force and displacement on interfaces)is introduced to large-scale civil engineering structure to enhance computation efficiency. The basic equations of the method are first set up, and then the mode cut-off principle and the dividing principle are proposed. MATLAB is used for simulation in different frame structures. The simulation results demonstrate the applicability of this substructure method to civil engineering structures and the correctness of the proposed mode cut-off principle. Studies are also conducted on how to divide the whole structure for better computation efficiency while maintaining better precision. It is observed that the geometry and material properties should be considered, and the synthesis results would be more precise when the inflection points of the mode shapes are taken into consideration. Furthermore, the simulation performed on a large-scale high-rise connected structure further proves the feasibility and efficiency of this modal synthesis method compared with the traditional global method. It is also concluded from the simulation results that the fewer number of DOFs in each substructure will result in better computation efficiency, but too many substructures will be time-consuming due to the tedious synthesis procedures. Moreover, the substructures with free interface will introduce errors and reduce the precision dramatically, which should be avoided. © 2015, Tianjin University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.