An experimental-numerical substructuring approach in dual form

For companies associated with design and manufacturing of large and complex structures, experimental-analytical dynamic substructuring has become a topic of high importance. This is due to extended collaborations between companies, which try to gain knowledge about the dynamic response of the whole structure and need the possibility to exchange knowledge easily without compromising the construction confidentiality. Among substructuring approaches, the dual substructuring method is appropriate to simulate real mechanical structures with weak interface compatibility. In this paper, a dual experimental-analytical substructuring in modal domain is proposed to deal with the modeling of large structures. The first step is to minimize the order of the numerical models, by applying a free interface modal reduction approach. Afterwards, the structural matrices from the experimental model are measured. As a final step, the dual based substructuring method is used to assemble the experimental and analytical substructures. As a practical example, the method is applied to the three-bladed-hub assembly of a wind turbine test bed and validated with its truth model.