Model reduction of viscoelastic finite element models

This paper examines a method of adding viscoelastic properties to finite element models by using additional co-ordinates to account for the frequency dependence usually associated with such damping materials. Several such methods exist and all suffer from an increase in order of the final finite model which is undesirable in many applications. Here we propose to combine one of these methods, the GHM (Golla-Hughes-McTavish) method, with model reduction techniques to remove the objection of increased model order. The result of combining several methods is an ability to add the effects of viscoelastic components to finite element or other analytical models without increasing the order of the system. The procedure is illustrated by a numerical example. The method proposed here results in a viscoelastic finite element of a structure without increasing the order of the original model. (C) 1999 Academic Press.