Output-Only Modal Estimation Using Eigensystem Realization Algorithm with Nonstationary Data Correlation

The conventional eigensystem realization algorithm with data correlation (ERA/DC) combines the impulse response or free response data of a structural system with the concept of correlation function to identify the modal parameter of the structural system. Previous studies have shown that the modal parameters of structural systems subjected to stationary white noise excitation can be estimated by ERA/DC from the ambient response without excitation data. This concept is extended in this paper for output-only modal identification for the structural system with complex modes under ambient excitation as a nonstationary process in the form of a product model. Numerical simulations and experimental verification are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method for response-only modal estimation, and the stabilization diagram is used with modal assurance criterion (MAC) to distinguish structural modes from fictitious modes.