A novel method for non-parametric identification of nonlinear restoring forces in nonlinear vibrations from noisy response data: A conservative system

A novel procedure is proposed to identify the functional form of nonlinear restoring forces in the nonlinear oscillatory motion of a conservative system. Although the problem of identification has a unique solution, formulation results in a Volterra-type of integral equation of the “first” kind: the solution lacks stability because the integral equation is the “first” kind. Thus, the new problem at hand is ill-posed. Inevitable small errors during the identification procedure can make the prediction of nonlinear restoring forces useless. We overcome the difficulty by using a stabilization technique of Landweber’s regularization in this study. The capability of the proposed procedure is investigated through numerical examples.