21.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ship, the modal assurance criterion should approach unity and the value of the modal scale factor can be considered to be reasonable. The modal assurance criterion can indicate only consistency, not validity. If the same errors, random or bias, exist in all modal vector estimates, this is not delineated by the modal assurance criterion. Invalid assumptions are normally the cause of this sort of potential error. Even though the modal assurance criterion is unity, the assumptions involving the system or the modal parameter estimation techniques are not necessarily correct. The assumptions may cause consistent errors in all modal vectors under all test conditions verified by the modal assurance criterion. Coordinate Modal Assurance Criterion (COMAC). An extension of the modal assurance criterion is the coordinate modal assurance criterion (COMAC).42 The COMAC attempts to identify which measurement degrees-of-freedom contribute negatively to a low value of MAC. The COMAC is calculated over a set of mode pairs, analytical versus analytical, experimental versus experimental, or experimental versus analytical. The two modal vectors in each mode pair represent the same modal vector, but the set of mode pairs represents all modes of interest in a given frequency range. For two sets of modes that are to be compared, there is a value of COMAC computed for each (measurement) degree-of-freedom. The coordinate modal assurance criterion (COMAC) is defined as follows:

prpr r = 1 COMACp = N N * pr pr prpr*

r = 1 r = 1

(21.103)

where

pr = modal coefficient from (measured) degree-of-freedom p and modal vector r from one set of modal vectors pr = modal coefficient from (measured) degree-of-freedom p and modal vector r from a second set of modal vectors

The above formulation assumes that there is a match for every mode in the two sets. Only those modes that match between the two sets are included in the computation.

MODAL MODIFICATION PREDICTION

The use of a modal model to predict changes in modal parameters caused by a perturbation (modification) of the system is becoming more of a reality as more measured data are acquired simultaneously. In this validation procedure, a modal model is estimated based upon a complete modal test.This modal model is used as the basis to predict a perturbation to the system that is tested, such as the addition of a mass at a particular point on the structure. Then, the mass is added to the structure and the perturbed system is retested. The predicted and measured data or modal model can be compared and contrasted as a measure of the validity of the underlying modal model.

MODAL COMPLEXITY
Modal complexity is a variation on the use of sensitivity analysis in the validation of a modal model. When a mass is added to a structure, the modal frequencies either should be unaffected or should shift to a slightly lower frequency. Modal overcom-