Inverse Problems in Science and Engineering

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Kalman filter-based force estimation in a clamped

plate using reduced order model and noisy
measurements

Akash Shrivastava & Amiya Ranjan Mohanty

To cite this article: Akash Shrivastava & Amiya Ranjan Mohanty (2019) Kalman filter-based
force estimation in a clamped plate using reduced order model and noisy measurements, Inverse
Problems in Science and Engineering, 27:8, 1170-1193, DOI: 10.1080/17415977.2018.1503657

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17415977.2018.1503657

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INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
2019, VOL. 27, NO. 8, 1170–1193
https://doi.org/10.1080/17415977.2018.1503657

Kalman filter-based force estimation in a clamped plate using

reduced order model and noisy measurements
Akash Shrivastava and Amiya Ranjan Mohanty
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Deterministic techniques are available for force estimation in Received 13 September 2017
dynamic systems in time, frequency, and modal domain. But, these Accepted 17 July 2018
techniques are susceptible to measurement noise and require KEYWORDS
an accurate model of the system, hence, are not suitable for Force estimation; Kalman
precise force estimation. Some combined deterministic-stochastic filter; clamped plate;
approaches are available in the literature for unknown input force reduced-order model; noisy
estimations, where force estimations are performed by consider- measurements
ing the model uncertainty and measurement noise. In the present
2010 MATHEMATICS
work, one such technique is extended by incorporating reduced- SUBJECT
order model to estimate forces in of plate structures. Kalman filter CLASSIFICATIONS
and a recursive least-squares (KF-RLSE)-based technique which uses 93E10; 93E11
displacement and/or velocity measurements for force estimation is
used in the present work with a reduced-order model. Time-varying
unknown forces acting at single/multiple locations are reconstructed
using the measured responses from the plate. Numerical simula-
tion followed by experimental verification is presented. The effect of
error in model parameters on the force estimation is presented, and
robustness of the input estimation technique is tested for different
levels of measurement noise.

1. Introduction
In structural dynamics, problems can be classified into two groups: forward problem and
inverse problem. In forward problem, solutions of the governing differential equations
provide responses for the known input and boundary/initial conditions. Conversely, the
inverse problem is concerned with the estimation of the inputs to the system, with known
responses. The solution methods for the inverse problem can be classified into following
categories: deterministic/direct, regularized technique, and probabilistic/stochastic. Dif-
ferent methods have been proposed for the reconstruction of the forces in the frequency
domain [1,2] and time domain [3]. But, due to the ill-conditioned nature of the inverse
problem, these techniques are susceptible to noisy measurements.
Plates and shells are most commonly used engineering structures, and often subjected
to different kinds of loading. The information of operating loading data is important
for design, analysis, and health monitoring of such structures. Analytical techniques are

CONTACT Akash Shrivastava shri.aka1990@iitkgp.ac.in Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian

Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India
© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1171

available for the forward problem of the plate, i.e. for finding out displacement [4], and
strain/stress for the given forcing functions. But, only a few methods are available to solve
the inverse problem, and they are mostly of a deterministic kind. If the plate material is
isotropic, the equation for transverse motion is given by:
 
Eh3 ∂ 4v ∂ 4v ∂ 4v
+ + 2 − ρhω2 v = F(x, y, ω), (1)
12(1 − μ2 ) ∂x4 ∂y4 ∂x2 ∂y2

where E is the Young’s modulus, ρ is the mass density, v is the transverse displacement, F
is the force at a circular frequency ω, h is the thickness of the plate, and μ is the Poisson’s
ratio.
The equation of motion for a two-dimensional vibrating plate (Equation (1)) consists of
fourth-order derivative of the displacements, and the estimation of a single force requires
measurements of displacement at 13 different locations [5], which makes the analysis com-
plicated. Furthermore, small errors in the response measurement give rise to significant
errors in force reconstructions.
Dynamic load identification problems for plate type structures are solved by researchers
using theoretical/numerical approaches such as force analysis technique [5], virtual fields
method [6], etc. In earlier work, Michaels and Pao [7] used deconvolution method for
oblique force estimation of an elastic plate. In virtual fields method [6], unknown loads
are identified using virtual work principle and measured displacements and curvatures.
The material properties can also be estimated by the same technique [8]. Chesne et al.
[9] proposed a technique for plate boundary force estimation based on the weak form of
the equation of motion and deconvolution, ill-conditioning was treated by singular value
decomposition. Renzi et al. [10] presented identification technique using dynamic con-
densation and Craig–Bampton reduction in finite element modelling. Mathematical mod-
elling using finite element method becomes computationally expensive for large/complex
structures. To reduce the computational effort, researchers have come up with meshless
methods, e.g. the method of fundamental solution [11,12], and singular boundary method
[13,14].
To circumvent problems that arise in deterministic techniques, we need to adopt robust
methods for force estimation that can work in a stochastic domain. Many such tech-
niques have been proposed by various authors that can be classified in two ways, one being
input estimation only, and the other being joint input-state estimation. The deterministic-
stochastic techniques consider modelling and measurement errors and provide a better
estimation of the states as well as the inputs. One such technique has been applied to an
inverse heat conduction problem, by developing an on-line estimation technique based
on Kalman filter and a recursive least square estimator [15,16]. The methodology of
input estimation based on Kalman filtering was later implemented on input force estima-
tion of structural systems. Ma et al. [17] have applied Kalman filter and recursive least
square-based estimation technique for impact load estimation of single and multi-degree-
of-freedom systems. Later, this technique was applied to a beam, modelled as a single
degree-of-freedom system [18] and using finite element method [19]. The response at the
tip of the cantilever beam was measured experimentally to estimate the input forces. The
calculated normalized root mean square error between true and estimated forces verified
the effectiveness of the proposed technique. This technique required only displacement
1172 A. SHRIVASTAVA AND A. R. MOHANTY

and/or velocity measurements at all degrees-of-freedom. An eigenvalue realization tech-

nique with Markov parameters is used in Ref. [20] to obtain system matrices and then
to model a cantilever plate. The input estimation method integrated with system real-
ization can be used when the output is acceleration only. Effects of filter parameters are
also presented in the literature. Furthermore, the selection of fading factor (λ) was further
improved by using fuzzy logic [21].
Hwang et al. [22] have presented a numerical analysis of the single and multi-degree-
of-freedom system to estimate modal load. The proposed method was based on Kalman
filtering technique, and the effects of type of response, the amplitude of noise and the
dependencies between analytical and actual model were also analysed. To identify the
external loads, a full-order model of a structure requires response measurement at all
degrees of freedom of the model, but in a practical situation, this is not feasible due
to the requirement of a large number of measurement transducers. With the exter-
nal excitations applied to a structure, responses are mainly dominated by some specific
modes correspond to the bandwidth of the loading; this phenomenon forms the basis
of modal reduction technique, where the equation of motion of a vibrating body is
represented in modal coordinates. A joint input-state estimation technique has been pro-
posed by Gillijns and De Moor [23] and applied in structural dynamics by Lourens
et al. [24] for state and input estimations using a reduced-order model and limited
measurements. The conditions for the invertibility of linear system model and identi-
fiability of the forces are derived in Ref. [25]. In a recent work, this technique is used
to identify time-varying forces acting on a bridge [26]. The finite element model of
the bridge was updated by experimentally obtained modal parameters. The uncertainty
in the estimated forces has been quantified based on the response of the bridge under
wind load. Recently, a technique for quantifying uncertainties due to measurement errors
and unknown stochastic excitations is presented [27], where the joint input-state estima-
tion technique is extended for the case of correlation between process and measurement
noise.
The purpose of the present work is to identify the unknown external forces of a vibrat-
ing plate from limited response measurements using a deterministic-stochastic approach.
Input estimation technique based on Kalman filter with recursive least square method is
extended in the present study for the case of a reduced-order model so that the force recon-
struction can be possible with limited measurements. The algorithm requires a state-space
model, which can be constructed from measured natural frequencies and damping ratios
using finite element method or experimental modal analysis. In practical applications, the
inaccuracies in the mode shapes, boundary conditions, material properties, etc., causes
additional errors in the estimation process. Therefore, the modelling errors are incorpo-
rated by changing the true natural frequencies, and its effects are shown. Force estimation
at different measurement noise levels is presented for the verification of the robustness of
the input estimation technique. The experimental validation is also provided for the force
estimations of a clamped plate.
The outline of this paper is as follows: Section 2 covers the state-space representation
of vibratory systems, mathematical formulations for a reduced-order model and Kalman
filter-based input force estimation technique. Section 3 consists of the numerical case study
for the verification of the proposed method. In Section 4, experimental verification of the
proposed technique is presented.
 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1173

2. Formulations
2.1. Equations of motion in modal coordinates
In structural dynamics, finite element models are widely used. A vibrating structure
modelled as a linear dynamic system is described by:

Mẍ + Cd ẋ + Kx = Sp p(t), (2)

where M, Cd , and K are the mass, damping, and stiffness matrices, respectively, p(t) is
the force vector, Sp is a force selection matrix relating the forces with the corresponding
degrees of freedom of the structure, x ∈ Rn is a vector of nodal displacement and the dot
over the vector represents differentiation with respect to time.
The proposed algorithm requires a modal domain representation of the system. Using
the coordinate transformation x(t) = η(t), where matrix  contains eigenvectors in each
column and η(t) represents the modal coordinates. Pre-multiplying the equation of motion
(Equation (2)) by T (transpose of ), we obtain the following set of equations:

T Mη̈ + T Cd η̇ + T Kη = T Sp p(t). (3)

Using mass-normalized eigenvectors  and assuming proportional damping, the mass,

stiffness and damping matrices can be diagonalized. In turn, the following expression
holds, T M = I, T K = 2 and T Cd  = = diag{2ξj ωj } where I is a n × n unit
matrix,  = diag{ωj }, ξj and ωj represents jth modal damping ratio and natural frequency,
respectively. In modal coordinates, the equation of motion becomes

η̈ + η̇ + 2 η = T Sp p(t). (4)

It is evident that for a full-order model, a large number of sensors are required which is
not practical because of economic concerns and inaccessibility of measurement [28]. By
using the modal reduction technique, higher order systems can be reduced to lower order
systems, which decrease computational efforts. For this case, the number of columns of the
modal matrix will be reduced to the selected number of modes.

2.2. State-space model

The continuous time state-space form of Equation (2) can be written as:

Ẋ(t) = Ac X(t) + Bc p(t), (5)

Y(t) = Gc X(t) + Jc p(t), (6)

where {X(t)}2n×1 = {X1 X2 . . . Xn Ẋ1 Ẋ2 . . . Ẋn } is the state vector, Ac =
   
0 I 0
is the system matrix of size 2n × 2n, Bc = is input
−M−1 K −M−1 Cd M−1 Sp
influence matrix of size 2n × np , and np is the total number of forces.
The output vector Y(t), in general, is the combinations of displacement, veloc-
ity, and acceleration response and thus can be represented as {Y(t)}nd ×1 = Sa Ẍ(t) +
1174 A. SHRIVASTAVA AND A. R. MOHANTY

Sv Ẋ(t) + Sd X, where Sa , Sv and Sd ∈ Rnd ×ndof are the selection matrices for accel-
eration, velocity, and displacement response, respectively, nd is the total number of
response measurements and ndof is the number of degrees-of-freedom. The matrix
Gc = Sd − Sa M K Sv − Sa M−1 Cd is the state output matrix and Jc is the direct
−1

transmission matrix.
In modal reduction, the reduced number of coordinates (say nm ) represents the
behaviour of the system. The physical coordinates are transformed into modal coordinates
by using selected modes that dominate the responses. Then, decoupled equations of motion
(Equation
 (4))
 can be written
 in the  state-space
 form (Equations (5) and (6)) where X(t) =
η 0 I 0  
, Ac = , Bc = , Gc = Sd r − Sa r 2 Sv r − Sa r ,
η̇ −2 − Tr Sp

[Sa r Tr Sp ], if the output is acceleration
Jc =
0, otherwise

Vector X(t) of size 2nm contains modal states of the reduced-order model, and matrix r
contains a reduced number of modal vectors.
The measurements are observed at discrete time steps. Hence, the continuous time state-
space model needs to be converted into the discrete model. For a sampling time of t, a
discrete time state-space model is expressed by

x(k + 1) = Ax(k) + Bp(k), (7)

y(k) = Gx(k) + Jp(k), (8)

where k is the time index, x(k) = X(kt), p(k) = p(kt) and assuming the zero order
hold for the inter-sample behaviour of the input, A = eAc t , B = [A − I]A−1 c Bc , G = Gc
and J = Jc . While discretizing the system matrices, we choose sampling interval such that
it is able to capture the dynamics of the systems. In general, the sampling frequency should
be higher than twice the largest eigenfrequency, i.e. t ≤ maxπ (ωi ) .

2.3. Kalman filter-based input estimation

Kalman filter-based techniques have been used in the field of structural dynamics for
various purposes, and unknown force estimation is one such application. Kalman filter
with recursive least-squares algorithm has been used for force estimation with simple
models, e.g. single, and multi-degrees-of-freedom systems [17,18]. This technique was sub-
sequently presented with finite element method [19]. It was assumed in the previous works
that the complete response measurements are available, which may not be true in a practi-
cal application. In the present work, a reduced-order model is used, so that use of limited
response measurement becomes feasible.
Under a stochastic environment, the discrete time linear dynamic system described in
Equations (7) and (8), can be represented as:

x(k + 1) = Ax(k) + B(p(k) + w(k)), (9)

y(k) = Gx(k) + Jp(k) + v(k), (10)

 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1175

where w(k) and v(k) are the system and measurement noise vectors which contain
uncorrelated, white Gaussian random sequences with variance Q and R, respectively.
The algorithm can be divided into two steps, first Kalman gain and innovation covari-
ance are calculated by using the simple Kalman filter without any input, and then these
values are used in the recursive least square algorithm. For the sake of brevity only final
expressions are given here, the derivations can be found in Refs. [15,29].

State prediction (without input), x̄[k/k − 1] = Ax̄[k − 1/k − 1], (11)

State prediction covariance, P[k/k − 1] = AP[k − 1/k − 1]AT + BQBT , (12)

Innovation covariance, S[k] = GP[k/k − 1]GT + R, (13)

Kalman gain, Ka [k] = P[k/k − 1]GT S−1 [k], (14)

Updated state covariance, P[k/k] = [I − Ka [k]G]P[k/k − 1], (15)

Innovation, Z[k] = y[k] − Gx̄[k/k − 1], (16)

Updated state estimation, x̄[k/k] = x̄[k/k − 1] + Ka Z̄[k], (17)

where x̄[k/k − 1] is the predicted state, P[k/k − 1] is state prediction covariance, S[k] is
the innovation covariance, Ka [k] is Kalman gain. The filter initializes with an initial state
and error covariance, which are unknown quantities, in practice, arbitrary initial states are
assumed with a large value of error covariance. However, as the time advances, the error
reduces with new measurements.
The bias-free Kalman filter provides initial inputs (S[k], Ka [k] and Z[k]) to the least
square algorithm. The equations for the recursive least square algorithm are

Bs [k] = G[AMs [k − 1] + I]B, (18)

Ms [k] = [I − Ka [k]C][AMs [k − 1] + I], (19)

Kb [k] = λ−1 Pb [k − 1]BTs [k][Bs [k]λ−1 Pb [k − 1]BTs [k] + S[k]]−1 , (20)

Pb [k] = [I − Kb [k]Bs [k]λ−1 Pb [k − 1]], (21)

F [k − 1] + Kb [k][Z[k] − Bs [k]

F [k] =
F [k − 1]], (22)

where Bs [k] and Ms [k] are the sensitivity matrices,

F [k] is the estimated input force vector,

Pb [k] is the error covariance of the estimated input vector. For time-varying case, Kb [k]
is prevented from shrinking to zero by forgetting factor λ, and algorithm preserves its
updating ability.
1176 A. SHRIVASTAVA AND A. R. MOHANTY

Figure 1. Scheme for the input force estimation technique.

2.4. Scheme for the proposed technique

The complete scheme for the estimation of unknown force is shown in Figure 1. The ini-
tial task is to estimate the modal parameters of the plate via experimental modal analysis.
These parameters (natural frequencies and modal damping ratios) will be used to form
a state-space model of the system. The mode shape vectors are calculated by finite ele-
ment method, so the complete model for the input estimation is prepared by combined
experimental and numerical analysis. Discrepancies may exist between the numerical and
experimental values of the natural frequencies due to inaccurate information about mate-
rial and geometric properties, boundary conditions of the structure. However, the observed
quantities from the experimental investigations can be utilized to update the finite element
models. It is noted here that the presence of cracks in the plate changes its natural frequen-
cies and mode shapes as proved in Refs. [30,31]. In the present analysis, we have assumed
that the plate is free from any damage/crack.

3. Numerical case study

The effectiveness of the input force estimation technique is presented with numerical sim-
ulations, where single and multi-point loads are applied on a plate clamped on all sides
(C–C–C–C) shown in Figure 2 to generate responses. The applied forces are reconstructed
using simulated measurement data from two different locations on a steel square plate of
dimension 150 × 150 × 2.5 mm, Young’s modulus and density are taken as 210 GPa and
7800 kg/m3 , respectively. In finite element modelling, the plate is discretized into 8 × 8
plate elements. The thickness to length ratio is 1/60; therefore, the Kirchhoff theory is used
 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1177

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of clamped plate showing the possible measurement points

Figure 3. Modal projections (a) first mode (b) second mode.

1178 A. SHRIVASTAVA AND A. R. MOHANTY

in the finite element analysis. An artificial noise of different magnitude is added to the gen-
erated responses. The first two natural frequencies of the plate are 954.67 Hz and 1939.9 Hz,
estimated from finite element analysis.
Figure 3 shows the modal projections (Sd φ) to the sensor locations for the first two
modes; it represents the contributions of these modes on measurements at all the nodes
shown in Figure 2. This representation is same for all kind of measurements, i.e. displace-
ment, velocity, and acceleration. The black colour represents a large contribution of the
particular mode in the output, and white colour shows a less contribution. If all the mea-
surement sensors are placed at the white regions (nodal points), the response will no longer
be observable. This distribution is also true for the case of excitation, if the forcing point
is located in the black region of a mode, that mode will dominate the total response. Also,
the force cannot be able to excite a mode if its position coincides with the nodal points.
The structural responses due to external excitations are dominated by some fundamen-
tal modes; this phenomenon forms the basis of modal reduction where first few modes are

Figure 4. (a) Time history and (b) frequency domain representation, of transverse force acting at
node 17.
 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1179

considered in the system model. In the present example, the two modes of the vibration
are considered for the state-space model of the system. A single point random excitation
is applied at node 17 from 100 Hz to 2000Hz, and displacement is calculated at the same
point, detail of the time history and spectrum of force and displacement are shown in Fig-
ures 4 and 5, respectively. The spectrum of the acceleration shows that the first two modes
dominate the total response. Random noise is added in the generated response to simu-
late the measurement error, which can be expressed as, noise = γ σ rk , where γ is the noise
level (%), σ is the standard deviation of the signal and rk is the random sequences. Figure 5
represents noisy displacement with 10% added noise. All the calculations are performed
on a computer with following system configuration: processor- Intel core 2 duo, CPU clock
speed- 3.00 GHz, RAM- 16.0 GB. For the sampling interval of 5 × 10−5 s and duration of
2 s, the CPU time to force estimates is about 7 s.

Figure 5. (a) Time history and (b) frequency domain representation, of simulated noisy displacement at
node 17.
1180 A. SHRIVASTAVA AND A. R. MOHANTY

3.1. Estimation of time-varying forces acting at a single point

The input forces are reconstructed using KF-RLSE technique and noisy displace-
ment/velocity responses. The displacement and velocity responses are observed at node
17 and 19 to identify the applied force acting at node 17 of the steel plate. The veloc-
ity responses are used along-with displacements to reduce high-frequency noise in the
estimated forces. Following parameters are used in the numerical example, zero ini-
tial conditions, sampling interval 5 × 10−5 s, measurement noise covariance matrix R =
Rv × [I]nd ×nd , process noise covariance Q = Qw × [I]2nm ×2nm , and forgetting factor λ =
0.1. The choice of Rv and Qw depend on the amplitudes of measurements and states,
respectively [24]. Displacements and velocities are the measurements, whereas modal dis-
placements and velocities are the states. Here, Rv and Qw are set to 10−14 and 10−15 ,
respectively.

Figure 6. Time history of actual and estimated force acting at node 17 (a) before correction (b) after
correction.
 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1181

Figure 7. (a) Convergence of estimated force with respect to actual force (b) absolute difference
between actual and estimated force. (Sampling frequency – 20,000 Hz).

Table 1. CPU time and number of time-steps to converge for different sampling
frequencies
Sampling frequency [Hz] CPU time [s] Number of time-steps to converge
1000 0.14 300
15,000 0.15 350
20,000 0.16 450

In KF-RLSE technique a time-lag always exist between estimated and exact input force
[18,19]. From Equations (7) and (8), a delay between input and output can be observed,
which is the reason behind the time-lag between estimated and actual force. In Figure 6, the
estimated force with and without time-lag is plotted against actual force. The time delay
is compensated by calculating cross-correlation between estimated and exact force. For
comparison purpose, adjusted estimated forces are plotted against actual forces in the rest
of the paper. In frequency domain representation, time-delay is not an issue for a stationary
system.
Figures 7(a,b) show the convergence of estimated force and absolute difference between
actual and estimated force, respectively. All the conditions and parameters are kept same
as in the previous case except the initial state values. The initial states are assumed of
the order of 10−3 instead of zero. It can be observed that the estimated force converges
quickly to the actual force value within 450 time-steps. Table 1 presents CPU times with
the number of time-steps to converge for different sampling frequencies. Time-steps and
CPU times are calculated when the error between actual and estimated force was reduced
to 10%.
Now, to analyse the performance of the proposed method for different types of loads
namely, random (Figure 8), multi-sine (Figure 9), and impulse (Figure 10) are applied at
a single location (node 17) and reconstructed. The estimated forces are plotted against
actual forces for 1%, 5%, and 10% measurement noise. Modeling error is not considered,
i.e. natural frequencies and damping coefficients are true. A random force of bandwidth
1182 A. SHRIVASTAVA AND A. R. MOHANTY

Figure 8. (a) Time history and (b) frequency domain representation of actual and estimated random
force for different measurement noise levels.

100–2000 Hz is applied thus covers the first two natural frequencies. A good correspon-
dence is found between estimated and true force within the frequency range. In the second
case, reconstruction of multi-sine force contains 400, 800, and 1200 Hz frequency compo-
nent of different amplitude is shown. In the last case, a half-sine impulse with 74.85 N peak
amplitude is identified.
The percentage normalized mean square error (NMSE) used to quantify the deviation
between exact and estimated force is defined as:


N
[Fexact (i) − Festimated (i)]2
i=1
NMSE(%) = 100 × , (23)

N
[Fexact (i)]2
i=1
 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1183

Figure 9. (a) Time history and (b) details of actual and estimated multi-sinusoidal force for different
measurement noise levels.

where Fexact is the exact force, Festimated is the estimated force, and N is the number of
time-steps.
In Table 2, percentage NMSE is presented for different types of loads, measurement
sets, and measurement noise levels. Different measurement configurations are shown in
Figure 11. In measurement set 1, displacement and velocity responses at nodes 17 and
19 are included. Measurement 2 and 3 contain two extra measurement points which are
25, 33 and 37, 47, respectively. Table 2 shows the effect of the number of measurements
and its locations on estimated error. Force estimation using measurement set 2 improves
the estimation accuracy because selected measurement points correspond to large modal
participation.
The above simulation results demonstrate that the present technique of force esti-
mation is an efficient method, and shows better convergence. With limited response
measurements, different types of time-varying forces can be identified using the proposed
approach with better accuracy.
1184 A. SHRIVASTAVA AND A. R. MOHANTY

Figure 10. (a) Time history and (b) frequency domain representation of actual and estimated half-sine
impulse force for different measurement noise levels.

3.2. Estimation of time-varying forces acting at multiple points

In this section, multiple force estimation is presented. Figures 12 and 13 represent esti-
mated and actual random forces of different magnitude acting at node 17 and 25, respec-
tively. Measurements with 5% noise level at nodes 17, 25, 27, and 33 are used, and all the
filter parameters are kept same as in the previous case. It can be observed that both the
forces are successfully identified. It is noted here that the forces acting at two locations are
estimated using only measurements at four locations. By including more measurements
in the output vector, more accurate estimation result is expected which can be verified
from Table 3. Measurement sets 4, 5 and 6 contain measurements at 4, 7, and 11 nodes,
respectively.
 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1185

Table 2. Percentage NMSE for different types of loads and measurement noise levels.
Force type Measurement noise level (%) Measurement set 1 Measurement set 2 Measurement set 3
Random 1 18.55 15.41 17.63
5 19.41 15.98 18.2
10 22.12 18.03 20.23
Multisine 1 2.31 2.05 2.07
5 2.45 2.13 2.17
10 2.85 2.46 2.47
Impulse 1 2.14 1.31 1.76
5 2.3 1.44 1.89
10 2.74 1.85 2.32

Figure 11. Three different sensor placement configurations: (a) measurement set 1 (b) measurement
set 2 and (c) measurement set 3.

3.3. Effect of uncertainties in dynamic modelling

In structural dynamics, uncertainties arise from two main sources, first is due to inaccurate
material properties (causes a change in stiffness and mass matrices), boundary conditions,
1186 A. SHRIVASTAVA AND A. R. MOHANTY

Figure 12. (a) Time history and (b) frequency domain representation of actual and estimated random
force acting at node 17.

etc. and the second is from the assumptions and simplifications in mathematical modelling.
Model-based force estimation requires various parameters of the dynamic system, e.g. nat-
ural frequencies, modal damping ratios of the plate in the present study. The exact values
of these parameters may not be accurate or wrongly estimated, which will cause the errors
in the system model. Here, the effect of modelling errors in force estimation is presented.
The modelling errors are imposed by changing the true values of first two natural frequen-
cies according to fn = fn +  × fn , where fn represents the natural frequencies, n = 1, 2
for first two natural frequencies,  shows the percentage change in natural frequency.
In Figure 14, the effect of the inaccurate natural frequencies on a reduced-order model
considering two modes are shown, both the natural frequencies are increased by 5% and
10%. The plate is excited by a random force of frequency range 100–1800 Hz, displacement
and velocity at nodes 17, 25, 27, and 33 are used for the force estimation. The measured
response signals are contaminated with 5% of measurement noise. The effect of modelling
error is clearly visible, and an increase in the amplitude of estimated forces can be observed.
Error in natural frequencies causes an increase in estimated force at those frequencies. The
 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1187

Figure 13. (a) Time history and (b) frequency domain representation of actual and estimated random
force acting at node 25.

Table 3. Normalized mean square error for multi-point force estimation using different measurement
sets.
NMSE of estimated force NMSE of estimated force
Measurement set (node 17) (node 25)
Measurement set 4 (nodes: 17 25 27 33) 27.31 42.28
Measurement set 5 (nodes: 17 19 25 26 27 30 33) 23 30.3
Measurement set 6 (nodes: 17 19 24 25 26 27 30 32 33 34 39) 18.9 21.92

value of innovation Z increases at true natural frequencies; this is the reason behind har-
monic components in estimated forces. While considering no error in natural frequencies,
NMSE is 16.13%, and for 5% and 10% of error in natural frequencies, it is 25.55%, and
56.71%, respectively.
1188 A. SHRIVASTAVA AND A. R. MOHANTY

Figure 14. Actual and estimated force for (a and b) 5% and (c and d) 10% change in first two natural
frequencies.

4. Experimental verification
4.1. Experimental setup and measurements
In order to identify the excitations via deterministic-stochastic approach, some preliminary
analysis of the structure has to be done. We identify modal parameters (natural frequen-
cies, damping ratios) by experimental modal analysis, which are required for the input
estimation. The measurement noise covariance R is measured by recording signals from
the sensors in the absence of external excitation. The acceleration response was measured
using one accelerometer. An impedance head (B&K 8001) was used to measure driving
point force and acceleration response at force location. The time-varying sinusoidal and
random forces are applied on the clamped plate using an electromagnetic shaker (B&K
4824) driven by a power amplifier (B&K 2732). The schematic of the complete experimen-
tal setup and the clamped plate with sensors are shown in Figure 15. The force and response
signals are acquired with the help of OROS multi-channel signal analyzer.

4.2. Experimental modal analysis

We have used an electromagnetic shaker excitation to generate frequency response func-
tion (FRF) curve in the present analysis for calculating plates’ modal parameters. In
 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1189

Figure 15. (a) Schematic diagram of the experimental setup and (b) clamped plate.

Figure 16. Driving point frequency response function curve.

Figure 16, a fitted accelerance curve is shown for a clamped steel plate of dimension
150 × 150 × 2.52 mm, the two peaks occurred at a corresponding natural frequency, and
half-power bandwidth method is used to calculate the damping ratios.
In Figure 17, the applied and identified forces using KF-RLSE technique is shown. A
harmonic force of frequency 500 Hz is applied at the middle of the plate, and acceleration
signal is measured at the same location. It should be noted that the input estimation tech-
nique requires displacement and velocity responses as input to the algorithm; therefore,
the acceleration signal is numerically integrated. Alternatively, in Kalman filter algorithm,
1190 A. SHRIVASTAVA AND A. R. MOHANTY

Figure 17. Applied and estimated sinusoidal force at mid-point of the clamped plate using KF-RLSE ((a)
time domain and (b) frequency domain representation).

Equation (16) can be modified as:

Z[k] = y[k] − Gx̄[k/k − 1] − J

F [k − 1], (24)

where J = [Sa r Tr Sp ] is the input term in measurement equation. It is noted here that
the location of force(s) and acceleration(s) needs to be same.
The value of the forgetting factor (λ), which controls time-lag, falls between 0 and 1. The
value of λ should be small for the varying responses, here it is selected as 0.1. The collocated
measurement is used, i.e. the location of force and response measurement is same, and the
accurate force reconstruction can be observed from the plot. The initial value for the error
covariance and process noise covariance is 10−10 .
Finally, it can be stated that the present approach for force estimation on a plate-type
structure is an effective and efficient technique. The proposed technique can identify forces
 INVERSE PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1191

acting simultaneously at different locations in an on-line manner as no off-line calcula-

tion is required. Furthermore, the information regarding the type of forces is not required.
However, as stated earlier, the location and number of forces need to be known a priori.

5. Conclusions
In this paper, Kalman filter and recursive least square (KF-RLSE) technique are used to
identify unknown time-varying input forces on a plate. This technique uses displacement
and/or velocity measurements. In the numerical example, the natural frequencies and
mode shape vectors are evaluated for steel plate and then displacement/velocity responses
are calculated with assumed constant damping ratio. Based on the obtained results, the
following conclusions can be drawn:

• It is concluded from the present study that the proposed method can identify unknown
external forces acting on a plate using system model and noisy measurements.
• The numerical model is constructed from a reduced number of vibration modes,
and thus suitable for the estimation of forces of bandwidth within the frequency
corresponding to the highest mode.
• Single point force and multi-point forces are identified with good accuracy.
• The accuracy of estimated forces increases with increase in the number of response
measurements. Accuracy further improves when measurements at locations correspond
to higher modal projections are included in the output (or measurement) vector.
• For different levels of measurement noise (1%, 5%, and 10%), a slight increase in
estimation error is observed.
• The method requires accurate modal parameters, i.e. natural frequencies, damp-
ing ratios. It is found that errors in natural frequencies cause inefficient estimation
and for the case of random forces, harmonic components appear in the estimated
force.
• A clamped steel plate is used for experimental verification. Modal parameters are calcu-
lated from experimental modal analysis and the sinusoidal force acting at a single point
is estimated using KF-RLSE technique and measurement at two points.

In a future study, an optimal sensor placement technique is expected to combine with the
proposed method. An improvement might be seen if the filter parameters (e.g. forgetting
factor, process noise covariance) are selected based on some robust technique.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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