Dynamic substructuring for mechanical systems with frequency-dependent materials using a POD-based model reduction method

Based on the Balanced Truncation approach, a novel methodology for the construction of a superelement for the dynamic analysis of elastic structures made with viscoelastic materials is presented. Contrary to classical modal reduction techniques (Craig-Bampton, MacNeal) where the normal modes basis must be enriched to account for damping effects, the methodology presented here takes advantage of the Golla-Hughes-McTavish rheological model (GHM) before reducing the system via the Balanced Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (BPOD). The Lagrange multipliers are finally employed to couple the reduced system to a host structure, as made in popular dynamic substructuring techniques. This method has two major advantages. First, substantial savings are achieved by the judicious combination of GHM and POD techniques. Second, the reduced system takes the form of a constant matrix of small size which permits to preserve confidentiality.