Obtaining nonlinear frequency responses from broadband testing

The objective of the paper is to obtain the frequency response curves of nonlinear mechanical systems from broadband testing. The proposed approach consists in coupling an identification method with a continuation method. Specifically, the frequency-domain nonlinear subspace identification (FNSI) method is first used to derive an experimental model of the structure in state space from broadband measurements. The harmonic balance method coupled with arclength continuation then utilizes this experimental model to compute the frequency response curves of the system. The method is demonstrated using a numerical example.