Selection of Component Modes for Craig-Bampton Substructure Representations

Three measures of modal dynamic importance are studied for the purpose of ranking Craig-Bampton substructure fixed interface mode shapes based upon their contribution to forces at the substructure interface, modal velocity, or modal displacement. These measures can be employed to identify mode shapes which are dynamically important and thus should be retained in a reduced analytical representation, or identified during a modal survey of the substructure. The first method considered. Effective Interface Mass, has been studied previously. However, new results are presented showing the relation between Effective Interface Mass and a commonly used control dynamics measure of modal importance called approximate balanced singular values. In contrast to the general case of approximate balanced singular values, Effective Interface Mass always gives an absolute measure of the dynamic importance of mode shapes. The EIM method is extended to consider modal velocity and modal displacement outputs. All three measures are applied to a simple substructure called the General Purpose Spacecraft. It is shown that each of these measures provides an efficient method for ranking the dynamic importance of Craig-Bampton fixed interface modes such that a reduced representation will accurately reproduce the substructure’s response in the frequency range of interest.