Mode selection for component mode synthesis with guaranteed assembly accuracy

In this work, a modular approach is introduced to select the most important eigenmodes for each component of a composed structural dynamics system to obtain the required accuracy of the reduced-order assembly model. To enable the use of models of complex (structural) dynamical systems in engineering practice, e.g., in a design, optimization and/or control context, the complexity of the models needs to be reduced. When the model consist of an assembly of multiple interconnected structural components, component mode synthesis is often the preferred model reduction method. The standard approach to component mode synthesis for such system is to select the eigenmodes of a component that are most important to accurately model the dynamic behavior of this component in a certain frequency range of interest. However, often, a more relevant goal is to obtain, in this frequency range, an accurate model of the assembly. In the proposed approach, accuracy requirements on the level of the assembly are translated to accuracy requirements on component level, by employing techniques from the field of systems and control. With these component-level requirements, the eigenmodes that are most important to accurately model the dynamic behavior of the assembly can be selected in a modular fashion. We demonstrate with two structural dynamics benchmark systems that this method based on assembly accuracy allows for a computationally efficient selection of eigenmodes that (1) guarantees satisfaction of the assembly accuracy requirements and (2) results in most cases in reduced-order models of significantly lower order with respect to the industrial standard approach in which component eigenmodes are selected using a frequency criterion.