Element Identification of Member Properties of Framed Structures

Structural‐parameter identification of member properties of framed structures is conducted at the element level. By substructuring, a frame element is isolated from the complete structure, and the state equation used for parameter estimation is derived from the equation of motion of the frame element. Using the extended Kalman filter with weighted global iteration, the physical characteristics such as the axial rigidity, flexural rigidity, and damping parameters of a frame element are identified. Numerical simulation studies are done for two‐story plane frames, and the member properties of the frame elements are estimated. The convergence behavior of the parameters is observed and the possible cause of divergence is explored. The results show that the convergence behavior of the identified parameters is affected by a number of factors such as initial guess of the parameters, number of observed responses, and the choice of observed response.