The role of interface DoFs in decoupling of substructures based on the dual domain decomposition

The paper considers the decoupling problem, i.e. the identification of the dynamic behaviour of a structural subsystem, starting from the known dynamic behaviour of the coupled system, and from information about the remaining part of the structural system (residual subsystem). Typically, the FRF matrix of the coupled system is assumed to be known at the coupling DoFs (standard interface). To circumvent ill-conditioning around particular frequencies, some authors suggest the use of FRFs at some internal DoFs of the residual subsystem. In this paper, the decoupling problem is revisited in the general framework of frequency based substructuring. Specifically, the dual domain decomposition is used by adding a fictitious subsystem, which is the negative of the residual subsystem, to the coupled system. In this framework, the use of internal DoFs of the residual subsystem, in addition to coupling DoFs, appears quite natural (extended interface). The effects of using an extended interface are widely discussed: the main drawback is that the problem becomes singular at any frequency. However, this singularity is easily removed by using standard smart inversion techniques. The approach is tested on a discrete system describing a two-speed transmission, using simulated data polluted by noise. Results are compared with those obtained from existing approaches.