Model Updating of a Stitched Sandwich Panel Based on Multistage Parameter Selection

The effective numerical model of stitched sandwich composite plays crucial role in dynamics analysis and structural design. A sensitivity-based multistage model updating method is proposed for modeling of the stitched sandwich panel using the experimental modal frequencies. Based on applying the periodic boundary condition, the initial equivalent finite element model of a stitched sandwich composite is constructed; the measured frequencies are obtained from the modal test. According to relative sensitivity analysis of modal frequencies with respect to updating parameters, the different well-conditioned groups of parameters are selected to be updated. This method is applied to a stitched sandwich panel with established configuration of the stitches. Results show that the proposed method with the smallest condition number of relative sensitivity matrix has a better performance than the multistage method using type-based parameter group selection and the traditional model updating approach .