An inverse method for the estimation of input forces acting on non-linear structural systems

This study proposes an inverse method to identify input forces of non-linear structural systems. The method is an extension of the previous work that is limited to linear structural systems. The present estimation method is composed of the extended Kalman filter and a recursive least-squares estimator. By using the inverse method, input forces acting on non-linear structural systems can be estimated from measured dynamic responses. In this work, numerical simulations of input forces estimation of non-linear lumped-mass systems are performed to verify the practicality and accuracy of the proposed algorithm. The simulation results demonstrate that the application of the input force estimation method to non-linear structural systems is successful.