| Abstract: | Various approaches are proposed and compared for analysing the effects of structural irregularities and parameter uncertainties on the dynamics of finitely long, one-dimensional, mono-coupled, nearly periodic assemblies with and without structural damping. Computational concerns are raised in regard to the classical method of modal analysis, and alternative methods are formulated which allow for the numerically efficient determination of the exponential decay constant. While modal analysis and Cramer's rule require the solution of an eigenvalue problem, the matrix inversion and matrix partitioning approaches avoid costly eigenvalue computations and require only cost-effective algebraic manipulations. Therefore, implementation of either the direct inversion technique or matrix partitioning both simplifies the analysis and cuts computational costs substantially. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
