NASA Langley’s approach to the Sandia’s structural dynamics challenge problem Original Research Article

The objective of this challenge is to develop a data-based probabilistic model of uncertainty to predict the acceleration response of subsystems (payloads) by themselves and while coupled to a primary (target) system. Although deterministic analyses of this type are routinely performed and representative of issues faced in real-world system design and integration, there are still several key technical challenges that must be addressed when analyzing the uncertainties of interconnected systems. For example, one key technical challenge is related to the fact that there is limited data on the target configurations. Also, while multiple data sets from experiments conducted at the subsystem level are provided, samples sizes are not sufficient to compute high confidence statistics. Moreover, in this challenge problem, additional constraints, in the form of ground rules, have been added. One such constraint is that mathematical models of the subsystem are limited to linear approximations of the nonlinear physics of the problem at hand. Also, participants are constrained to use these subsystem models and the multiple data sets to make predictions about the target system response under completely different forcing functions.