Force identification from vibration measurements in the wavenumber domain

In the present paper an original approach able to identify a force distribution acting on a structure through response measurements is presented and extended to two dimensional uniform structures. This formulation is developed in the wavenumber-frequency domain and it is particularly convenient when a set of concentrated forces act on the structure. It permits to identify both locations and amplitudes of the applied forces even when they are applied in points not amenable to measurements. An analysis on the mechanism of error propagation from the data to the solution is presented together with some criteria to reduce the noise sensitivity. Experimental tests are performed on a uniform beam with different constraints and the infuence of the boundary conditions is discussed.