Joumal of Sound and Vibration 465(2020)115017 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Sound and Vibration ELSEVIER journal homepage:.elsevier./locate/jsvi A step excitation optimization method for intensive modal identification of cable net structures Xintao Wang Hua Deng Space Structures Research Center College of Civil Engineering and Architecture Zhejiang University.Hangzhou 310058.China ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Compared with the direct force measurement of cables dynamic modal testing is more Received 16 April 2019 economic and applicable in engineering for monitoring the stiffness change of cable net Received in revised form 6 September 2019 structures caused by pretension deviation.Normally it is sufficient to detect the variation Accepted 11 October 2019 of structural key stiffness by testing a few modes (target modes)that are however likely Available online 15 October 2019 Handling Editor:L.Trendafilova located in the region of dense modes.To effectively evaluate the stiffness of an existing cable net structure the identification accuracy of these target modes should be improved Keywords: when using conventional time-domain methods e.g. the eigensystem realization algo- Cable net structure rithm (ERA).Structural free vibration can be induced by a step excitation that is generated Step excitation optimization by simultaneously releasing loads hung on the cable net.In this paper the modal energy in Modal identification the structural fre...