Real-Time Hybrid Testing Techniques

Real-time hybrid testing combines the efficiency of numerical simulation with the realism of experimental analysis. This chapter presents an overview of real-time hybrid test methods from a general perspective, and discusses schemes of structural partitioning and issues related to numerical computation, system dynamics, and system performance. Different approaches of hybrid testing are presented under a unified framework. A specific implementation, including the hardware configuration, numerical integration scheme, and delay compensation methods, is discussed in detail. Results of experimental validation and numerical simulation study are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of several delay compensation schemes and the subtleties of real-time testing. The possibility of conducting reliable real-time hybrid tests using an unconditionally stable implicit integration scheme is demonstrated.