The control of complex structural models is a field of growing interes
t. The problem studied herein concerns damping updating using experime
ntal frequency response functions. Although there are several methods
improving structural dynamic models, only a few of them deal specifica
lly with damping improvements. The method introduced is built on mecha
nical bases, using an error measure on the constitutive relations. The
tuning strategy uses an iterative process, each iteration consisting
of two steps. The first one is the localization of the erroneous regio
ns. The second step is the correction of the parameters belonging to t
hese regions. Examples illustrate the sensitivity of the error to the
damping defects and its effectiveness for updating damped structures.