There are two major contributions which are described in this paper. Firstl
y, a new graphical user interfaces (GUI) interpretation tool for the non-li
near frequency response functions (FRF) is proposed, The tool is developed
by pv-wave package to provide better ways and user friendly of displaying,
interpreting and analysing of non-linear systems with significant non-linea
r effects. Secondly, the application of this identification tool for fault
detection, identifying in the civil engineering.
To demonstrate the improved visualisation and interpretation of the multi-d
imensional non-linear FRF and the application of the non-linear auto-regres
sive moving average model with exogenous input (NARMAX) methodology, two en
gineering applications have studied including a non-linear oscillator and f
ault diagnosis in civil engineering structures. The results obtained have s
hown that the interpretation of the higher-order FRF has been comprehensive
ly studied and non-linear effects have been related back to the physical mo
dels of the systems. (C) 2001 IMACS. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All
rights reserved.