Structural identification of mir using inverse system dynamics and Mir/Shuttle docking data

The objective of this work was to investigate the use of inverse system ide ntification techniques on Mir/Shuttle docking data to identify Mir vibratio nal characteristics for ultimate application to damage detection. A time-do main technique called a Remote Sensing System was proposed as an approach. The method uses inverse structural dynamics to identify vibrational charact eristics of a structure. The Remote Sensing System method was demonstrated with a numerical simulation of Mir/Shuttle docking assuming that sensors we re collocated with the Mir clocking location. The method was then applied t o the combined set of docking data from Mir/Shuttle missions STS-81, STS-89 , and STS-91. Overall, the results produced by this work appear to indicate that Mir was in an undamaged stare, at least with respect to docking excit ation, at the time of STS-91. The significance of the contribution of the R emote Sensing System approach is that it is not affected by the nonstationa rity and nonlinearity associated with the Mir/Shuttle docking interface, an d docking forces at the interface do not have to be measured.