Adaptive UKF-Based Parameter Estimation for Bouc-Wen

Model of Magnetorheological Elastomer Materials

Nan Wang 1; Luyu Li, Ph.D. 2; and Qi Wang 3

Abstract: Structural system identification has attracted much attention in the structural dynamic field over the past decades. For identifying
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parameters of the inelastic response of a structure under ground shaking, the Kalman filter (KF) and unscented Kalman filter (UKF) have been
used extensively. In this paper, numerical and experimental investigations were carried out to test the capabilities of square-root unscented
Kalman filters (SRUKF) and adaptive square-root unscented Kalman filters (ASRUKF) for identifying the parameters of the nonlinear struc-
tural system, with the Bouc-Wen model applied to describe the nonlinear hysteresis of magnetorheological elastomer materials. A new
method was proposed for parameter initial values estimation, which could ensure that the parameters in the constitutive equation be identified
uniquely and thus reduce the influence of the initial error on the parameter estimation. The numerical investigation showed that the ASRUKF
outperformed the SRUKF in both convergence speed and estimation accuracy. Furthermore, the ASRUKF was able to track the sudden
change of the parameter whereas the SRUKF was not. The experimental results indicate that the estimated Bouc-Wen model through
ASRUKF not only presents a good match with the experimental data for a specific input but also keeps physical properties that are inherent
to the real data, independently of the exciting input. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0000961. © 2018 American Society of Civil
Engineers.
Author keywords: Adaptive square-root unscented Kalman filter; Bouc-Wen model; Magnetorheological elastomer materials.

Introduction However, these measurements are not directly available, because

Hysteresis is a typical nonlinear phenomenon frequently encoun-
tered in civil engineering. Over the years, many hysteresis models
for mechanical systems have been proposed. For instance, the
piecewise linear method was used even though, in general, hyster-
etic behavior is nonlinear (Caughey 1960). Recently, the Bouc-Wen
hysteresis model, one of the most widely accepted smoothly vary-
ing differential models, has been used to describe nonlinear hyster-
etic systems (e.g., hysteretic isolators). It can represent a wide
variety of softening or hardening smoothly varying or nearly bilin-
ear hysteretic behavior, and it has also been generalized to include
hysteresis pinching and stiffness/strength degradation (Li and
Meng 2007). To construct a more precise Bouc-Wen hysteresis
model and obtain an optimal design of the system, the character-
istics of nonlinear structural systems should be captured well.
In the past few decades, a range of methods have been devel-
oped for the identification of the nonlinear structural system, such
as the least-squares estimation (LSE), Kalman filter (KF), extended
Kalman filter (EKF) (Paul and Howard 2005; Mariani and
Corigliano 2005), unscented Kalman filter (UKF), H∞ filter, and
sequential Monte Carlo method (Wu and Smyth 2007). For the LSE
method, measurements of displacement and velocity are required.
1
Master Student, Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft Univ. of
Technology, Bldg. 23, Stevinweg 1, Delft 2628 CN, Netherlands. Email:
nanw9426@gmail.com
2
Associate Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Dalian Univ. of
Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China (corresponding author).
Email: liluyu@dlut.edu.cn
3
Ph.D. Student, School of Civil Engineering, Dalian Univ. of Technology,
Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China. Email: wangqi67315@126.com
Note. This manuscript was submitted on April 12, 2018; approved on
June 28, 2018; published online on October 29, 2018. Discussion period
open until March 29, 2019; separate discussions must be submitted for in-
dividual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Aerospace Engineer-
ing, © ASCE, ISSN 0893-1321.
the schemes of differentiation and integration have to be obtained.
For the method of off-line estimation, weighted least-squares meth-
odologies are widely used, and repetitive methods are used when a
large number of data are required for processing (Feng et al. 2012).
For the online estimation method, the data is required to be attain-
able during the process, and the KF is one of the powerful methods
for real-time identification. The main advantage of the KF is that at
each time step, only the current observations are needed for the new
estimation and past measurements are not required to be stored
(Mariani and Ghisi 2007). However, the KF does not provide a sat-
isfactory estimation for the nonlinear structural system.
The UKF is a promising estimator for parameter identification
of nonlinear structural systems in civil engineering (Julier et al.
2000). It has been proved to be superior to the KF in many appli-
cations in the areas of identification (Voss et al. 2004), neural net-
work training (Choi et al. 2005), navigation and tracking (Crassidis
and Markley 2003), etc. The UKF presents two main advantages.
First, the calculation of a Jacobian or Hessian matrix is not re-
quired, and thus the UKF is less time-consuming than the KF
(LaViola 2003). Second, the UKF appears to be superior for higher-
order nonlinearities, which are often encountered in civil engineer-
ing problems (Sarkka 2007). However, the UKF is computationally
expensive due to the calculation of the new set of sigma points
at each time update, and numerical problems exist such as the loss
of the positive definite of the state covariance matrix (Al-Hussein
and Haldar 2016). For solving these problems, the square root
UKF (SRUKF) was developed, in which propagating the square
root of the state covariance matrix eliminates the need to refactor
at each time step. Thus, the SRUKF ensures the nonnegative
definite of the state covariance and reduces the processing time
(Van Der Merwe and Wan 2001). Nevertheless, drawbacks of the
SRUKF exist. For instance, the SRUKF is sensitive to the initial
values of parameter estimation, and initial track errors may lead
to a heavy computational load and divergent estimation results
for the nonlinear structural system (Wu et al. 2013).

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 To reduce the influence of the initial error on parameter estima-
tion, an improved SRUKF with the forward-backward smoothing
algorithm was introduced (Yao et al. 2013). However, this method
is time-consuming and still not accurate enough to determine the
initial parameter values for the following estimation. Therefore, in
this paper a new method is proposed for the parameters’ initial val-
ues estimation, which is optimized by considering both the physical
meaning and mathematical analysis and can ensure that the param-
eters in the constitutive equation be identified uniquely. With the
help of the physical meaning, appropriate loading conditions are
chosen to calculate the initial value of certain parameters. For
those parameters without concise physical meanings, mathematical
analysis can be carried out to obtain them.
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Compared with other methods, the adaptive Kalman filter has a

higher ability to track sudden changes in stiffness values of non-
linear structural systems during earthquakes (Bisht and Singh 2014;
Yang and Gao 2006). Saurabh S. Bisht used the adaptive Kalman
filter to track sudden stiffness changes in 2011. They first identified
the instant of the sudden change and then made appropriate adjust-
ments to the state covariance matrix for efficient tracking of the
states. The results showed that their proposed scheme can effec-
tively track multiple events of sudden stiffness changes in different
structural members at several time instances. Moreover, they found
that the adaptive Kalman filter can also track slowly varying state
and mutation status changes when the filter reaches a steady state.
The adaptive iterated SRUKF method was then proposed to ensure
numerical stability (Liu and Jiao 2011; Yang et al. 2001). The
results indicate that through using iterative sentencing guideline
to adjust the proportion of the observation and dynamic model,
the square root of the covariance matrix of estimation is more rea-
sonable and accurate, and thus the performance of the filter is
improved.
In this paper, the aim is to develop a new method for optimizing
initial estimation of parameters for the nonlinear structural system
and test the capabilities of the SRUKF and the ASRUKF on
estimating parameters of nonlinear structural systems. The perfor-
mance of SRUKF and ASRUKF was compared through numerical
investigation. The experimental investigation was conducted to test
the capabilities of the ASRUKF on the parameter estimation, with
the initial values of parameters calculated through the new method.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. First, the introduction
of the Bouc-Wen model and nonlinear structure system is outlined,
followed by the algorithmic details of the SRUKF and ASRUKF.
Second, a new method for parameter initial values estimation is
proposed. Third, the numerical investigation is specified to test
the performance of the SRUKF and ASRUKF for estimating
parameters of a three-floor structural system based on the Bouc-
Wen model. Finally, the results of the experimental investigation
are discussed, of which the parameters of a base-isolated system
made of magnetorheological elastomer materials is estimated with
the ASRUKF.
Bouc-Wen Model for Magnetorheological
Elastomer Materials
Smart materials have been widely used for health monitoring and
vibration control in civil engineering (Wang et al. 2017b; Hong
et al. 2016; Li and Song 2014; Kong et al. 2013; Liu et al. 2008;
Song et al. 2002), and magnetorheological elastomer materials
(MREs) have recently been developed as a new type of smart ma-
terials (Wang et al. 2017a; Du et al. 2017). To describe nonlinear
hysteretic systems, the Bouc-Wen model of hysteresis has been
used in structural engineering for years. It has received increasing
Fig. 1. Bouc-Wen model.
interest due to the capabilities of capturing an analytical form of a
range of shapes of hysteretic cycles, matching the behavior of a
wide range of hysteretic systems (Ikhouane et al. 2007). Further-
more, through appropriate choices of parameters in the model, a
wide variety of softening or hardening smoothly varying or nearly
bilinear hysteretic behavior could be presented (Li and Meng
2007). Therefore, in this paper, the Bouc-Wen model was used
to study the behaviors of MREs.
Fig. 1 shows a diagram of the Bouc-Wen model, including a
Bouc-Wen component in parallel with a dashpot, a Mullins spring,
and a mass block. The Bouc-Wen component is used to demon-
strate the nonlinear part of inner stress in the matrix and the inter-
action of particles, considering the nonlinearity of the rubber
deformation process and MR effect. The Mullins spring represents
the softening behavior when strain amplitude increases as a supple-
ment. The dashpot stands for the viscous damping of the matrix and
interaction between matrix and particles. Additionally, an equiva-
lent mass block is used to explain how loading frequency leads to a
slight change in these strain-stress curves.
The constitutive equation of the modified model is
τ ¼ ke γ þ cγ þ me γ þ z ð1Þ
where the evolutionary variable z is described
z ¼ Aγ − βjγjjzjn−1 z − γ 1 γjzjn ð2Þ
ke = equivalent stiffness of Mullins spring; c = viscous coefficient
of the dashpot; and me = equivalent mass of the mass block. The
evolutionary variable z of the Bouc-Wen component is a function of
strain time history. The other parameters, A; β; γ 1 , and n, in Eq. (2)
are all related to the Bouc-Wen component. In this paper, the initial
parameter estimation of the Bouc-Wen model was first specified
with a new method based on the physical meaning and mathemati-
cal analysis. Under different levels of magnetic flux densities,
ke ; A; β; γ 1 , and n will change according to the applied magnetic
field, whereas c and me are independent from the magnetic field.
Therefore, the Bouc-Wen model parameters can be adjusted with
the identified parameters, so that the output of the model can match
the experimental data.
Parameter Identification by the SRUKF and ASRUKF
Square-Root Unscented Kalman Filter
Julier and Uhlmann introduced the UKF, enlightened by the intu-
ition that to approximate a probability distribution is much easier

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 than to approximate an arbitrary nonlinear transformation (Julier
and Uhlmann 2004). Instead of linearizing with Jacobian matrices,
the deterministic sampling method was used to evaluate the mean
and covariance estimates with a minimal set of sample points (Wan
and Van Der Merwe 2000). For a nonlinear dynamic system, the
system model is assumed to be
xkþ1 ¼ Fðxk ; uk Þ þ wk
where β = secondary scaling factor. For Gaussian distribution,
β ¼ 2 is generally the optimal choice; qrfAg is the upper
triangular part of the matrix, which is the result of the QR de-
composition of matrix A; and cholupdatefA; B; cg gives the
Cholesky factor of ðD þ cBBT Þ, where A ¼ cholðDÞ.
• Measurement update
ð3Þ Y kjk−1 ¼ H½χkjk−1  ð12Þ

y k ¼ Hðxk ; uk Þ þ vk ð4Þ

where wk = process noise vector, assumed to be white Gaussian X

2L
ðmÞ
noise with mean qk and covariance matrix Qk ; and vk is the meas- ŷ −
k ¼ W i ðy i;kjk−1 Þ ð13Þ
i¼0
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urement noise vector, assumed to be white Gaussian noise with

mean rk and covariance matrix Rk . Normally, given the value of
y k , the UKF is used to estimate the value of xk at each time step qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

for k ¼ 1; 2; 3 : : : One of the disadvantages of the UKF is that it has ðcÞ
pffiffiffiffiffiffi
Syk yk ¼ qr W 1 Y i;kjk−1 − ŷ −
k R v
ð14Þ
great computational complexity due to taking a matrix square root
of the state covariance matrix at each time step.
The SRUKF was then brought up by Van Der Merwe and Wan
(2001), which dramatically reduced processing time. By propagating ðcÞ
the Cholesky factor rather than the covariance, the SRUKF avoids Syk yk ¼ cholupdatefSyk Y 0;k − y k W 0 g ð15Þ
the decomposition of covariance at each time step. The SRUKF is
initialized by calculating the matrix square root of the state covari-
ance once, and then for subsequent iteration, a directly propagated X
2L
ðcÞ
and updated Cholesky factor is used to form the sigma points. The Pxk yk ¼ W i ðχi;kjk−1 − x̂− − T
k ÞðY i;kjk−1 − ŷ k Þ ð16Þ
basic standard SRUKF algorithm is the following: i¼0
• Initialization step
x̂0 ¼ E½x0 S0 ¼ cholfE½ðx0 − x̂0 Þðx0 − x̂0 ÞT g ð5Þ
kk ¼ ðPxk yk =STyk yk Þ=Syk yk ð17Þ
where E½· = expectation operator; and cholðAÞ = original
Cholesky factor of A.
• Sigma point calculation
x̂k ¼ x̂− −
k þ Kk ðy k − ŷ k Þ ð18Þ
h pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi i
χk−1 ¼ x̂k−1 x̂k−1 þ ðL þ λÞSk x̂k−1 − ðL þ λÞSk ð6Þ

where L = dimension of the state vector xk ; λ ¼ Lðα2 − 1Þ = U ¼ Kk Syk ð19Þ

compound scaling parameter, where α is a primary scaling
factor that is usually set from 10−4 to 1; and k = iterative esti-
mation, k ∈ f1; 2; : : : ; ∞g.
Sk ¼ cholupdateðS−
k ; U; −1Þ ð20Þ
• Time update
χkjk−1 ¼ F½χk−1 ; uk−1  ð7Þ where Rv = covariance matrix of the measurement noise
vector vk.

X
2L
ðmÞ
Adaptive SRUKF Algorithm
x̂−
k ¼ W i ðχi;kjk−1 Þ ð8Þ
The adaptive SRUKF method updates the mean and covariance val-
i¼0
ues of the unknown system noise in each time step. For solving the
filter divergence problem caused by the inaccurate statistical prop-
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffi
erties of the mathematical model and noise, the Sage-Husa subop-
ðcÞ timal unbiased maximum a posterior (MAP) noise estimator has
S−
k ¼ qr −
W 1 χi;kjk−1 − x̂k Qv ð9Þ
been used (Wang et al. 2013). In this paper, the fading memory
weighted exponent method was used for designing a time-varying
noise statistics estimator, so that emphasis could be placed on
ðcÞ recent data when time-varying noise statistics were estimated.
S− −  −
k ¼ cholupdatefSk χ0;k − x̂k W 0 g ð10Þ The weighting coefficient was selected to satisfy
where Qv = covariance matrix of the process noise vector uk ; X
k
W i = set of scalar weights β i ¼ β i−1 b; 0 < b < 1; βi ¼ 1 ð21Þ
i¼1
ðmÞ
W0 ¼ λ=ðL þ λÞ
which can be written
ðcÞ
W0 ¼ λ=ðL þ λÞ þ ð1 − α2 þ βÞ
1−b
ðmÞ ðcÞ
¼ W i ¼ 1=½2ðL þ λÞ i ¼ 1; : : : ; 2L ð11Þ β i ¼ dk bi−1 ; i ¼ 1; : : : ; k dk ¼ ð22Þ
Wi 1 − bk

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 The recursive formula of a fading memory time-varying noise 
λ0 λ0 ≥ 1
statistical estimator is λk ¼
1 λ0 < 1
  ½Nk 
X
2L λ0 ¼ tr
q̂k ¼ ð1 − dk Þq̂k−1 þ dk x̂k −
ðmÞ
W i fðχi;kjk−1 Þ ð23Þ tr½Mk 
i¼0 Nk ¼ trðC0;k − RÞT
X
2L

ðcÞ
Mk ¼ tr W i ðy i;kjk−1 − ŷ kþ1jk Þðy i;kjk−1 − ŷ kþ1jk Þ T
 i¼0
Q̂k ¼ ð1 − dk ÞQ̂k−1 þ dk Kk εk εTk Kk þ Pk 8
>
< δk δk
T
k¼1
X
2L  C0;k ¼ ρC0;k þ δ k δTk ð27Þ
ðcÞ >
: k>1
− W i ðχi;kjk−1 − x̂i;kjk−1 Þðχi;kjk−1 − x̂i;kjk−1 ÞT ð24Þ
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1þρ
i¼0

where trð·Þ accounts for matrix trace; and where the forgetful factor
where εk ¼ y k − hðx̂kjk−1 Þ = output residual sequence of the ρ (0 < ρ ≤ 10, typically about 0.95) is used to increase the filter’s
UKF. tracking ability. This method can track the sudden status changes,
According to convergence conditions derived from the covari- and it can also track the slowly varying and mutation status changes
ance matching criterion, we judge whether filtering divergence is when the filter reaches a steady state (Wang et al. 2013). Therefore,
occurring, because suboptimal Sage-Husa filters often diverge. If the whole adaptive SRUKF method is the following:
the convergence conditions are satisfied, the Sage-Husa algo- • Initialization step
rithm is applied. On the other hand, if the filtering divergence
occurs, an adaptive weighting coefficient λk is calculated by the x̂0 ¼ E½x0  ð28Þ
computational fading factor formula, which is then applied to
correct S−
k . Thus, the filter divergence is reduced when the ob- S0 ¼ cholfE½ðx0 − x̂0 Þðx0 − x̂0 ÞT g ð29Þ
servations are given more weight. The convergence conditions
can be written q̂0 ¼ q0 Q̂0 ¼ Q0 ð30Þ

δ Tk δ k ≤ S · tr½Eðδ k δ Tk Þ ð25Þ • Time update

Use Eqs. (6)–(13) to make the time update, and the estimated
square root of covariance is
where SðS ≥ 1Þ = adjustable coefficient presetting; and δ k = qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
residual sequence (δ k ¼ y k − hðx̂kjk−1 Þ). The correction method pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 
ðcÞ
of covariance S− S− ¼ qr W 1 χ i;kjk−1 − x̂ −
Q v
ð31Þ
k is defined
k k k−1

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  • Divergence judgment

pffiffiffiffiffi ðcÞ
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi If δ Tk δ k ≤ S · tr½Eðδ k δ Tk Þ is not satisfied, the estimation is di-
S−
k ¼ λk · qr W 1 χi;kjk−1 − x̂−
k Q k−1 ð26Þ verged and Eqs. (26) and (27) are then applied. If the estimation
is converged, we can go directly to next step.
• Measurement update
The adaptive weighting coefficient λk is calculated on the basis According to Eqs. (14)–(20), the measurement covariance
of the fading factor formula Pxk yk , Sk and the Kalman gain Kk could be updated. Finally, the

3000

1500

0
Z

-1500
1 Hz
2 Hz
-3000
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
(a) (b) Shear strain (%)

Fig. 2. Hysteresis loops with different frequencies: (a) sinusoidal shear strain; and (b) Bouc-Wen component.

© ASCE 04018130-4 J. Aerosp. Eng.

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 in deciding the maximum force, and β and γ 1 control the type of
nonlinearity. The parameter n is less studied by researchers and it is
recognized to influence the transition from the linear to the non-
linear range.
The first parameter to be optimized is me . As it is related to the
frequency dependence of the MRE sample, me can be identified by
considering the point when the acceleration reaches its maximum
value. Fig. 2(a) shows the hysteresis loops of the MRE sample
under a pair of sinusoidal loads with different frequencies. A and
B are the points with maximum accelerations, and the zero shear
rates of these two points result in zero shear stresses of the dashpot.
Because the two points are under the same strain, the Mullins
spring component has the same contributions. Furthermore, when
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a pair of sinusoidal shear strains with various frequencies are ap-

plied [Fig. 2(b)], steady-state hysteresis loops of the Bouc-Wen
component coincide completely. These three equal contributions
Fig. 3. Distribution of the linear correlation coefficient to the 2000th imply that the stress difference of the two points results from
power. the different behaviors in the mass block. Therefore, me can be
identified
τA − τB
me ¼ ð32Þ
γA − γB
Table 1. Optimal values of parameters in the Bouc-Wen model
Parameter Value Second, the coefficient of c is calculated. Based on Eq. (2), it is
me −277.6 easy to know that the derivative of z is 0 when the shear rate is 0. By
C 308 taking the derivative of each term in Eq. (1), c could be obtained
ke 155,080 τ jγ¼0 − me γ jγ¼0
n 1.94 c¼ ð33Þ
A 140,750 γ jγ¼0
β 0.4
γ1 −0.34 Third, the values of ke and n are identified. In order to show the
effects of interested parameters in the Bouc-Wen component,
Eq. (2) is divided by dγ=dt and four differential equations are then
time-varying noise statistical estimators could be updated with generated
Eqs. (23) and (24). dz
¼ A − ðβ þ γ 1 Þzn z ≥ 0; γ≥0 ð34Þ
dγ
New Method of Parameter Initial Values Estimation dz
¼ A − ðβ − γ 1 Þzn z ≥ 0; γ<0 ð35Þ
In this paper, a new method for the parameter initial values estima- dγ
tion is proposed on the basis of the physical meaning and math-
ematical analysis. The constitutive equation of the modified dz
¼ A − ðβ þ γ 1 Þð−zÞn z < 0; γ<0 ð36Þ
model is shown in Eqs. (1) and (2). Parameter A plays a major role dγ

8000 8

4000 6
Shear stress (Pa)

Relative error (%)

0 4

-4000 2
simulation
experiment
-8000 0
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 0 50 100 150 200 250
(a) Shear strain (%) (b) Index of measured points

Fig. 4. Simulated and experimental results: (a) hysteresis loops; and (b) relative error.

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J. Aerosp. Eng., 2019, 32(1): 04018130

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(a) (b)

Fig. 5. Stiffness parameter estimation with (a) ASRUKF; and (b) SRUKF.

(a) (b)

Fig. 6. Estimation for sudden change of stiffness with (a) ASRUKF; and (b) SRUKF.



dz  dz 
dγ
¼ A − ðβ − γ 1 Þð−zÞn z < 0; γ≥0 ð37Þ J 1 ¼ 1−ρ ; zn  z ≥ 0; γ≥0 ð39Þ
dγ

The loading part near the positive turning point of the hysteresis where J 1 reaches its minimum when ke and n are optimized.
loop [e.g., the solid segment in Figs. 2(a and b)] satisfies the con- Because there are only two variables in this identification, the enu-
dition of z ≥ 0 and γ ≥ 0, and thus Eq. (34) is workable. Eq. (34) meration method can be applied to achieve the goal with sufficient
can be derived efficiency.

Subsequently, the other three parameters, A, β and γ 1 , can be
dz
A− ∝ zn z ≥ 0; γ≥0 ð38Þ identified via the linear fitting based on Eqs. (34) and (35). After the
dγ

On the basis of Eq. (38) and the segment data, the parameters of
ke and n can be identified. Because the parameters of me and c have
been optimized, the time history of the evolutionary variable z can
be obtained if ke is identified. Hence there is no harm in setting a
hypothetical ke to calculate the corresponding time history of z. At
the same time, a series of values of n are used to calculate the linear
correlation coefficient of the two terms shown in Eq. (38). As the
hypothetical ke and n approach the optimal values, the absolute
value of the linear correlation coefficient will be closer to 1 (Fig. 3).
Thus, the objective function with independent variables of ke
Fig. 7. Cross section of the MRE conical isolator prototype.
and n is given by

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J. Aerosp. Eng., 2019, 32(1): 04018130

 parameter-reduction optimization algorithm is able to offer a short-
cut to acquiring identified values.

Numerical Analysis
Numerical investigations of the parameter estimation of the
Bouc-Wen model were carried out with SRUKF and ASRUKF
methods. In this paper, the El Centro wave was used as the seismic
load, and the frequency range of the linear structural relations
model was 0.1–5 Hz, with damping ratio in the range 0.5%–5%.
The initial values for parameter estimation were set to 70% of the
true values, and the frequency of sampling was set to 100 Hz.
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Fig. 8. MRE conical isolator prototype without surrounding silicon
steel sheets. (Image by Qi Wang.)
Table 2. Parameter estimation by the ASRUKF and estimation errors of z
Parameter Value
Estimation parameters
A 5.59
β 0.75
γ1 −0.34
n 1.01
Estimation errors of z (mm)
Norm_2a 147.92
Norm_infb 2.6467
a
Norm_2 is the 2-norm of the estimation errors of z in 20 s.
b
Norm_inf is the infinite-norm the estimation errors of z in 20 s.
seven parameters have been identified, small modifications are
required to achieve a better estimation. Table 1 shows a set of
optimized parameters, fitting the experimental data with 2.96%
strain amplitude, 1-Hz frequency, and 110-mT magnetic field. The
tracking process is shown in Fig. 4(a), and the relative error of two
hysteresis loops is shown in Fig. 4(b). It is apparent that the relative
difference between the two loops is limited to 3%, indicating that
the modified model can provide an accurate approximation, and the
The measurement noise and the state noise were also included in
the data to reflect the reality.
The stiffness parameters for the three-degrees-of-freedom sys-
tem were estimated with SRUKF and ASRUKF methods (Fig. 5).
The convergence speed, estimation errors, and ability to track the
sudden change of stiffness were compared. The solid lines re-
present the true values of stiffness, which are 9.315 × 107 N=m,
7.605 × 107 N=m, and 6.165 × 107 N=m; the dashed lines show
the estimated values of stiffness. It is apparent that the ASRUKF
has a higher convergence speed than the SRUKF. The estimation
error of stiffness values by ASRUKF is 1.73%, which is much
smaller than that of the SRUKF (6.06%). Moreover, the ASRUKF
can track the sudden change of stiffness and converge quickly after
turbulence, whereas the SRUKF is not capable of detecting and
tracking the sudden change of stiffness (Fig. 6). Therefore, com-
pared with the SRUKF, the ASRUKF is less time-consuming and
more accurate, and it could be used to analyze the damage of struc-
tures due to earthquakes.
Experimental Analysis
Experimental Setup
In our experiment, the MRE conical isolator prototype was used to
test the capabilities of the ASRUKF for estimating the parameters
of the nonlinear structural system with the Bouc-Wen model. The
stiffness of the base-isolated system could be controlled through
setting different voltage values. The cross section of the MRE coni-
cal isolator prototype is shown in Fig. 7. To better present the inner
structure of the conical isolator prototype, the prototype without
surrounding silicon steel sheets is shown in Fig. 8. The prototype

identified value true value

20
z (mm)

identified value
0 true value
-20
0 5 10 15 20
10
6.5
6
A

5.5 5
z (mm)

0 5 10 15 20
1.5 0
beta

1
0.5 -5
0 5 10 15 20
2 -10
1
n

0 0 5 10 15 20
0 5 10 15 20
time (sec)
time(sec)

Fig. 9. Parameter estimation with ASRUKF and the comparison diagram of z.

© ASCE 04018130-7 J. Aerosp. Eng.

J. Aerosp. Eng., 2019, 32(1): 04018130

 Table 3. Estimation errors of different external perturbations with sheets that lay between the MRE–steel laminate and rubber–steel
parameters estimated by x ¼ 4 mm laminate. The iron component worked as the core and the shell of
External Estimation error Estimation error the coil. The steel yokes helped to form a closed magnetic circuit.
perturbation (mm) (norm_2a) (norm_infb) The reaction forces of the base-isolated devices with different
xmax ¼2 145.382 1.55
external excitation were measured.
xmax ¼3 117.24 1.74
xmax ¼4 147.92 2.64 Experimental Results
xmax ¼5 243.5787 3.77
xmax ¼6 381.76 4.64 To further examine the performance of the ASRUKF, the param-
a
Norm_2 is the 2-norm of the estimation errors of z in 20 s.
eters of a base-isolated system were estimated with the initial
b
Norm_inf is the infinite-norm the estimation errors of z in 20 s. values of parameters estimated on the basis of the new method
[Eqs. (32)–(39)] and the data from the experiment output. The fol-
lowing set of differential equations governs the motion of a single-
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degree-of-freedom (SDOF) base-isolation device with Bouc-Wen

consisted of a conical MRE–steel laminate, a conical rubber–steel hysteresis:
laminate, an electromagnetic coil, and steel yokes. Five layers
of MRE (2 mm thick) and four layers of silicon steel sheets τ ¼ αkγ þ ð1 − αÞkz ð40Þ
(0.35 mm thick) formed the MRE–steel laminate. The diameters
of the MRE layers were 50, 54, 58, 62, and 66 mm from top to z ¼ Aγ − βjγjjzjn−1 z − γ 1 γjzjn ð41Þ
bottom. The rubber–steel laminate consisted of five layers of iso-
tropic MRE (2 mm thick) and four layers of silicon steel sheets. The In this paper, the conditions n > 1; β þ γ 1 > 0; β − γ 1 > 0;
diameters of isotropic MRE layers were 70, 74, 76, 78, and 80 mm. 0 < α < 1, and k > 0 are satisfied. Additionally, one theorem exists
The cylindrical electromagnetic coil had an inner diameter of in this situation
52 mm, an outer diameter of 114 mm, and a height of 35 mm. sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
It had a rated voltage of 24 V and a power rating of 25 W. The A
z0 ¼ ð42Þ
n

weight of the coil was 2.085 kg, and the steel yoke was 0.92 kg. β þ γ1
The steel yokes were made up of three parts: an iron component,
the surrounding silicon steel sheets, and the isolation silicon steel where z0 = upper bound on jzðtÞj.

identified value identified value

real value real value
15 15

10 10

5 5
z (mm)

z (mm)

0 0

-5 -5

-10 -10

-15 -15
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
(a) time (sec) (b) time (sec)

Fig. 10. Estimation of z with external perturbation: (a) 2 mm; and (b) 3 mm with parameter estimated by 4 mm.

identified value identified value

real value real value
15 15

10 10

5 5
z (mm)

z (mm)

0 0

-5 -5

-10 -10

-15 -15
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
(a) time (sec) (b) time (sec)

Fig. 11. Estimation of z with external perturbation: (a) 5 mm; and (b) 6 mm with parameter estimated by 4 mm.

© ASCE 04018130-8 J. Aerosp. Eng.

J. Aerosp. Eng., 2019, 32(1): 04018130

 Table 2 and Fig. 9 show the parameter-estimation results for the
base-isolated system, when the voltage value and the maximum
value of perturbation with sine wave were set to 6 V and 4 mm,
respectively. The initial values of the parameters were estimated
on the basis of Eqs. (32)–(39), resulting in the following initial
values: A ¼ 6, z ¼ 10, β ¼ 0.8, and zmax ¼ 13.35. The estimation
errors were calculated by setting the true value of z as the value
calculated by Eq. (40), assuming that the values of α and k were
known.
Fig. 9 shows that the ASRUKF method had a good performance
to estimate the parameters of the nonlinear SDOF base-isolation
system. Moreover, the estimated parameters could also be used
for other working conditions. The parameters estimated with the
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external perturbation 4 mm were used as the parameter values
for estimating the hysteretic restoring force z of perturbation 2,
3, 5, and 6 mm; the corresponding estimation results are provided
in Table 3 and shown in Figs. 10 and 11. The results indicate that
the parameters estimated in one working condition could also be
used for other situations and that the estimation errors are
acceptable.
Conclusions
The Bouc-Wen hysteresis model, one of the most widely accepted
smoothly varying differential models, was used to analyze the non-
linear hysteresis of the base-isolated system. A new method was
proposed for the parameter initial values estimation, which was
optimized by considering the physical meaning and the mathemati-
cal analysis. The numerical tests showed that the ASRUKF outper-
formed the SRUKF in convergence speed, estimation accuracy, and
the ability to track the sudden changes of parameters. On the basis
of the experimental tests and processed data, the ASRUKF method
showed a good performance to estimate the parameters of the non-
linear SDOF base-isolation system made of magnetorheological
elastomer materials, when the initial parameters were calculated
on the basis of the new method proposed in this study. Finally,
it was found that the parameters estimated in one working condition
by the ASRUKF can be used in other working conditions with
acceptable estimation errors.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China under Award 51678116 and the Dalian
Innovation Program under Award 2016RQ008.
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