Data-driven balanced truncation for second-order systems with generalized proportional damping
Pith reviewed 2026-05-25 07:56 UTC · model grok-4.3
The pith
A data-driven quadrature procedure reformulates position-velocity balanced truncation for second-order systems while preserving generalized proportional damping.
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
The central claim is that a quadrature-based data-driven procedure computes position-velocity balanced truncations for second-order systems, yielding surrogates that encode generalized proportional damping; the two damping coefficients can then be recovered by minimizing a least-squares error over those coefficients.
What carries the argument
The quadrature-based data-driven reformulation of position-velocity balanced truncation, which produces reduced models that encode generalized proportional damping and permits least-squares recovery of the damping coefficients.
If this is right
- The computed reduced models retain both the second-order differential structure and the generalized proportional damping form.
- Damping coefficients can be inferred from input-output data alone without access to the full system matrices.
- The procedure generalizes the quadrature-based balanced truncation method from first-order to second-order systems.
- The resulting surrogates remain suitable for computer-aided control-system design where physical interpretability is required.
Where Pith is reading between the lines
- The same data-driven quadrature step could be adapted to other linear structures if an analogous algebraic constraint on the system matrices exists.
- Recovering the damping coefficients separately may allow the reduced model to be updated when material properties change without recomputing the entire reduction.
- Because the method works from data, it could be paired with experimental frequency-response measurements to build structured models directly from hardware tests.
Load-bearing premise
The reduced-order models produced by the quadrature procedure will satisfy or closely approximate the generalized proportional damping structure so that the subsequent least-squares fit for the coefficients remains meaningful and stable.
What would settle it
Numerical tests in which the least-squares residual for the damping coefficients stays large across increasing numbers of quadrature nodes, or in which the reduced models fail to match the original system's input-output map once the damping structure is enforced.
read the original abstract
Structured reduced-order modeling is a central component in the computer-aided design of control systems in which cheap-to-evaluate low-dimensional models with physically meaningful internal structures are computed. In this work, we develop a new approach for the structured data-driven surrogate modeling of linear dynamical systems described by second-order time derivatives via balanced truncation model-order reduction. The proposed method is a data-driven reformulation of position-velocity balanced truncation for second-order systems and generalizes the quadrature-based balanced truncation for unstructured first-order systems to the second-order case. The computed surrogates encode a generalized proportional damping structure, and we propose a computational procedure for inferring the damping coefficients from data by minimizing a least-squares error over the coefficients. Several numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The manuscript develops a data-driven quadrature-based reformulation of position-velocity balanced truncation for second-order systems obeying generalized proportional damping (C = αM + βK). It generalizes the unstructured first-order quadrature BT method to the structured second-order setting, assembles reduced matrices directly from frequency-response samples, asserts that the resulting surrogates preserve the damping structure, and supplies a post-processing least-squares procedure to recover the scalar coefficients α and β from the reduced matrices. Numerical examples are used to illustrate performance.
Significance. If the structure-preservation property holds, the approach would supply a practical, data-driven route to structure-preserving reduced models for second-order systems arising in structural dynamics and vibration control, extending existing quadrature BT techniques while retaining physical interpretability of the damping terms.
major comments (3)
- [Abstract, §3] Abstract and §3 (quadrature construction): the claim that the computed surrogates 'encode a generalized proportional damping structure' is load-bearing for the subsequent least-squares inference step, yet the quadrature formulas for the reduced M_r, C_r, K_r are assembled from independent frequency-response samples without an explicit projection or algebraic identity that enforces C_r = α M_r + β K_r when the original system satisfies the relation. No derivation shows exact preservation or quantifies the residual.
- [§4] §4 (least-squares coefficient recovery): the normal equations for α, β are formed from the reduced matrices; when the quadrature approximation deviates from exact linear dependence, the Gram matrix can become ill-conditioned. No conditioning analysis, residual bounds, or numerical diagnostics are supplied to confirm that the fit remains stable and meaningful for the data-driven (non-projected) reduced matrices.
- [§5] §5 (numerical examples): the reported error tables compare reduced-model frequency responses but do not tabulate the least-squares residual ||C_r - α M_r - β K_r|| or the condition number of the coefficient problem, leaving open whether the inferred coefficients are reliable or merely artifacts of an approximate structure.
minor comments (2)
- [§2] Notation for the position-velocity Gramians and the quadrature nodes/weights should be introduced with explicit definitions before their first use in the algorithmic description.
- [§5] Figure captions for the frequency-response plots should state the number of quadrature nodes and the frequency range used.
Simulated Author's Rebuttal
We thank the referee for the careful reading and constructive comments. We address each major comment below and indicate planned revisions to incorporate the requested clarifications and diagnostics.
read point-by-point responses
-
Referee: [Abstract, §3] Abstract and §3 (quadrature construction): the claim that the computed surrogates 'encode a generalized proportional damping structure' is load-bearing for the subsequent least-squares inference step, yet the quadrature formulas for the reduced M_r, C_r, K_r are assembled from independent frequency-response samples without an explicit projection or algebraic identity that enforces C_r = α M_r + β K_r when the original system satisfies the relation. No derivation shows exact preservation or quantifies the residual.
Authors: We agree that the quadrature-based assembly does not enforce exact algebraic preservation of C_r = α M_r + β K_r via an explicit identity, as the reduced matrices are formed independently from frequency samples. The approximate structure arises because the original system's frequency response satisfies the GPD relation, and the quadrature inherits this dependence to the accuracy of the rule. In the revision we will add a derivation relating the residual to the quadrature error and supply an a-priori bound on ||C_r − α M_r − β K_r||. revision: partial
-
Referee: [§4] §4 (least-squares coefficient recovery): the normal equations for α, β are formed from the reduced matrices; when the quadrature approximation deviates from exact linear dependence, the Gram matrix can become ill-conditioned. No conditioning analysis, residual bounds, or numerical diagnostics are supplied to confirm that the fit remains stable and meaningful for the data-driven (non-projected) reduced matrices.
Authors: We acknowledge that a conditioning analysis of the Gram matrix and residual bounds are missing. The revised manuscript will include a short subsection deriving a condition-number bound in terms of the smallest singular value of the reduced matrices and the quadrature accuracy, together with explicit residual estimates for the least-squares problem. revision: yes
-
Referee: [§5] §5 (numerical examples): the reported error tables compare reduced-model frequency responses but do not tabulate the least-squares residual ||C_r - α M_r - β K_r|| or the condition number of the coefficient problem, leaving open whether the inferred coefficients are reliable or merely artifacts of an approximate structure.
Authors: We agree that these quantities should be reported. We will augment the numerical examples with a table (or additional columns) listing, for each test case, the least-squares residual norm and the condition number of the normal-equation matrix, thereby confirming that the recovered coefficients are meaningful. revision: yes
Circularity Check
No significant circularity; derivation is self-contained.
full rationale
The paper describes a data-driven quadrature-based reformulation of position-velocity balanced truncation for second-order systems that generalizes unstructured first-order quadrature BT. The reduced matrices are assembled directly from frequency-response samples or quadrature weights. A separate post-processing least-squares minimization is then used to infer the two scalar damping coefficients α and β. No equation or step defines the reduced-order model itself in terms of those fitted coefficients, nor does any central claim reduce by construction to a fit or to a self-citation chain. The least-squares step is presented as inference on an already-computed surrogate rather than a definitional identity, and the abstract and method description treat the structure preservation as a property of the construction rather than an assumption that forces the result.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
axioms (1)
- domain assumption Reduced models obtained by the data-driven quadrature procedure will admit a generalized proportional damping structure (damping matrix is linear combination of mass and stiffness matrices).
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
-
[1]
M. S. Ackermann, I. V. Gosea, S. Gugercin, and S. W. R. Werner. Second-order AAA algorithms for structured data-driven modeling. e-print 2506.02241, arXiv, 2025. Nu- merical Analysis (math.NA). doi:10.48550/arXiv.2506.02241
-
[2]
A. C. Antoulas. Approximation of Large-Scale Dynamical Systems, volume 6 of Adv. Des. Control. SIAM, Philadelphia, PA, 2005. doi:10.1137/1.9780898718713. Preprint. 2025-06-11 S. Reiter, S. W. R. Werner: Data-driven second-order balanced truncation 28
-
[3]
Q. Aumann and S. W. R. Werner. Code, data and results for numerical experiments in “Structured model order reduction for vibro-acoustic problems using interpolation and balancing methods” (version 1.1), August 2022. doi:10.5281/zenodo.6806016
-
[4]
Q. Aumann and S. W. R. Werner. Structured model order reduction for vibro-acoustic problems using interpolation and balancing methods. J. Sound Vib. , 543:117363, 2023. doi:10.1016/j.jsv.2022.117363
-
[5]
Z. Bai, K. Meerbergen, and Y. Su. Arnoldi methods for structure-preserving dimension reduction of second-order dynamical systems. In P. Benner, V. Mehrmann, and D. C. Sorensen, editors, Dimension Reduction of Large-Scale Systems, volume 45 of Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. Eng. , pages 173–189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2005. doi:10.1007/ 3-540-27909-1_7
work page 2005
-
[6]
Z. Bai and Y. Su. Dimension reduction of large-scale second-order dynamical systems via a second-order Arnoldi method. SIAM J. Sci. Comput. , 26(5):1692–1709, 2005. doi: 10.1137/040605552
-
[7]
C. Beattie and P. Benner. H2-optimality conditions for structured dynamical systems. Preprint MPIMD/14-18, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Sys- tems Magdeburg, 2014. URL: https://csc.mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de/preprints/2014/ 18/
work page 2014
-
[8]
C. A. Beattie and S. Gugercin. Interpolatory projection methods for structure-preserving model reduction. Syst. Control Lett. , 58(3):225–232, 2009. doi:10.1016/j.sysconle. 2008.10.016
-
[9]
P. Benner and T. Breiten. Model order reduction based on system balancing. In P. Ben- ner, M. Ohlberger, A. Cohen, and K. Willcox, editors, Model Reduction and Approxi- mation: Theory and Algorithms , Computational Science & Engineering, pages 261–295. SIAM, Philadelphia, PA, 2017. doi:10.1137/1.9781611974829.ch6
-
[10]
P. Benner, J. Saak, and S. W. R. Werner. MORLAB – Model Order Reduction LABo- ratory (version 6.0), September 2023. See also: https://www.mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de/ projects/morlab. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7072831
-
[11]
P. Benner and S. W. R. Werner. Frequency- and time-limited balanced truncation for large-scale second-order systems. Linear Algebra Appl. , 623:68–103, 2021. Special is- sue in honor of P. Van Dooren, Edited by F. Dopico, D. Kressner, N. Mastronardi, V. Mehrmann, and R. Vandebril. doi:10.1016/j.laa.2020.06.024
-
[12]
P. Benner and S. W. R. Werner. MORLAB—The Model Order Reduction LABoratory. In P. Benner, T. Breiten, H. Faßbender, M. Hinze, T. Stykel, and R. Zimmermann, editors, Model Reduction of Complex Dynamical Systems , volume 171 of International Series of Numerical Mathematics , pages 393–415. Birkh¨ auser, Cham, 2021. doi:10. 1007/978-3-030-72983-7_19
work page 2021
-
[13]
D. Billger. The butterfly gyro. In P. Benner, V. Mehrmann, and D. C. Sorensen, editors, Dimension Reduction of Large-Scale Systems , volume 45 of Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. Preprint. 2025-06-11 S. Reiter, S. W. R. Werner: Data-driven second-order balanced truncation 29 Eng., pages 349–352. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2005. doi:10.1007/3-540-27909-1_ 18
-
[14]
F. Blaabjerg. Control of Power Electronic Converters and Systems: Volume 2 . Academic Press, London, 2018. doi:10.1016/C2017-0-04756-0
-
[15]
T. Breiten. Structure-preserving model reduction for integro-differential equations. SIAM J. Control Optim. , 54(6):2992–3015, 2016. doi:10.1137/15M1032296
-
[16]
Y. Chahlaoui, D. Lemonnier, A. Vandendorpe, and P. Van Dooren. Second-order bal- anced truncation. Linear Algebra Appl., 415(2–3):373–384, 2006. doi:10.1016/j.laa. 2004.03.032
-
[17]
N. Dunford and J. T. Schwartz. Linear Operators. Part I: General Theory . John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, 1988
work page 1988
-
[18]
D. F. Enns. Model reduction with balanced realizations: An error bound and a frequency weighted generalization. In The 23rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control , pages 127–132, 1984. doi:10.1109/CDC.1984.272286
-
[19]
Y. Filanova, I. Pontes Duff, P. Goyal, and P. Benner. An operator inference oriented approach for linear mechanical systems. Mech. Syst. Signal Process. , 200:110620, 2023. doi:10.1016/j.ymssp.2023.110620
-
[20]
G. H. Golub and C. F. Van Loan. Matrix Computations. Johns Hopkins Studies in the Mathematical Sciences. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, fourth edition, 2013
work page 2013
-
[21]
I. V. Gosea, S. Gugercin, and C. Beattie. Data-driven balancing of linear dynamical systems. SIAM J. Sci. Comput. , 44(1):A554–A582, 2022. doi:10.1137/21M1411081
-
[22]
I. V. Gosea, S. Gugercin, and S. W. R. Werner. Structured barycentric forms for interpolation-based data-driven reduced modeling of second-order systems.Adv. Comput. Math., 50(2):26, 2024. doi:10.1007/s10444-024-10118-7
-
[23]
S. Gugercin and A. C. Antoulas. A survey of model reduction by balanced trun- cation and some new results. Int. J. Control , 77(8):748–766, 2004. doi:10.1080/ 00207170410001713448
work page 2004
-
[24]
A. J. Laub and W. F. Arnold. Controllability and observability criteria for multivariable linear second-order models. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control , 29(2):163–165, 1984. doi: 10.1109/TAC.1984.1103470
-
[25]
A. J. Laub, M. T. Heath, C. C. Paige, and R. C. Ward. Computation of system balancing transformations and other applications of simultaneous diagonalization algorithms. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control, 32(2):115–122, 1987. doi:10.1109/TAC.1987.1104549
-
[26]
D. G. Meyer and S. Srinivasan. Balancing and model reduction for second-order form linear systems. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control, 41(11):1632–1644, 1996. doi:10.1109/9. 544000. Preprint. 2025-06-11 S. Reiter, S. W. R. Werner: Data-driven second-order balanced truncation 30
work page doi:10.1109/9 1996
-
[27]
B. C. Moore. Principal component analysis in linear systems: controllability, observ- ability, and model reduction. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control , AC–26(1):17–32, 1981. doi:10.1109/TAC.1981.1102568
-
[28]
C. T. Mullis and R. A. Roberts. Synthesis of minimum roundoff noise fixed point dig- ital filters. IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. , 23(9):551–562, 1976. doi:10.1109/TCS.1976. 1084254
-
[29]
Oberwolfach Benchmark Collection. Butterfly gyroscope. hosted at MORwiki – Model Order Reduction Wiki, 2004. URL: http://modelreduction.org/index.php/ Butterfly_Gyroscope
work page 2004
-
[30]
B. Pascual and S. Adhikari. Dynamic response of structures with frequency dependent damping models. In 49th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dy- namics, and Materials Conference , page 2189, 2008. doi:10.2514/6.2008-2189
-
[31]
L. Pernebo and L. M. Silverman. Model reduction via balanced state space represen- tations. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control , 27(2):382–387, 1982. doi:10.1109/TAC.1982. 1102945
-
[32]
I. Pontes Duff, P. Goyal, and P. Benner. Data-driven identification of Rayleigh-damped second-order systems. In C. Beattie, P. Benner, M. Embree, S. Gugercin, and S. Lefteriu, editors, Realization and Model Reduction of Dynamical Systems, pages 255–272. Springer, Cham, 2022. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-95157-3_14
-
[33]
J. Przybilla, I. Pontes Duff, and P. Benner. Model reduction for second-order systems with inhomogeneous initial conditions. Syst. Control Lett. , 183:105671, 2024. doi:10. 1016/j.sysconle.2023.105671
-
[34]
T. Reis and T. Stykel. Balanced truncation model reduction of second-order sys- tems. Math. Comput. Model. Dyn. Syst. , 14(5):391–406, 2008. doi:10.1080/ 13873950701844170
work page 2008
-
[35]
Data-driven balanced truncation for second-order systems with generalized proportional damping
S. Reiter and S. W. R. Werner. Code, data, and results for numerical experiments in “Data-driven balanced truncation for second-order systems with generalized proportional damping” (1.0), June 2025. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15642589
-
[36]
S. J. Reiter. Dimension Reduction in Structured Dynamical Systems: Optimal- H2 Ap- proximation, Data-Driven Balancing, and Real-Time Monitoring . Dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, 2025. URL: https://hdl.handle.net/10919/134223
work page 2025
-
[37]
J. Saak, D. Siebelts, and S. W. R. Werner. A comparison of second-order model order reduction methods for an artificial fishtail. at-Automatisierungstechnik, 67(8):648–667,
-
[38]
doi:10.1515/auto-2019-0027
-
[39]
P. Schulze and B. Unger. Data-driven interpolation of dynamical systems with delay. Syst. Control Lett., 97:125–131, 2016. doi:10.1016/j.sysconle.2016.09.007
-
[40]
P. Schulze, B. Unger, C. Beattie, and S. Gugercin. Data-driven structured realization. Linear Algebra Appl., 537:250–286, 2018. doi:10.1016/j.laa.2017.09.030. Preprint. 2025-06-11 S. Reiter, S. W. R. Werner: Data-driven second-order balanced truncation 31
-
[41]
H. Sharma, D. A. Najera-Flores, M. D. Todd, and B. Kramer. Lagrangian operator inference enhanced with structure-preserving machine learning for nonintrusive model reduction of mechanical systems. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. , 423:116865, 2024. doi:10.1016/j.cma.2024.116865
-
[42]
H. Sharma, Z. Wang, and B. Kramer. Hamiltonian operator inference: Physics-preserving learning of reduced-order models for canonical Hamiltonian systems. Phys. D: Nonlinear Phenom., 431:133122, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.physd.2021.133122
-
[43]
M. S. Tombs and I. Postlethwaite. Truncated balanced realization of a stable non- minimal state-space system. Int. J. Control , 46(4):1319–1330, 1987. doi:10.1080/ 00207178708933971
work page 1987
-
[44]
N. Truhar and K. Veseli´ c. An efficient method for estimating the optimal dampers’ viscosity for linear vibrating systems using Lyapunov equation. SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl., 31(1):18–39, 2009. doi:10.1137/070683052
-
[45]
X. Wang, X. Yang, X. Wang, and B. Song. Data-driven balanced truncation for second- order systems via the approximate Gramians. e-print 2506.03855, arXiv, 2025. Numerical Analysis (math.NA). doi:10.48550/arXiv.2506.03855
-
[46]
S. W. R. Werner. Structure-Preserving Model Reduction for Mechanical Systems . Dis- sertation, Otto-von-Guericke-Universit¨ at, Magdeburg, Germany, 2021. doi:10.25673/ 38617
work page 2021
-
[47]
S. W. R. Werner, I. V. Gosea, and S. Gugercin. Structured vector fitting framework for mechanical systems. IFAC-Pap., 55(20):163–168, 2022. 10th Vienna International Conference on Mathematical Modelling MATHMOD 2022. doi:10.1016/j.ifacol. 2022.09.089
-
[48]
S. Wyatt. Issues in Interpolatory Model Reduction: Inexact Solves, Second-order Systems and DAEs. PhD thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, 2012. URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/27668
work page 2012
-
[49]
Y. Yue and K. Meerbergen. Using Krylov-Pad´ e model order reduction for accelerating design optimization of structures and vibrations in the frequency domain. Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng., 90(10):1207–1232, 2012. doi:10.1002/nme.3357. Preprint. 2025-06-11
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.