Empirical Model Reduction of Controlled Nonlinear Systems

In this paper we introduce a new method of model reduction for nonlinear systems with inputs and outputs. The method requires only standard matrix computations, and when applied to linear systems results in the usual balanced truncation. For nonlinear systems, the method makes used of the Karhunen-Lo`eve decomposition of the state-space, and is an extension of the method of empirical eigenfunctions used in fluid dynamics. We show that the new method is equivalent to balanced-truncation in the linear case, and perform an example reduction for a nonlinear mechanical system