This paper proposes a general framework for structure-preserving model
reduction of a secondorder network system based on graph clustering. In this
approach, vertex dynamics are captured by the transfer functions from inputs to
individual states, and the dissimilarities of vertices are quantified by the
H2-norms of the transfer function discrepancies. A greedy hierarchical
clustering algorithm is proposed to place those vertices with similar dynamics
into same clusters. Then, the reduced-order model is generated by the
Petrov-Galerkin method, where the projection is formed by the characteristic
matrix of the resulting network clustering. It is shown that the simplified
system preserves an interconnection structure, i.e., it can be again
interpreted as a second-order system evolving over a reduced graph.
Furthermore, this paper generalizes the definition of network controllability
Gramian to second-order network systems. Based on it, we develop an efficient
method to compute H2-norms and derive the approximation error between the
full-order and reduced-order models. Finally, the approach is illustrated by
the example of a small-world network