Statistical damage detection based on frequencies of sensitivity-enhanced structures

Abstract

A statistical method using frequencies of structures under control is proposed for detecting damage. In the study, feedback control based on independent modal space control is first used to assign the pole of the system under detection intentionally. Then the prescribed characteristic frequencies of the structure under control, which may be more sensitive to damage, are obtained and further employed to constitute a sensitivity-enhanced damage indicator (SEDI). The principle of sensitivity-enhancing feedback control for damage detection of multi-degree-of-freedom systems is elaborated. To overcome the effect of measurement noise on modal frequencies, a hypothesis test involving the t-test that utilizes the SEDI is employed to estimate the occurrence of damage, while a statistical pattern recognition method that uses the feature vectors including the SEDI is employed to locate damage. Based on the perturbation theory, the feature vectors are normalized in order to eliminate the effect of damage extent on damage localization. The proposed method is verified by examples including a three-span continuous beam with a single damaged element and the IASC-ASCE benchmark structure with a single damaged brace. Simulation results show that, by using the frequencies of the structures under control, the proposed damage indicators are more sensitive to damage and are capable of detecting and locating small damage of structures. © 2008 World Scientific Publishing Company.