An overview of the transmissibility concept and its application to structural damage detection

Abstract

The notion of transmissibility, in what mechanical vibrations are concerned, may lead to various potential applications. Depending on the related quantities, responses or forces, it is possible to use different formulations and to deduce important properties. All these aspects are overviewed in the present article, where transmissibility can be oriented to the evaluation of unmeasured frequency response functions, to the estimation of reaction forces and, with special focus here, to the detection of damage in a structure. This important application of the transmissibility concept leads to the damage detection phase. To accomplish such a goal, the authors present some indicators and numerical simulations are given to illustrate the theoretical developments. © The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc. 2012.