Damage identification from flexibility matrix using wavelet transform

Abstract

In this paper, a new approach is proposed to localize the damages in structures using continuous wavelet transform (CWT) based on uniform load surface (ULS) and without implementing baseline model parameters. Uniform load surface is derived from the flexibility matrix technique which is highly sensitive to the cracks of structures. In the last decades, CWT has introduced itself as a powerful tool in the field of damage detection due to its inherent merits of finding abnormalities in the time and spatial signals. This work develops a new method to investigate the location of crack in the beam-type structures by uniform load surface method. ULS is derived from the mode shapes of the damaged structure and CWT is utilized to find its irregularities. A numerical simulation is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the procedure. In order to investigate the sensitivity of method to noisy data, different noise levels are considered in the numerical model. Finally, in order to show the practicability of this technique, an experimental test has been performed. © The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc. 2012.