Review of a null space strategy for damage localization

Abstract

The damage localization strategy reviewed here rests on the fact that stress fi elds that can be computed from the kernel of changes in transfer matrices are identically zero over the subset of the domain where damage (reductions in stiffness) have taken place. Damage can be located, therefore, by extracting these loads and inspecting the associated stress fields. In structures identified from output signals it is not possible to compute changes in transfer matrices but the methodology can be used by replacing the transfer matrix change with a surrogate that shares the same null space. The paper reviews the essential theory and discusses the issues that arise when the strategy is applied in practice. © RILEM 2013.