Damage Identification of Unreinforced Masonry Panels Using Vibration-Based Techniques

Abstract

Several damage indicators based on changes in modal properties validated for homogeneous materials were applied to detect damage in an unreinforced masonry cantilever panel. Damage was created by a “clean diagonal cut” at the center of the specimen which length was progressively extended towards the specimen’s corners. Numerical simulations were employed to determine the modal response at several damage states and this data was used to calculate the damage indicators. Those indicators presenting a good performance were then applied to identify damage on a physical specimen tested in the laboratory. The outcomes of this study demonstrated that vibration-based damage detection in unreinforced masonry structures can be satisfactorily performed. However, the identification of the damage spatial distribution using vibration-based methods in unreinforced masonry structures is still difficult. To improve the prediction of damage distribution, a large number of measurement points need to be considered to obtain an acceptable level of resolution.