Damage Assessment Using the Auto-Correlation-Function-Based Damage Index

Abstract

A damage index describing damage severity based on the Auto correlation function at Maximum point value Vector (AMV) is proposed for damage assessment as well as locating the damage is described in this study. The detectability of the AMV-based damage detection method is compared with Mean Strain Energy (MSE) and the Generalized Flexibility Matrix (GFM) method, to show its efficiency in localizing the damage and its simplicity to conduct the analysis. Moreover, a procedure to estimate the damage severity using the sensitivity analysis is introduced. The stiffness reduction detection of a twelve-story shear frame structure is provided to show that the estimated damage severity by the AMV-based method is in close agreement with the simulated damage for small damage even when the measurement noise exists or is just part of the available modal parameters.