FEM Free Damage Detection of Beam Structures Using the Deflections Estimated by Modal Flexibility Matrix

Abstract

The deflection of the beam estimated from modal flexibility matrix (MFM) indirectly is used in structural damage detection due to the fact that deflection is less sensitive to experimental noise than the element in MFM. However, the requirement for mass-normalized mode shapes (MMSs) with a high spatial resolution and the difficulty in damage quantification restricts the practicability of MFM-based deflection damage detection. A damage detection method using the deflections estimated from MFM is proposed for beam structures. The MMSs of beams are identified by using a parked vehicle. The MFM is then formulated to estimate the positive-bending-inspection-load (PBIL) caused deflection. The change of deflection curvature (CDC) is defined as a damage index to localize damage. The relationship between the damage severity and the deflection curvatures is further investigated and a damage quantification approach is proposed accordingly. Numerical and experimental examples indicated that the presented approach can detect damages with adequate accuracy at the cost of limited number of sensors. No finite element model (FEM) is required during the whole detection process.