Using continuous wavelet transform of generalized flexibility matrix in damage identification

Generalized flexibility matrix method has recently been introduced for identifying damages with the aim of overcoming some shortcomings of the approaches based on flexibility matrix. Researchers that use flexibility matrix to detect damages in structures face truncation errors ensue from cut off higher-order mode shapes, which are difficult to measure in practice. In this paper, a new procedure is presented to detect the damage site in a beam-type structure, where generalized flexibility matrix in conjunction with continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is utilized. Since flaws and cracks cause changes in flexibility of a system, this characteristic can be used as a damage indicator. Gaussian wavelet transform with four vanishing moments as a signal processing method is implemented to find the irregularity in a vector obtained from generalized flexibility matrix which is considered as a sign of damage. This method does not need to have either prior knowledge about the intact structure or its finite element model. The proposed technique is evaluated by numerical and experimental case studies.

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