Damage Detection in Grid Structures Using Limited Modal Test Data

The detection of potentially damaged elements in grid structures is a challenging topic. By using limited measured test data, damage detection for grid structures is developed by the modal strain energy (MSE) method. Two critical problems are considered in this paper in developing the MSE method to detect potential damage to the grid structure by using limited modal test data. First, an updated mode shape expansion method based on the modal assurance criterion is adopted to ensure that the modal shape obtained from the reference baseline model is reliable and has explicit physical meanings. Second, after identifying the location of the element damage by the element MSE method with expanded mode shapes, multivariable parameters denoting element damage severity are simultaneously determined. These parameters are included in the column vector and matched with the corresponding element stiffness matrix while the error tolerance value of the Frobenius norm of the column vector is undercontrolled. Finally, a three-dimension numerical model of the grid structure is used to represent different damage cases and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the present method. The application of the three-dimension physical model to a full-scale grid structure is also verified. Analysis results demonstrate that the presented damage detection method effectively locates and quantifies single- and multimember damage in grid structures and can be applied in engineering practice.