• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.875-890
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• 2016

A new structural damage index for seismic fragility analysis of reinforced concrete columns is developed based on a local tensile damage variable of the Lee and Fenves plastic-damage model. The proposed damage index is formulated from the nonlinear regression of experimental column test data. In contrast to the response-based damage index, the proposed damage index is well-defined in the form of a single monotonically-increasing function of the volume weighted average of local damage distribution, and provides the necessary computability and objectivity. It is shown that the present damage index can be appropriately zoned to be used in seismic fragility analysis. An application example in the computational seismic fragility evaluation of reinforced concrete columns validates the effectiveness of the proposed damage index.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.67 no.4
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• pp.327-336
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• 2018

In this study, an efficient damage index is proposed to identify multiple damage cases in structural systems using the concepts of frequency response function (FRF) matrix and strain energy of a structure. The index is defined based on the change of strain energy of an element due to damage. For obtaining the strain energy stored in elements, the columnar coefficients of the FRF matrix is used. The new indicator is named here as frequency response function strain energy based index (FRFSEBI). In order to assess the performance of the proposed index for structural damage detection, some benchmark structures having a number of damage scenarios are considered. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed index even with considering noise can accurately identify the actual location and approximate severity of the damage. In order to demonstrate the high efficiency of the proposed damage index, its performance is also compared with that of the flexibility strain energy based index (FSEBI) provided in the literature.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.315-341
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• 2007

A sudden change of stiffness in a structure, associated with the events such as weld fracture and brace breakage, will cause a discontinuity in acceleration response time histories recorded in the vicinity of damage location at damage time instant. A new damage index is proposed and implemented in this paper to detect the damage time instant, location, and severity of a structure due to a sudden change of structural stiffness. The proposed damage index is suitable for online structural health monitoring applications. It can also be used in conjunction with the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) for damage detection without using the intermittency check. Numerical simulation using a five-story shear building under different types of excitation is executed to assess the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed damage index and damage detection approach for the building at different damage levels. The sensitivity of the damage index to the intensity and frequency range of measurement noise is also examined. The results from this study demonstrate that the damage index and damage detection approach proposed can accurately identify the damage time instant and location in the building due to a sudden loss of stiffness if measurement noise is below a certain level. The relation between the damage severity and the proposed damage index is linear. The wavelet-transform (WT) and the EMD with intermittency check are also applied to the same building for the comparison of detection efficiency between the proposed approach, the WT and the EMD.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.287-301
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• 2020

Fragility as one of the most effective methods to evaluate seismic performance, which is greatly affected by damage index. Taking a multi span continuous rigid frame offshore bridge as an example. Based on fragility and reliability theory, considering coupling effect of time-varying durability damage of materials and time-varying attenuation effect of damage index to analyze seismic performance of offshore bridges. Results show that IDA curve considering time-varying damage index is obviously below that without considering; area enclosed by IDA of 1# pier and X-axis under No.1 earthquake considering this effect is 96% of that without considering. Area enclosed by damage index of 1# pier and X-axis under serious damage with considering time-varying damage index is 90% of that without considering in service period. Time-varying damage index has a greater impact on short pier when ground motion intensity is small, while it has a great impact on high pier when the intensity is large. The area enclosed by fragility of bridge system and X-axis under complete destruction considering time-varying damage index is 165% of that without considering when reach designed service life. Therefore, time-varying attenuation effect of damage index has a great impact on seismic performance of bridge in service period.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.357-377
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• 2013

In order to study the degradation and damage behaviors of steel frame welded connections, two series of tests in references with different connection constructions were carried out subjected to various cyclic loading patterns. Hysteretic curves, degradation and damage behaviours and fatigue properties of specimens were firstly studied. Typical failure modes and probable damage reasons were discussed. Then, various damage index models with variables of dissipative energy, cumulative displacement and combined energy and displacement were summarized and applied for all experimental specimens. The damage developing curves of ten damage index models for each connection were obtained. Finally, the predicted and evaluated capacities of damage index models were compared in order to describe the degraded performance and failure modes. The characteristics of each damage index model were discussed in depth, and then their distributive laws were summarized. The tests and analysis results showed that the loading histories significantly affected the distributive shapes of damage index models. Different models had their own ranges of application. The selected parameters of damage index models had great effect on the developing trends of damage curves. The model with only displacement variable was recommended because of a more simple form and no integral calculation, which was easier to be formulated and embedded in application programs.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.741-748
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• 2018

In this paper, the sensitivity of a plastic-damage-based structural damage index on mesh density is studied. Multiple finite element meshes with increasing density are used to investigate their effect on the damage index values calculated from nonlinear finite element simulations for a reinforced concrete column subjected to cyclic loading. With the simulation results, this paper suggests a correction method for the objective damage index based on nonlinear regression of volumetric tensile damage ratio data. The modified damage index values are presented in the quasi-static cyclic simulation to show the efficacy of the suggested correction method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.37-51
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• 2000

Identification of damage location based on modal measurement is an important problem in structural health monitoring. The damage index method that attempts to evaluate the changes in modal strain energy distribution has been found to be effective under certain circumstances. In this paper two damage index methods using bending strain energy and shear strain energy have been evaluated for numerous cases at different locations and degrees of damage. The objective is to evaluate the feasibility of the damage index method to localize the damage on large span concrete bridge. Finite element models were used as the test structures. Finally this method was used to predict the damage location in an actual structure, using the results of a modal survey from a large concrete bridge.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.89-110
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• 2014

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an effective alternative to conventional inspections which are time-consuming and subjective. SHM can detect damage early and reduce maintenance cost and thereby help reduce the likelihood of catastrophic structural events to infrastructure such as bridges. After reviewing the Damage Index Method (DIM), an Iterative Damage Index Method (IDIM) is proposed to improve the accuracy of damage detection. These two damage detection techniques are compared based on damage on two structures, a simply supported beam and a pedestrian bridge. Compared to the traditional damage detection algorithm, the proposed IDIM is shown to be less arbitrary and more accurate.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.427-440
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• 2017

One of the suitable structural damage detection methods using vibrational characteristics are damage-index-based methods. In this study, a damage index for identifying damages in plate structures using frequency response function (FRF) data has been provided. One of the significant challenges of identifying the damages in plate structures is high number of degrees of freedom resulting in decreased damage identifying accuracy. On the other hand, FRF data are of high volume and this dramatically decreases the computing speed and increases the memory necessary to store the data, which makes the use of this method difficult. In this study, FRF data are compressed using two-dimensional principal component analysis (2D-PCA), and then converted into damage index vectors. The damage indices, each of which represents a specific condition of intact or damaged structures are stored in a database. After computing damage index of structure with unknown damage and using algorithm of lookup tables, the structural damage including the severity and location of the damage will be identified. In this study, damage detection accuracy using the proposed damage index in square-shaped structural plates with dimensions of 3, 7 and 10 meters and with boundary conditions of four simply supported edges (4S), three clamped edges (3C), and four clamped edges (4C) under various single and multiple-element damage scenarios have been studied. Furthermore, in order to model uncertainties of measurement, insensitivity of this method to noises in the data measured by applying values of 5, 10, 15 and 20 percent of normal Gaussian noise to FRF values is discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.337-362
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• 2015

This paper presents a feasibility study on structural damage alarming and localization of long-span cable-supported bridges using multi-novelty indices formulated by monitoring-derived modal parameters. The proposed method which requires neither structural model nor damage model is applicable to structures of arbitrary complexity. With the intention to enhance the tolerance to measurement noise/uncertainty and the sensitivity to structural damage, an improved novelty index is formulated in terms of auto-associative neural networks (ANNs) where the output vector is designated to differ from the input vector while the training of the ANNs needs only the measured modal properties of the intact structure under in-service conditions. After validating the enhanced capability of the improved novelty index for structural damage alarming over the commonly configured novelty index, the performance of the improved novelty index for damage occurrence detection of large-scale bridges is examined through numerical simulation studies of the suspension Tsing Ma Bridge (TMB) and the cable-stayed Ting Kau Bridge (TKB) incurred with different types of structural damage. Then the improved novelty index is extended to formulate multi-novelty indices in terms of the measured modal frequencies and incomplete modeshape components for damage region identification. The capability of the formulated multi-novelty indices for damage region identification is also examined through numerical simulations of the TMB and TKB.