Health Monitoring and Damage Assessment of Truss Structures from Static Responses

Abstract

A method for structural damage assessment of truss structure utilizing static displacement measurement is presented.  Damage is defined as abrupt changes in some parameters of the considered structure.  Abrupt change means that change of system parameter occurs either instantaneously or at least very fast with respect to the sampling rate of the measurements due to severe events such as earthquake, typhoon, crash and so on. This method preserves the structural connectivity and determines changes in cross-sectional properties at the element level, including large changes or element failures for stable structures. The identified cross-sectional element properties can be used for damage assessment and load rating of structures. Two numerical examples, including two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) truss structures are presented and the element stiffness's are successfully and accurately evaluated.