Conditioned Reverse Path Method on Frame Structure for Damage Detection

Abstract

Nonlinear system identification has received great interests from researchers especially when related to structural damage detection. Generally, damaged system tends to exhibit nonlinear characteristics. Therefore, it is essential to have a reliable method which can exploit the nonlinear characteristics for detecting damage at an early stage as an effort to ensure the integrity of structural systems. In this paper, a spectral approach called Conditioned Reverse Path (CRP) method is used to identify the nonlinear behavior thus obtain the physical meaning with the possible damage occurs in the studied system. The system chosen is a 4 degree-of-freedom frame structure tested in laboratory environment. The CRP can detect damage and extract the nonlinear coefficients if an adequate nonlinear function was provided. Smaller gap makes the structure more sensitive to damage.