A vibration-based damage identification technique free of structural baseline information: experimental validation in multi-component plane structure

A vibration-based method for damage identification was established based on the “weak” formulation of Pseudo-excitation (PE) technique. The method can be effectively conducted without any prior knowledge of structural baseline parameters, e.g., Young’s Modulus, and is capable of detecting multi-damage in both one- and two-dimensional structural components. Moreover, relying on point-wise examination of structural dynamic equilibrium conditions, the baseline parameters of inspected structure can be inversely estimated in a statistical way, showing promising potential in engineering practices. As a proof-of-concept investigation, multi-damage in a plane structure, containing both beam and plate components, were identified experimentally using the proposed method.