A New Method to Calculate Damage Variable with Unload/Load Response Ratio

Abstract

As an exploration and extension of load/unload response ratio theory, unload/ load response ratio theory (ULRR for short) is introduced firstly, and the relationship between ULRR (Y′) and elastic modulus (E for short) is obtained. Based on the basic theory of damage mechanics,the relationship between ULRR and damage variable (D for short) is set up and analyzed with the relationship between E and D. The unloading and loading experiments on a two-story structure carried out in the University of Naples in Italy are introduced;and calculated damage variable is compared with that calculated by Zhang Langping who put forward Weibull distribution as random distribution function. The results show that damage variable of the structure keep highly consistent with calculations of these two methods. Therefore, the relationship between Y′and D provides a new approach to a health assessment to catastrophic failure of large-scale structures and prediction of engineering.