A wavelet-based structural damage assessment approach with progressively downloadedsensor data

Abstract

This paper presents a wavelet-based on-line damage assessment approach based on theuse of progressively transmitted multi-resolution sensor data. In extreme eventslike strong earthquakes, real-time retrieval of structural monitoring data andon-line damage assessment of civil infrastructures are crucial for emergency reliefand disaster assistance efforts such as resource allocation and evacuation routearrangement. Due to the limited communication bandwidth available to datatransmission during and immediately after major earthquakes, innovative methods forintegrated sensor data transmission and on-line damage assessment are highly desired.The proposed approach utilizes a lifting scheme wavelet transform to generatemulti-resolution sensor data, which are transmitted progressively in increasing resolution.Multi-resolution sensor data enable interactive on-line condition assessment ofstructural damages. To validate this concept, a hysteresis-based damage assessmentmethod, proposed by Iwan for extreme-event use, is selected in this study. Asensitivity study on the hysteresis-based damage assessment method under varyingdata resolution levels was conducted using simulation data from a six-story steelbraced frame building subjected to earthquake ground motion. The results of thisstudy show that the proposed approach is capable of reducing the raw sensordata size by a significant amount while having a minor effect on the accuracy ofhysteresis-based damage assessment. The proposed approach provides a valuable decisionsupport tool for engineers and emergency response personnel who want to access thedata in real time and perform on-line damage assessment in an efficient manner.