Damage Detection of Pile Foundations in Marine Engineering Based on a Multidimensional Dynamic Signature

Abstract

Zhu, R.; Wang, Q.; Zheng, J.; Su, J., and Wang, N., 2021. Damage detection of pile foundations in marine engineering based on a multidimensional dynamic signature. Journal of Coastal Research, 37(3), 576–588. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Compared with land engineering, pile foundations in marine engineering have the characteristics of long, free lengths in water and bad service environments. The traditional methods of pile foundation damage detection have considerable limitations in the application in marine engineering. In this paper, a new method for pile foundation damage detection is developed. The method constructs a multidimensional dynamic signature space by fusing multivariate information, uses the Mahalanobis distance to define the difference between the damaged and undamaged units of the structure, and detects damage based on a robust outlier identification method in multidimensional space to realize reliable and automatic damage detection under high noise and complex conditions. The effectiveness and reliability of the method are verified using a finite element model (FEM) of a high-pile wharf under different damage degrees and different intensities of Gaussian white noise. The applicability of the method is then experimentally validated on a physical experimental model of a high-pile wharf. Both the FEM and the experimental results show that the method is capable of detecting pile foundation damage and has strong application potential.