Experimental damage assessment of support condition for plate structures using wavelet transform

Abstract

Wavelet transforms (WTs) have gained popularity among researchers as tools for identifying damage in structures using vibration-based damage detection (VBDD) techniques, owing to their ability to identify singularities by decomposing mode shapes structural responses of the structure. In VBDD, the support condition of a structure influences the structural responses and modal properties. In fact, structural responses and modal properties are a lot more sensitive to changing boundary conditions than to crack and fatigue damage, resulting in inaccurate damage detection results. Therefore, in this study, sensitivity tests to estimate a suitable distance range which allows damage detection by imposing single support damage were carried out. The estimated appropriate distance was then applied to detect damage at multiple supports. This involved the applicability of response acceleration of plate structures to support assessment by applying continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT). The damage cases were introduced by releasing bolts at the specified fixed supports of the plate to simulate the damage. The response accelerations of the rectangular plate at points close to the supports were measured and decomposed using CWT and DWT to assess the structural integrity of each support. The results showed that an appropriate distance range is necessary for accurate damage detection, and both, CWT and DWT can provide reliable outputs. However, the first- and fourth-level detail coefficients of DWT fail to indicate damage in some cases. A more detailed investigation of the effect of different wavelet scale ranges on damage detection using CWT demonstrated that the accuracy of damage detection increases as the scale decreases.