Fault identification of beams on elastic foundation

Abstract

The capability of identifying both location and severity of damages of faulted elements in a structural system is greatly needed under the present demands of constantly maintaining the safety of civil engineering structures. Presented in this paper is a methodology based on vibration theory that can be used for the detection of faults in a beam of either uniform or nonuniform cross section and under a variety of boundary conditions, including simple support, cantilever support, and beam on elastic foundation. Theoretical developments of the methodology are presented first, followed by numerical experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of the method. Numerical experiments include various damage scenarios such as those faults occurring in a beam section as well as in a subgrade foundation. Furthermore, damage scenarios involving both single fault and multiple faults are also presented. The defect of the supporting subgrade foundation can be modeled either as degrading subgrade stiffness or increasing damping values. Numerical experiments demonstrate the feasibility of the developed NDT methodology which warrants the next stage of field study.