Structural Damage Identification System Suitable for Old Arch Bridge in Rural Regions: Random Forest Approach

A huge number of old arch bridges located in rural regions are at the peak of maintenance.The health monitoring technology of the long-span bridge is hardly applicable to the small-span bridge,owing to the absence of technical resources and sufficient funds in rural regions.There is an urgent need for an economical,fast,and accurate damage identification solution.The authors proposed a damage identification system of an old arch bridge implemented with amachine learning algorithm,which took the vehicle-induced response as the excitation.A damage index was defined based on wavelet packet theory,and a machine learning sample database collecting the denoised response was constructed.Through comparing three machine learning algorithms:Back-Propagation Neural Network(BPNN),Support Vector Machine(SVM),and Random Forest(R.F.),the R.F.damage identification model were found to have a better recognition ability.Finally,the Particle Swarm Optimization(PSO)algorithm was used to optimize the number of subtrees and split features of the R.F.model.The PSO optimized R.F.model was capable of the identification of different damage levels of old arch bridges with sensitive damage index.The proposed framework is practical and promising for the old bridge’s structural damage identification in rural regions.

Development of a software platform for bridge modal and damage identification based on ambient excitation

Modal and damage identification based on ambient excitation can greatly improve the efficiency of high-speed railway bridge vibration detection.This paper first describes the basic principles of stochastic subspace identification,peak-picking,and frequency domain decomposition method in modal analysis based on ambient excitation,and the effectiveness of these three methods is verified through finite element calculation and numerical simulation,Then the damage element is added to the finite element model to simulate the crack,and the curvature mode difference and the curvature mode area difference square ratio are calculated by using the stochastic subspace identification results to verify their ability of damage identification and location.Finally,the above modal and damage identification techniques are integrated to develop a bridge modal and damage identification software platform.The final results show that all three modal identification methods can accurately identify the vibration frequency and mode shape,both damage identification methods can accurately identify and locate the damage,and the developed software platform is simple and efficient.

Ensemble 1D DenseNet Damage Identification Method Based on Vibration Acceleration

Convolution neural networks in deep learning can solve the problem of damage identification based on vibration acceleration.By combining multiple 1D DenseNet submodels,a new ensemble learning method is proposed to improve identification accuracy.1D DenseNet is built using standard 1D CNN and DenseNet basic blocks,and the acceleration data obtained from multiple sampling points is brought into the 1D DenseNet training to generate submodels after offset sampling.When using submodels for damage identification,the voting method ideas in ensemble learning are used to vote on the results of each submodel,and then vote centrally.Finally,the cantilever damage problem simulated by ABAQUS is selected as a case study to discuss the excellent performance of the proposed method.The results show that the ensemble 1D DenseNet damage identification method outperforms any submodel in terms of accuracy.Furthermore,the submodel is visualized to demonstrate its operation mode.

Impact Damage Identification of Aluminum Alloy Reinforced Plate Based on GWO-ELM Algorithm

As a critical structure of aerospace equipment,aluminum alloy stiffened plate will influence the stability of spacecraft in orbit and the normal operation of the system.In this study,a GWO-ELM algorithm-based impact damage identification method is proposed for aluminum alloy stiffened panels to monitor and evaluate the damage condition of such stiffened panels of spacecraft.Firstly,together with numerical simulation,the experimental simulation to obtain the damage acoustic emission signals of aluminum alloy reinforced panels is performed,to establish the damage data.Subsequently,the amplitude-frequency characteristics of impact damage signals are extracted and put into an extreme learning machine(ELM)model to identify the impact location and damage degree,and the Gray Wolf Optimization(GWO)algorithm is employed to update the weight parameters of the model.Finally,experiments are conducted on the irregular aluminum alloy stiffened plate with the size of 2200 mm×500 mm×10 mm,the identification accuracy of impact position and damage degree is 98.90% and 99.55% in 68 test areas,respectively.Comparative experiments with ELM and backpropagation neural networks(BPNN)demonstrate that the impact damage identification of aluminum alloy stiffened plate based on GWO-ELM algorithm can serve as an effective way to monitor spacecraft structural damage.

Damage Identification under Incomplete Mode Shape Data Using Optimization Technique Based on Generalized Flexibility Matrix

A generalized flexibility–based objective function utilized for structure damage identification is constructed for solving the constrained nonlinear least squares optimized problem. To begin with, the generalized flexibility matrix (GFM) proposed to solve the damage identification problem is recalled and a modal expansion method is introduced. Next, the objective function for iterative optimization process based on the GFM is formulated, and the Trust-Region algorithm is utilized to obtain the solution of the optimization problem for multiple damage cases. And then for computing the objective function gradient, the sensitivity analysis regarding design variables is derived. In addition, due to the spatial incompleteness, the influence of stiffness reduction and incomplete modal measurement data is discussed by means of two numerical examples with several damage cases. Finally, based on the computational results, it is evident that the presented approach provides good validity and reliability for the large and complicated engineering structures.

Vehicle-Bridge Interaction Simulation and Damage Identification of a Bridge Using Responses Measured in a Passing Vehicle by Empirical Mode Decomposition Method

To prevent early bridge failures, effective Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is vital. Vibration-based damage assessment is a powerful tool in this regard, as it relies on changes in a structure’s dynamic characteristics as it degrades. By measuring the vibration response of a bridge due to passing vehicles, this approach can identify potential structural damage. This dissertation introduces a novel technique grounded in Vehicle-Bridge Interaction (VBI) to evaluate bridge health. It aims to detect damage by analyzing the response of passing vehicles, taking into account VBI. The theoretical foundation of this method begins with representing the bridge’s superstructure using a Finite Element Model and employing a half-car dynamic model to simulate the vehicle with suspension. Two sets of motion equations, one for the bridge and one for the vehicle are generated using the Finite Element Method, mode superposition, and D’Alembert’s principle. The combined dynamics are solved using the Newmark-beta method, accounting for road surface roughness. A new approach for damage identification based on the response of passing vehicles is proposed. The response is theoretically composed of vehicle frequency, bridge natural frequency, and a pseudo-frequency component related to vehicle speed. The Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) method is applied to decompose the signal into its constituent parts, and damage detection relies on the Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) corresponding to the vehicle speed component. This technique effectively identifies various damage scenarios considered in the study.

Damage Identification of A TLP Floating Wind Turbine by Meta-Heuristic Algorithms

Damage identification of the offshore floating wind turbine by vibration/dynamic signals is one of the important and new research fields in the Structural Health Monitoring（SHM）. In this paper a new damage identification method is proposed based on meta-heuristic algorithms using the dynamic response of the TLP（Tension-Leg Platform） floating wind turbine structure. The Genetic Algorithms（GA）, Artificial Immune System（AIS）, Particle Swarm Optimization（PSO）, and Artificial Bee Colony（ABC） are chosen for minimizing the object function, defined properly for damage identification purpose. In addition to studying the capability of mentioned algorithms in correctly identifying the damage, the effect of the response type on the results of identification is studied. Also, the results of proposed damage identification are investigated with considering possible uncertainties of the structure. Finally, for evaluating the proposed method in real condition, a 1/100 scaled experimental setup of TLP Floating Wind Turbine（TLPFWT） is provided in a laboratory scale and the proposed damage identification method is applied to the scaled turbine.

Damage Identification of General Overhead Travelling Crane Structure Based on Model Updating by Sensitivity

A model based damage identification was proposed by facilitating parameter sensitivity analysis and applied to a general overhead travelling crane.As updating reference data,experimental modal frequency was obtained by operational modal analysis(OMA)under ambient excitation.One dimensional damage function was defined to identify the damage by bending stiffness.The results showed that the model updating method could locate the damage and quantitatively describe the structure.The average error of eigenvalues between updated model analysis and the experimental results was less than 4% which proved the accuracy reliable.The comparison of finite element analysis and the test results of the deflection under the capacity load further verified the feasibility of this method.

Non-probabilistic information fusion technique for structural damage identification based on measured dynamic data with uncertainty

Based on measured natural frequencies and acceleration responses,a non-probabilistic information fusion technique is proposed for the structural damage detection by adopting the set-membership identification（SMI） and twostep model updating procedure.Due to the insufficiency and uncertainty of information obtained from measurements,the uncertain problem of damage identification is addressed with interval variables in this paper.Based on the first-order Taylor series expansion,the interval bounds of the elemental stiffness parameters in undamaged and damaged models are estimated,respectively.The possibility of damage existence（PoDE） in elements is proposed as the quantitative measure of structural damage probability,which is more reasonable in the condition of insufficient measurement data.In comparison with the identification method based on a single kind of information,the SMI method will improve the accuracy in damage identification,which reflects the information fusion concept based on the non-probabilistic set.A numerical example is performed to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed technique.

A METHOD OF ONLINE DAMAGE IDENTIFICATION FOR STRUCTURES BASED ON AMBIENT VIBRATION

A method of damage identification for engineering structures based on ambient vibration is put forward, in which output data are used only. Firstly, it was identification of the statistic parameters to associate with the exterior excitation for undamaged structures. Then it was detection and location of the structural damages for damaged structures. The ambient identification method includes a theoretical model and numerical method. The numerical experiment results show the method is precise and effective. This method may be used in health monitoring for bridges and architectures.

HOMOTOPY CONTINUATION ALGORITHM FOR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE IDENTIFICATION

A new method is put forward for structural damage identification based on the homotopy continuation algorithm. A numerical example is presented to verify the method. The beams with different damage locations and different damage extents are identified by this method. The numerical examples have proved that this new method is capable of easy convergence, which is not sensitive to the initial iterative values. It is effective for accurately identifying multiple damages. By incorporating the finite element method into the homotopy continuation algorithm, the damage identifying ability of the new method can be greatly enhanced.

Structural Damage Identification via Pseudo Strain Energy Density and Wavelet Packet Transform

Based on strain signals, a new time-domain methodology for detecting the beam local damage has been developed. The pseudo strain energy density （PSED） is defined and used to build two major damage indexes, the average pseudo strain energy density （APSED） and the average pseudo strain energy density rate （APSEDR）. Probability and mathematical statistics are utilized to derive a standardized damage index. Furthermore, by applying the analytic relation between the strain energy release rate and the stress intensity factor, an analytic solution of crack depth is derived. For the dynamic strain signals, the wavelet packet transform is used to pre-process measured data. Finally, a numerical simulation indicates that this method can effectively identify the damage location and its absolute severity.

Experimental investigation of damage identification for continuous railway bridges

Considering the issue of misjudgment in railway bridge damage identification, a method combining the step- by-step damage detection method with the statistical pattern recognition is proposed to detect the structural damage of a railway continuous girder bridge. The whole process of damage identification is divided into three identification sub- steps, namely, damage early warning, damage location, and damage extent identification. The multi-class pattern clas- sification algorithm of C-support vector machine and the regression algorithm of c-support vector machine are engagedto identify the damage location and damage extent, respectively. For verifying the proposed method, both of the pro- posed method and the optimization method are used to deal with the measured data obtained from a specific railway continuous girder model bridge. The results show that the proposed method can not only identify the damage location correctly, but also obtain the damage extent which is consistent with the experimental results accurately. By uncou- pling finite element analysis and damage identification, normalizing the index, and seeking the separation hyper plane with maximum margin, the proposed method has more favorable advantages in generalization and anti-noise. As a re- sult, it has the ability to identify the damage location and extent, and can be applied to the damage identification in real bridge structures.

An Optimized Damage Identification Method of Beam Using Wavelet and Neural Network

An optimized damage identification method of beam combined wavelet with neural network is presented in an attempt to improve the calculation iterative speed and accuracy damage identification. The mathematical model is developed to identify the structure damage based on the theory of finite elements and rotation modal parameters. The model is integrated with BP neural network optimization approach which utilizes the Genetic algorithm optimization method. The structural rotation modal parameters are performed with the continuous wavelet transform through the Mexico hat wavelet. The location of structure damage is identified by the maximum of wavelet coefficients. Then, the multi-scale wavelet coefficients modulus maxima are used as the inputs of the BP neural network, and through training and updating the optimal weight and threshold value to obtain the ideal output which is used to describe the degree of structural damage. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in simultaneously improving the structural damage identification precision including the damage locating and severity.

A new neural-network-based method for structural damage identification in single-layer reticulated shells

Single-layer reticulated shells(SLRSs)find widespread application in the roofs of crucial public structures,such as gymnasiums and exhibition center.In this paper,a new neural-network-based method for structural damage identification in SLRSs is proposed.First,a damage vector index,NDL,that is related only to the damage localization,is proposed for SLRSs,and a damage data set is constructed from NDL data.On the basis of visualization of the NDL damage data set,the structural damaged region locations are identified using convolutional neural networks(CNNs).By cross-dividing the damaged region locations and using parallel CNNs for each regional location,the damaged region locations can be quickly and efficiently identified and the undamaged region locations can be eliminated.Second,a damage vector index,DS,that is related to the damage location and damage degree,is proposed for SLRSs.Based on the damaged region identified previously,a fully connected neural network(FCNN)is constructed to identify the location and damage degree of members.The effectiveness and reliability of the proposed method are verified by considering a numerical case of a spherical SLRS.The calculation results showed that the proposed method can quickly eliminate candidate locations of potential damaged region locations and precisely determine the location and damage degree of members.

Characterization,identification and life prediction of acoustic emission signals of tensile damage for HSR gearbox housing material

Purpose-This study aims to ensure the operation safety of high speed trains,it is necessary to carry out nondestructive monitoring of the tensile damage of the gearbox housing material in rail time,yet the traditional tests of mechanical property can hardly meet this requirement.Design/methodology/approach-In this study the acoustic emission(AE)technology is applied in the tensile tests of the gearbox housing material of an high-speed rail(HSR)train,during which the acoustic signatures are acquired for parameter analysis.Afterward,the support vector machine(SVM)classifier is introduced to identify and classify the characteristic parameters extracted,on which basis the SVM is improved and the weighted support vector machine(WSVM)method is applied to effectively reduce the misidentification of the SVM classifier.Through the study of the law of relations between the characteristic values and the tensile life,a degradation model of the gearbox housing material amid tensile is built.Findings-The results show that the growth rate of the logarithmic hit count of AE signals and that of logarithmic amplitude can well characterize the stage of the material tensile process,and the WSVM method can improve the classification accuracy of the imbalanced data to above 94%.The degradation model built can identify the damage occurred to the HSR gearbox housing material amid the tensile process and predict the service life remains.Originality/value-The results of this study provide new concepts for the life prediction of tensile samples,and more further tests should be conducted to verify the conclusion of this research.

Identification of Damage on Different Plants Caused by Botrytis cinerea and its Extracellular Macromolecular Toxin

With Bowytis cinerea and its extracellular macromolecular toxins as the test materials, 30 speiees of plants belonging to 29 genera and 21 families were selected as the test plants to observe the infectivity of B. dnerea and damage status of macromolecular toxins secreted by B. cinerea on plants. The resulsts showed that 17 species of plants were beth infected by B. cinerea and damaged by toxins, accounting for 56.7% of the total plants. Two species of plants could be neither infected by B. cinerea nor damaged by toxins. The study provided the reference for further understanding of pathogenic mechanism of plant pathogenic fungi toxins.

PROBABILISTIC DAMAGE IDENTIFICATION OF STRUCTURES WITH UNCERTAINTY BASED ON DYNAMIC RESPONSES

The probabilistic damage identification problem with uncertainty in the FE model parameters, external-excitations and measured acceleration responses is studied. The uncertainty in the system is concerned with normally distributed random variables with zero mean value and given covariance. Based on the theoretical model and the measured acceleration responses, the probabilistic structural models in undamaged and damaged states are obtained by two-stage model updating, and then the Probabilities of Damage Existence （PDE） of each element are calculated as the damage criterion. The influences of the location of sensors on the damage identification results are also discussed, where one of the optimal sensor placement techniques, the effective independence method, is used to choose the nodes for measurement. The damage identification results by different numbers of measured nodes and different damage criterions are compared in the numerical example.

Damage identification in connections of moment frames using time domain responses and an optimization method

Damage is defined as changes to the material and/or geometric properties of a structural system,comprising changes to the boundary conditions and system connectivity,adversely affecting the system’s performance.Inspecting the elements of structures,particularly critical components,is vital to evaluate the structural lifespan and safety.In this study,an optimization-based method for joint damage identification of moment frames using the time-domain responses is introduced.The beam-to-column connection in a metallic moment frame structure is modeled by a zero-length rotational spring at both ends of the beam element.For each connection,an end-fixity factor is specified,which changes between 0 and 1.Then,the problem of joint damage identification is converted to a standard optimization problem.An objective function is defined using the nodal point accelerations extracted from the damaged structure and an analytical model of the structure in which the nodal accelerations are obtained using the Newmark procedure.The optimization problem is solved by an improved differential evolution algorithm(IDEA)for identifying the location and severity of the damage.To assess the capability of the proposed method,two numerical examples via different damage scenarios are considered.Then,a comparison between the proposed method and the existing damage identification method is provided.The outcomes reveal the high efficiency of the proposed method for finding the severity and location of joint damage considering noise effects.

Spectral element modeling based structure piezoelectric impedance computation and damage identification

This paper presents a numerical simulation study on electromechanical impedance technique for structural damage identification.The basic principle of impedance based damage detection is structural impedance will vary with the occurrence and development of structural damage,which can be measured from electromechanical admittance curves acquired from PZT patches.Therefore,structure damage can be identified from the electromechanical admittance measurements.In this study,a model based method that can identify both location and severity of structural damage through the minimization of the deviations between structural impedance curves and numerically computed response is developed.The numerical model is set up using the spectral element method,which is promised to be of high numerical efficiency and computational accuracy in the high frequency range.An optimization procedure is then formulated to estimate the property change of structural elements from the electric admittance measurement of PZT patches.A case study on a pin-pin bar is conducted to investigate the feasibility of the proposed method.The results show that the presented method can accurately identify bar damage location and severity even when the measurements are polluted by 5%noise.