Investigation Of Minimum Response For Damage Assessment

Abstract

Assessment of structural damage based on changes in vibratory response characteristics has been researched for many years, with much attention directed toward the use of modal parameters. Modal responses contribute to form points of local minima in the frequency response of a system. The frequency and amplitude values corresponding to these points of minimum response can be analytically determined, experimentally measured, and shown to exhibit sensitivity to damage. This work was performed to investigate the possible contribution that explicitly targeted minimum response information could provide in a damage detection process. A simple 6-DOF discrete spring-mass system was used to conduct preliminary evaluation of various frequency-based techniques adapted for minimum response. The study was extended to the analysis of simulated transverse crack damage in a cantilever beam, followed by experimental evaluation. Relevant conclusions are given, and areas for future work are defined.