Damage Assessment in Structures Using Incomplete Modal Data and Artificial Neural Network

This paper presents a novel approach for structural damage detection and estimation using incomplete noisy modal data and artificial neural network (ANN). A feed-forward back propagation network is proposed for estimating the structural damage location and severity. Incomplete modal data is used in the dynamic analysis of damaged structures by the condensed finite element model and as input parameters to the neural network for damage identification. In all cases, the first two natural modes were used for the training process. The present method is applied to three examples consisting of a simply supported beam, three-story plane frame, and spring-mass system. Also, the effect of the discrepancy in mass and stiffness between the finite element model and the actual tested dynamic system has been investigated. The results demonstrated the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method using incomplete modal data, which may be noisy or noise-free.