An improved algorithm for pile damage localization based on complex continuous wavelet transform

Since the complex continuous wavelet transform (CCWT) based pile damage detection method is empirical and subjective, an improved algorithm for pile damage localization based on CCWT is proposed by introducing K-means clustering and fast Fourier transform (FFT). In this method, the K-means clustering algorithm is used to accurately calculate the time coordinates of two energy concentrating points caused by the incident and reflected waves, respectively. Meanwhile, FFT is employed to estimate the concerned frequency band of the response signal. Therefore, a specific region in the time frequency plane is defined objectively and it can be used to search the phase angle turning points and localize pile damage. The proposed method is verified by numerical examples of piles with single and multiple damage positions. A parameter analysis is also conducted to investigate how damage depth and damage degree in piles affect the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is able to localize a pile with a damage at least 2.5 m away from the pile head when the damage degree is as less as 5%. After that, dynamic tests of an actual square reinforced concrete pile and an actual circular reinforced concrete pile are investigated to verify the application of the proposed method on practical engineering. Although the proposed method is capable of localizing actual piles more accurately than the CCWT method, the problem of interference points needs to be addressed by mutual verification with other pile damage localization methods.