• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.209-225
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• 2015

Compared to ambient vibration testing, impact testing has the merit to extract not only structural modal parameters but also structural flexibility. Therefore, structural deflections under any static load can be predicted from the identified results of the impact test data. In this article, a signal processing procedure for structural flexibility identification is first presented. Especially, practical issues in applying the proposed procedure for structural flexibility identification are investigated, which include sensitivity analyses of three pre-defined parameters required in the data pre-processing stage to investigate how they affect the accuracy of the identified structural flexibility. Finally, multiple-reference impact test data of a three-span reinforced concrete T-beam bridge are simulated by the FE analysis, and they are used as a benchmark structure to investigate the practical issues in the proposed signal processing procedure for structural flexibility identification.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.231-244
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• 2013

An efficient method is proposed here to identify multiple damage cases in structural systems using the concepts of flexibility matrix and strain energy of a structure. The flexibility matrix of the structure is accurately estimated from the first few mode shapes and natural frequencies. Then, the change of strain energy of a structural element, due to damage, evaluated by the columnar coefficients of the flexibility matrix is used to construct a damage indicator. This new indicator is named here as flexibility strain energy based index (FSEBI). In order to assess the performance of the proposed method for structural damage detection, two benchmark structures having a number of damage scenarios are considered. Numerical results demonstrate that the method can accurately locate the structural damage induced. It is also revealed that the magnitudes of the FSEBI depend on the damage severity.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.423-442
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• 2015

This study examines the wavelet transform for output-only system identification of ambient excited engineering structures with emphasis on its utilization for modal parameter estimation of high-order and closely-spaced modes. Sophisticated time-frequency resolution analysis has been carried out by employing the modified complex Morlet wavelet function for better adaption and flexibility of the time-frequency resolution to extract two closely-spaced frequencies. Furthermore, bandwidth refinement techniques such as a bandwidth resolution adaptation, a broadband filtering technique and a narrowband filtering one have been proposed in the study for the special treatments of high-order and closely-spaced modal parameter estimation. Ambient responses of a 5-story steel frame building have been used in the numerical example, using the proposed bandwidth refinement techniques, for estimating the modal parameters of the high-order and closely-spaced modes. The first five natural frequencies and damping ratios of the structure have been estimated; furthermore, the comparison among the various proposed bandwidth refinement techniques has also been examined.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.349-375
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• 2016

The tension of an arch bridge hanger is estimated using a number of experimentally identified modal frequencies. The hanger is connected through metallic plates to the bridge deck and arch. Two different categories of model classes are considered to simulate the vibrations of the hanger: an analytical model based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, and a high-fidelity finite element (FE) model. A Bayesian parameter estimation and model selection method is used to discriminate between models, select the best model, and estimate the hanger tension and its uncertainty. It is demonstrated that the end plate connections and boundary conditions of the hanger due to the flexibility of the deck/arch significantly affect the estimate of the axial load and its uncertainty. A fixed-end high fidelity FE model of the hanger underestimates the hanger tension by more than 20 compared to a baseline FE model with flexible supports. Simplified beam models can give fairly accurate results, close to the ones obtained from the high fidelity FE model with flexible support conditions, provided that the concept of equivalent length is introduced and/or end rotational springs are included to simulate the flexibility of the hanger ends. The effect of the number of experimentally identified modal frequencies on the estimates of the hanger tension and its uncertainty is investigated.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.69-87
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• 2014

A new output only modal analysis method is developed in this paper. This method uses continuous wavelet transform to modify a popular blind source separation algorithm, second order blind identification (SOBI). The wavelet modified SOBI (WMSOBI) method replaces original time domain signal with selected time-frequency domain wavelet coefficients, which overcomes the shortcomings of SOBI. Both numerical and experimental studies on bridge models are carried out when there are limited number of sensors. Identified modal properties from WMSOBI are analyzed and compared with fast Fourier transform (FFT), SOBI and eigensystem realization algorithm (ERA). The comparison shows WMSOBI can identify as many results as FFT and ERA. Further case study of structural health monitoring (SHM) on an arch bridge verifies the capability to detect damages by combining WMSOBI with incomplete flexibility difference method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.571-577
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• 2003

This research proposes a finite element method to determine the natural vibration characteristics of the spinning disk-spindle system in a HDD including the flexibility of supporting structure. Finite element equations of each substructure are derived with the introduction of consistent variables to satisfy the geometric compatibility at the internal boundaries. The natural frequencies and modes from the global asymmetric matrix equations of motion are determined by using the implicit restarted Arnoldi iteration method. The validity of the proposed method is verified by the experimental modal testing. It also shows that the flexibility of base plate plays an important role to determine the natural frequencies of the spinning disk-spindle system in a HDD.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2024

This paper investigates the impact of local joint flexibility (LJF) on the fatigue life of jacket-type offshore platforms. Four sample platforms with varying geometric properties are modeled and analyzed using the Opensees software. The analysis considers the LJF of tubular joints through the equivalent element and flexible link approaches, and the results are compared to rigid modeling. Initially, modal analysis is conducted to examine the influence of LJF on the frequency content of the structure. Subsequently, fatigue analysis is performed to evaluate the fatigue life of the joints. The comparison of fatigue life reveals that incorporating LJF leads to reduced fatigue damage and a significant increase in the longevity of the joints in the studied platforms. Moreover, as the platform height increases, the effect of LJF on fatigue damage becomes more pronounced. In conclusion, considering LJF in fatigue analysis provides more accurate results compared to conventional methods. Therefore, it is essential to incorporate the effects of LJF in the analysis and design of offshore jacket platforms to ensure their structural integrity and longevity.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.291-316
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• 2009

Damage detection using structural classical deflection flexibility has received considerable attention due to the unique features of the flexibility in the last two decades. However, for relatively complex structures, most methods based on classical deflection flexibility fail to locate damage sites to the exact members. In this study, for structures whose members are dominated by axial forces, such as truss structures, a more feasible flexibility for damage detection is proposed, which is called the Axial Strain (AS) flexibility. It is synthesized from measured modal frequencies and axial strain mode shapes which are expressed in terms of translational mode shapes. A damage indicator based on AS flexibility is proposed. In addition, how to integrate the AS flexibility into the Damage Location Vector (DLV) approach (Bernal and Gunes 2004) to improve its performance of damage localization is presented. The methods based on AS flexbility localize multiple damages to the exact members and they are suitable for the cases where the baseline data of the intact structure is not available. The proposed methods are demonstrated by numerical simulations of a 14-bay planar truss and a five-story steel frame and experiments on a five-story steel frame.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.143-160
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• 2005

Modal analysis of cracked cantilever composite beams, made of graphite-fibre reinforced polyamide, is studied. By using the finite element and component mode synthesis methods, a numeric model applicable to investigate the vibration of cracked composite beams is developed. In this new approach, from the crack section, the composite beam separated into two parts coupled by a flexibility matrix taking into account the interaction forces. These forces are derived from the fracture mechanics theory as the inverse of the compliance matrix calculated with the proper stress intensity factors and strain energy release rate expressions. Numerical results are obtained for modal analysis of composite beams with a transverse non-propagating open crack, addressing the effects of the location and depth of the crack, and the volume fraction and orientation of the fibre on the natural frequencies and mode shapes. By means of modal data, the position and dimension of the defect can be found. The results of the study confirmed that presented method is suitable for the vibration analysis of cracked cantilever composite beams. Present technique can be easily extended to composite plates and shells.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.463-471
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• 2018

The virtual forces of the original local flexibility method are restricted to inducing stress on the local parts of a structure. To circumvent this restriction, we developed a pseudo local flexibility (PLFM) method that can successfully detect damage to hyperstatic beam structures using fewer modes. For this study, we further developed the PLFM so that it could detect damage in plate structures. We also devised the theoretical background for the PLFM with non-local virtual forces for plate structures, and both the lateral and rotary degree of freedom (DOF) measurements were considered separately. This study investigates the effects of the number of modes, the actual location that sustained damage, multiple damage locations, and noise in modal parameters for the damage detection results obtained from damaged numerical plates. The results revealed that the PLFM can be used for damage detection, localization, and quantification for plate structures, regardless of the use of the lateral DOF and/or rotary DOF.