Damage Detection for SMC Benchmark Problem: A Subspace-Based Approach

A full-scale bridge benchmark problem was issued by the Center of Structural Monitoring and Control at the Harbin Institute of Technology. The data used in this problem were collected by an in situ structural health monitoring system implemented into a full-scale cable-stayed bridge before and after the bridge was damaged, which is very rare in structural health monitoring field. This benchmark problem will help to verify and/or make comparison of the condition assessment and the damage detection methods, which are usually validated by numerical simulation and/or laboratory testing of small-scale structures with assumed deterioration models and artificial damage. With respect to damage detection of girder, one of the benchmark problems, using the monitored and field testing acceleration data, this paper describes a damage detection method, based on a residual generated from a subspace-based covariance-driven identification method, to detect the damage, and give relative quantitative damage indexes. This method was applied on both two parts of the given benchmark problem, and then detailed discussions and results on this problem are reported in this paper.