Estimation of flexibility matrix of beam structures using multisensor fusion. Issue 2 (2nd April 2016) - Sim, Sung-Han
Abstract: The flexibility matrix that relates external loads and structural responses has been utilized in various damage identification algorithms that find structural changes expressed as stiffness degradation. Contrary to the stiffness matrix, the flexibility matrix can be accurately calculated using only several lower natural modes, which makes it feasible to experimentally estimate the flexibility matrix. To date, acceleration is the most popularly used physical quantity in the flexibility-based damage detection methods because of low noise, installation convenience and cost-effectiveness of acceleration transducers. As the acceleration responses correspond to translational degree-of-freedoms (DOF) in the numerical model, moment-resisting structures both with translational and rotational DOFs such as beams and plates are not appropriately represented by the acceleration-only approaches. This study presents an estimation method of the flexibility matrix of beam-type structures considering translational and rotational DOFs that can be measured by accelerometers and gyroscopes, respectively. The efficacy of the proposed method is numerically validated using a simply supported beam model.