Response-based damage assessment of structures

The structure's ability to survive an earthquake may be measured in terms of the expected state of damage of the structure after the earthquake. Damage may be quantified by using any of several damage indices defined as functions whose values can be related to particular structural damage states. A number of available response-based damage indices are discussed and critically evaluated for their applicability in seismic damage evaluation. A new rational approach for damage assessment is presented which provides a measure of the physical response characteristics of the structure and is better suited for non-linear structural analysis. A practical method based on the static pushover analysis is proposed to estimate the expected damage to structures when subjected to earthquakes of different intensities. Results of the analysis of ductile and non-ductile reinforced concrete buildings show that the proposed procedure for damage assessment gives a simple, consistent and rational damage indicator for structures. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Active sensing using impedance‐based ARX models and extreme value statistics for damage detection

In this paper, the applicability of an auto‐regressive model with exogenous inputs (ARX) in the frequency domain to structural health monitoring (SHM) is established. Damage sensitive features that explicitly consider non‐linear system input/output relationships are extracted from the ARX model. Furthermore, because of the non‐Gaussian nature of the extracted features, Extreme Value Statistics (EVS) is employed to develop a robust damage classifier. EVS provides superior performance to standard statistical methods because the data of interest are in the tails (extremes) of the damage sensitive feature distribution. The suitability of the ARX model, combined with EVS, to non‐linear damage detection is demonstrated using vibration data obtained from a laboratory experiment of a three‐story building model. It is found that the vibration‐based method, while able to discern when damage is present in the structure, is unable to localize the damage to a particular joint. An impedance‐based active sensing method using piezoelectric (PZT) material as both an actuator and a sensor is then investigated as an alternative solution to the problem of damage localization. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Damage localization under ambient vibration using changes in flexibility

In recent years, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has emerged as a new research area in civil engineering. Most existing health monitoring methodologies require direct measurement of input excitation for implementation. However, in many cases, there is no easy way to measure these inputs - or alternatively to externally excite the structure. Therefore, SHM methods based on ambient vibration have become important in civil engineering. In this paper, an approach is proposed based on the Damage Location Vector (DLV) method to handle the ambient vibration case. Here, this flexibility-matrix-based damage localization method is combined with a modal expansion technique to eliminate the need to measure the input excitation. As a by-product of this approach, in addition to determining the location of the damage, an estimate of the damage extent also can be determined. Finally, a numerical example analyzing a truss structure with limited sensors and noisy measurement is provided to verify the efficacy of the proposed approach. Sponsored by: Notional Science Foundation Grant CMS 99-00234     

Output‐only structural identification in time domain: Numerical and experimental studies

By identifying changes in stiffness parameters, structural damage can be detected and monitored. Although considerable progress has been made in this research area, many challenges remain in achieving robust structural identification based on incomplete and noisy measurement signals. The identification task is made even more difficult if measurement of input force is to be eliminated. To this end, an output‐only structural identification strategy is proposed to identify unknown stiffness and damping parameters. A non‐classical approach based on genetic algorithms (GAs) is adopted. The proposed strategy makes use of the recently developed GA‐based method of search space reduction, which has shown to be able to accurately and reliably identify structural parameters from measured input and output signals. By modifying the numerical integration scheme, input can be computed as the parameter identification task is in progress, thereby eliminating the need to measure forces. Numerical and experimental results demonstrate the power of the strategy in accurate and efficient identification of structural parameters and damage using only incomplete acceleration measurements. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于损伤部位向量法的钢框架损伤识别研究

对损伤部位向量(DLV)法作了简单介绍,并用该方法对钢框架进行了损伤识别和损伤定位。该方法假定结构损伤前后为线性,对结构损伤前后柔度矩阵差进行奇异值分解,将奇异值为零所对应的向量,作为静荷载施加在无损结构的测点位置,则应力为零的单元为可能损伤的单元。对3种不同工况的钢框架进行了振动模态试验,用前3阶模态参数构造框架的柔度矩阵,按照DLV法对其进行了损伤识别,识别结果与已知损伤情况相一致。从测试自由度不完备、噪声和振型质量归一化系数这3个方面对识别效果进行了分析,结果表明:当损伤使结构动力特性有微小改变时,使用该方法不易定位损伤,应结合局部损伤识别方法进行判定;当损伤使结构动力特性有较大改变时,该方法能有效识别损伤的单元。DLV方法概念简单,理论明确,不受结构类型的限制,不需要结构的数学模型和模型缩聚或扩展技术,只需获得结构损伤前后的前几个低阶模态参数,即可识别结构一处或多处损伤,实际应用时可操作性强。     

Damage identification method using harmonic excitation force considering both modelling and measurement errors

A method of structural damage identification using harmonic excitation force is presented. It considers the effects of both measurement and modelling errors in the baseline finite element model. Damage that accompanies changes in structural parameters can be estimated for a damaged structure from the change between measured vibration responses and ones calculated from the analytical model of the intact structure. In practice, modelling errors exist in the analytical model due to material and geometric uncertainties and a reduction in the degrees of freedom as well as measurement errors, making identification difficult. To surmount these problems, bootstrap hypothesis testing, which enables statistical judgment without information about these errors, was introduced. The method was validated by numerical simulation using a three‐dimensional frame structure and real vibration data for a three‐storey steel frame structure. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generation of fragility curves for Turkish masonry buildings considering in‐plane failure modes

This study focuses on the seismic safety evaluation of masonry buildings in Turkey for in‐plane failure modes using fragility curves. Masonry buildings are classified and a set of fragility curves are generated for each class. The major structural parameters in the classification of masonry buildings are considered as the number of stories, load‐bearing wall material, regularity in plan and the arrangement of walls (required length, openings in walls, etc.), in accordance with the observations from previous earthquakes and field databases. The fragility curves are generated by using time history (for demand) and pushover (for capacity) analyses. From the generated sets of fragility curves, it is observed that the damage state probabilities are significantly influenced from the number of stories and wall material strength. In the second stage of the study, the generated fragility curves are employed to estimate the damage of masonry buildings in Dinar after the 1995 earthquake. The estimated damage by fragility information is compared with the inspected visual damage as assessed from the Damage Evaluation Form. For the quantification of fragility‐based damage, a single‐valued index, named as ‘vulnerability score’ (VS), is proposed. There seems to be a fair agreement between the two damage measures. In addition to this, decisions regarding the repair or demolition of masonry buildings in Dinar due to visual damage inspection are on comparable grounds with the relative measure obtained from VS of the same buildings. Hence, the fragility‐based procedure can provide an alternative for the seismic safety evaluation of masonry buildings in Turkey. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Damage to residential buildings in Hveragerði during the 2008 Ölfus Earthquake: simulated and surveyed results

This study analyses the performance of residential buildings in the town of Hveragerði in South Iceland during the 29 May 2008 Mw 6.3 Ölfus Earthquake. The earthquake occurred very close to the town, approximately 3–4 km from it. Ground shaking caused by the earthquake was recorded by a dense strong-motion array in the town. The array provided high-quality three-component ground acceleration data which is used to quantify a hazard scenario. In addition, surveys conducted in the town in the aftermath of the earthquake have provided information on macroseismic intensity at various locations in the town. Detailed information regarding the building stock in the town is collected, and their seismic vulnerability models are created by using building damage data obtained from the June 2000 South Iceland earthquakes. Damage to buildings are then simulated by using the scenario hazard and vulnerability models. Damage estimates were also obtained by conducting a survey. Simulated damage based on the scenario macroseismic intensity is found to be similar to damage estimated from survey data. The buildings performed very well during the earthquake—damage suffered was only 5 % of the insured value on the average. Correlation between actual damage and recorded ground-motion parameters is found to be statistically insignificant. No significant correlation of damage was observed, even with macroseismic intensity. Whereas significant correlation was observed between peak ground velocity and macroseismic intensity, neither of them appear to be good indicators of damage to buildings in the study area. This lack of correlation is partly due to good seismic capacity of buildings and partly due to the ordinal nature of macroseismic intensity scale. Consistent with experience from many past earthquakes, the survey results indicate that seismic risk in South Iceland is not so much due to collapse of buildings but rather due to damage to non-structural components and building contents.     

A simple LMS‐based approach to the structural health monitoring benchmark problem

A structure's health or level of damage can be monitored by identifying changes in structural or modal parameters. However, the fundamental modal frequencies can sometimes be less sensitive to (localized) damage in large civil structures, although there are developing algorithms that seek to reduce this difficulty. This research directly identifies changes in structural stiffness due to modeling error or damage using a structural health monitoring method based on adaptive least mean square (LMS) filtering theory. The focus is on computational simplicity to enable real‐time implementation. Several adaptive LMS filtering based approaches are used to analyze the data from the IASC–ASCE Structural Health Monitoring Task Group Benchmark problem. Results are compared with those from the task group and other published results. The proposed methods are shown to be very effective, accurately identifying damage to within 1%, with convergence times of 0.4–13.0 s for the twelve different 4 and 12 degree of freedom benchmark problems. The resulting modal parameters match to within 1% those from the benchmark problem definition. Finally, the methods developed require 1.4–14.0 Mcycles of computation and therefore could easily be implemented in real time. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic performance evaluation of non‐structural components: drywall partitions

As the first part of non‐structural component test series, interior drywall partitions are selected for an experimental program. This test series will cover non‐structural components that are significant in the economic losses in buildings subjected to seismic loading, namely interior drywall partitions, exterior cladding and window glasses, and ceilings. Four full‐scale drywall partitions with light‐gage steel stud framing were tested to observe damage in cyclic loading conditions. Effects of a door and an intersecting wall on the behaviour of drywall partition are studied. Damage was concentrated to perimeter regions where gypsum boards made contacts with ceiling, floor, or columns. Dynamic loading did not amplify the damage on a drywall partition over the damage observed from the quasi‐static test. Damage–repair cost relationships show that the repair cost reaches almost the initial cost under 2% radian interstorey drift. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Global damage indexes for the seismic performance assessement of RC structures

When performing the seismic risk assessment of new or existing buildings, the definition of compact indexes able to measure the damaging and safety level of structures is essential, also in view of the economic considerations on buildings rehabilitation. This paper proposes two series of indexes, named, respectively, Global Damage Indexes (GDIs), which are representative of the overall structure performance, and Section Damage Indexes (SDIs), which assess the conditions of reinforced concrete (RC) beam‐column sections. Such indexes are evaluated by means of an efficient numerical model able to perform nonlinear analyses of the RC frame, based on the continuum damage mechanics theory and fiber approach. An improvement of a two‐parameter damage model for concrete, developed by some of the authors, which guarantees a better correlation between the Local Damage Indexes (LDIs) and the material's mechanical characteristics, is also presented. For the reinforcement, a specific LDI, named ‘steel damage index’, which takes into account the plastic strain development and the bar buckling effect, is proposed. The numerical model has been employed to simulate several experimental tests, in order to verify the accuracy of the proposed approach in predicting the RC member's behavior. Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses of two RC frames are carried out. The robustness of the method, as well as the effectiveness of the GDIs in assessing the structural conditions, are demonstrated here. Finally, comparisons between the evolution of GDIs and the achievement of the performance levels as proposed in FEMA 356 are reported. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一种基于时间序列与核岭回归的结构损伤定位方法

结构健康监测的一个重要目的是实现结构损伤识别与定位,文章将结构监测数据的时间序列模型与机器学习中的核岭回归相结合,提出了一种新的结构损伤定位方法.先定义结构损伤识别矩阵,推导出结构损伤系数向量与损伤结构和未损伤结构的自回归系数向量差值的关联关系,结构的损伤识别矩阵可以通过机器学习中的核岭回归算法获得.对比其他回归算法,核岭回归的正则化、核函数特性可以大幅提高模型的拟合性能与泛化性能,更好地应用于结构损伤识别.然后通过一混凝土框架数值模型对该方法进行验证.结果表明该方法对结构的单损伤、多损伤均可进行有效识别,准确率较高.     

6th April 2009 L��Aquila earthquake, Italy: reinforced concrete building performance

On 6th April 2009 an earthquake of magnitude M _w =  6.3 occurred in the Abruzzo region; the epicentre was very close to the city of L’Aquila (about 6 km away). The event produced casualties and damage to buildings, lifelines and other infrastructures. An analysis of the main damage that reinforced concrete (RC) structures showed after the event is presented in this study. In order to isolate the main causes of structural and non-structural damage, the seismological characteristics of the event are examined, followed by an analysis of the existing RC building stock in the area. The latter issue came under scrutiny after the release of official data about structural types and times of construction, combined with a detailed review of the most important seismic codes in force in the last 100 years in Italy. Comparison of the current design provisions of the Italian and European codes with previous standards allows the main weaknesses of the existing building stock to be determined. Damage to structural and non-structural elements is finally analyzed thanks to photographic material collected in the first week after the event; the main causes of damage are then inferred.     

An experimental study of temperature effect on modal parameters of the Alamosa Canyon Bridge

Damage detection techniques have been proposed to exploit changes in modal parameters and to identify the extent and location of damage in large structures. Most of such techniques, however, generally neglect the environmental effects on modal parameters. Such environmental effects include changes in loads, boundary conditions, temperature, and humidity. In fact, the changes due to environmental effects can often mask more subtle structural changes caused by damage. This paper examines a linear adaptive model to discriminate the changes of modal parameters due to temperature changes from those caused by structural damage or other environmental effects. Data from the Alamosa Canyon Bridge in the state of New Mexico were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the adaptive filter for this problem. Results indicate that a linear four-input (two time and two spatial dimensions) filter to temperature can reproduce the natural variability of the frequencies with respect to time of day. Using this simple model, we attempt to establish a confidence interval of the frequencies for a new temperature profile in order to discriminate the natural variation due to temperature. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

VolcaNZ—A volcanic loss model for Auckland,New Zealand

VolcaNZ is a probabilistic volcanic loss model developed for the Auckland Region in New Zealand that currently considers tephra fall hazards from the Auckland Volcanic Field (AVF), Tuhua volcano, Okataina volcanic centre, Taupo volcano, Tongariro volcanic centre and Egmont volcano. In this first version of the model, structural and non-structural damage to residential building envelopes and associated cleanup costs are calculated using Monte Carlo simulation.VolcaNZ assigns a Minimum and Maximum Damage Value to groups of buildings for every simulation, dependent on tephra thickness. A Central Damage Value, representing loss as a percentage of total replacement cost, is then randomly selected between these limits. Even with small-thickness falls, non-structural damage is expected to roof and wall coatings, air-conditioning units, aerials and satellite dishes due to the corrosive and abrasive properties of tephra. An average loss of $583, attributed to non-structural damage, was assigned to all residential buildings impacted by any thickness of tephra greater than 0.1 mm. The costs of tephra removal from buildings, cleaning of building exteriors and tephra transport and disposal are also calculated within the model, assuming much of the cleanup process will be carried out by homeowners.Losses from all simulations are plotted against calculated Average Recurrence Intervals (ARIs) to produce loss curves. Structural damage does not become apparent until ARIs of approximately 8000 years. $1 billion losses, due to structural damage, occur at about 35,000 years and this increases to about $26 billion at 1 million years. Loss due to non-structural damage is constant at approximately $160 million for ARIs above about 600 years. Between 600 and 3000 years, cleanup loss is approximately $50 million, increasing to over $450 million at a return period of 1 million years. At ARIs between 600 and 3000 years, total loss is approximately $210 million, increasing to $10 billion at 100,000 years and over $26 billion at 1 million years. Because we only consider residential building damage and associated cleanup, these values greatly underestimate total loss from the next volcanic event to impact Auckland. Loss calculations will be improved by adding additional hazard and loss modules to VolcaNZ, resulting in a complete catastrophe loss model.     

Vibration‐based damage assessment of steel structure using global and local response measurements

Damage assessment of a structure involves acquiring and identifying dynamic characteristics of the structure and using these characteristics to evaluate behavior and performance. In this study, an unsymmetrical three‐story steel structure (fabricated with one weak column in the first floor) was tested on shaking table and subjected to a series of earthquake excitations with increasing level of excitation back to back. Besides, white noise excitation was also applied in between the earthquake excitation to serve as the reference state. Both the traditional sensing system (accelerometer and linear variable differential transformer) and the local optical tracker system were implemented in the structure to collect the vibration‐based responses. For operational modal analysis, structural response from white noise excitation will be used in this study. First, the traditional system identification using global response data is used (multivariate autoregressive (AR)‐model) to extract system natural frequencies and mode shapes from all different set of white noise responses after earthquake excitation. The migration of AR‐coefficient ellipse error from each sensor response was used to identify the damage location. Second, blind source separation technique was used to identify the modal contribution of the structure from each test, which provide information to detect the damage severity. Finally, from the local optical tracker array data, the principal component analysis was applied to quantify the earthquake‐induce local stress of the structural member. Combine the result from damage detection using global measurement and the identified local element stress, one can locate and quantify the damage. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building damage scenarios based on exploitation of Housner intensity derived from finite faults ground motion simulations

In this paper earthquake damage scenarios for residential buildings (about 4200 units) in Potenza (Southern Italy) have been estimated adopting a novel probabilistic approach that involves complex source models, site effects, building vulnerability assessment and damage estimation through Damage Probability Matrices. Several causative faults of single seismic events, with magnitude up to 7, are known to be close to the town. A seismic hazard approach based on finite faults ground motion simulation techniques has been used to identify the sources producing the maximum expected ground motion at Potenza and to generate a set of ground motion time histories to be adopted for building damage scenarios. Additionally, site effects, evaluated in a previous work through amplification factors of Housner intensity, have been combined with the bedrock values provided by hazard assessment. Furthermore, a new relationship between Housner and EMS-98 macroseismic intensity has been developed. This relationship has been used to convert the probability mass functions of Housner intensity obtained from synthetic seismograms amplified by the site effects coefficients into probability mass function of EMS-98 intensity. Finally, the Damage Probability Matrices have been applied to estimate the damage levels of the residential buildings located in the urban area of Potenza. The proposed methodology returns the full probabilistic distribution of expected damage, thus avoiding average damage index or uncertainties expressed in term of dispersion indexes.     

Optimal control of linear and nonlinear asymmetric structures by means of passive energy dampers

Asymmetric structures experience uneven deformation demand among different resisting planes and stories when subjected to earthquake excitation. Damage is focused in some elements jeopardizing structural integrity. These structures are common in professional practice because of architectural and functionality constraints. In this scenario the use of energy dissipation devices (EDD) has arisen as an advisable solution to balance and minimize structural damage. Procedures for the design of linear structures equipped with EDD have been widely proposed in the literature, few of them deal with the optimum spatial distribution of nonlinear systems. This paper evaluates and compares the optimized spatial damper distribution of linear and nonlinear systems. An optimization technique is presented based on control indexes called min–max algorithm. Then, this technique is compared with two simple methodologies: (i) the fully stressed design, which is an analysis‐redesign procedure, and (ii) the simplified sequential search algorithm (SSSA), which is a sequential method. It is pointed out that the SSSA is a fixed step coordinate descent type method. The examples considered show that the SSSA is a discrete approximation of the min–max algorithm, not only for linear but also for nonlinear structures equipped with linear and nonlinear EDD. Furthermore, it is found that the distribution of EDD obtained from a linear analysis is a good approximation of the nonlinear optimal solution. The SSSA is a reliable method that can be applied to achieve drift and torsional balance for design purposes; moreover, it can be implemented with conventional tools available in professional practice. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of fragility functions as a damage classification/prediction method for steel moment‐resisting frames using a wavelet‐based damage sensitive feature

Fragility functions are commonly used in performance‐based earthquake engineering for predicting the damage state of a structure subjected to an earthquake. This process often involves estimating the structural damage as a function of structural response, such as the story drift ratio and the peak floor absolute acceleration. In this paper, a new framework is proposed to develop fragility functions to be used as a damage classification/prediction method for steel structures based on a wavelet‐based damage sensitive feature (DSF). DSFs are often used in structural health monitoring as an indicator of the damage state of the structure, and they are easily estimated from recorded structural responses. The proposed framework for damage classification of steel structures subjected to earthquakes is demonstrated and validated with a set of numerically simulated data for a four‐story steel moment‐resisting frame designed based on current seismic provisions. It is shown that the damage state of the frame is predicted with less variance using the fragility functions derived from the wavelet‐based DSF than it is with fragility functions derived from an alternate acceleration‐based measure, the spectral acceleration at the first mode period of the structure. Therefore, the fragility functions derived from the wavelet‐based DSF can be used as a probabilistic damage classification model in the field of structural health monitoring and an alternative damage prediction model in the field of performance‐based earthquake engineering. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.