Novel SHM method to locate damages in substructures based on VARX models

Abstract

A novel damage localization method is proposed, which is based on a substructuring approach and makes use of Vector Auto-Regressive with eXogenous input (VARX) models. The substructuring approach aims to divide the monitored structure into several multi-DOF isolated substructures. Later, each individual substructure is modelled as a VARX model, and the health of each substructure is determined analyzing the variation of the VARX model. The method allows to detect whether the isolated substructure is damaged, and besides allows to locate and quantify the damage within the substructure. It is not necessary to have a theoretical model of the structure and only the measured displacement data is required to estimate the isolated substructure's VARX model. The proposed method is validated by simulations of a two-dimensional lattice structure.