Abstract
This paper introduces a novel vibration-based damage identification method, named the probability distribution of decay-rate (PDDR). The PDDR method is a time-domain statistical damping estimate for damage detection and identification applications. Suitable for both SDOF and MDOF dynamic systems, a mode-superposed damping estimation is determined based on time-domain based observations of an impulse response (IR) decay rate. Firstly, a detailed literature survey and discussion are presented to show the limitations of existing methods. Secondly, the overall process for PDDR implementation is succinctly introduced. Lastly, a hypothetical MDOF model was formulated and used to demonstrate the first phase implementation of the PDDR method. The results show the proposed method is sensitive to the change of damping parameters, which is usually more sensitive to structural damage, and therefore can be used complimentarily with traditional vibration-based methods.