SUBSTRUCTURAL DAMAGE IDENTIFICATION USING LOCAL PRIMARY FREQUENCY

This paper presents a substructuring method on damage identification using Local Primary Frequency (LPF). When a local excitation is applied on a concerned substructure, if the caused vibration mainly consists of only one single modal which represents most of the substructural distortion, then the corresponding frequency is defined as the substructural LPF. LPF reflects more information of the substructure and hence is more sensitivity to the substructural damage. Therefore, LPF can be used for substructural model updating and identification. However, generally substructures don't own LPF. In this case, virtual supports constructed by Substructure Isolation Method are applied on the substructural boundary, such that it can enhance the constraint on the boundary, and decrease the influence from elements outside the substructure. In this way, the substructure sensitivity is enhanced and correspondingly the LPF of the substructure can be constructed. Numerical simulation of a three-story space frame structure testifies that substructural damages are identified effectively by this method.