Damage Detection Based on Wavelet Packet Transform and Information Entropy

In this study, a new approach for damage detection in beam-like structures is presented. Damage feature such as relative wavelet packet entropy (RWPE) based on the decomposed component is used to identify the damage location and evaluate the damage severity. RWPE describes present information of relative wavelet energies correlated with different frequency ranges. It is should be noted that the acceleration measured in the all three directions should be used in computation of RWPE. Numerical and experimental results are used to verify the practicality of this method. Results show that the damage index technique has great potential in detection of location and depth of cut in a steel beam. The procedure can be applied for health monitoring of other complex structures.