Sensitivity and Efficiency of the Frequency Shift Coefficient Based on the Damage Identification Algorithm: Modeling Uncertainty on Natural Frequencies

Health surveillance in industries is an important prospect to ensure safety and prevent sudden collapses. Vibration Based Structure Health Monitoring (VBSHM) is being used continuously for structures and machine diagnostics in industry. Changes in natural frequencies are frequently used as an input parameter for VBSHM. In this paper, the frequency shift coefficient (FSC) is used for the assessment of various numerical damaged cases. An FSC-based algorithm is employed in order to estimate the positions and severity of damages using only the natural frequencies of healthy and unknown (damaged) structures. The study focuses on cantilever beams. By considering the minimization of FSC, damage positions and severity are obtained. Artificially damaged cases are assessed by changes in its positions, the number of damages and the size of damages along with the various parts of the cantilever beam. The study is further investigated by considering the effect of uncertainty on natural frequencies (0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%) in damaged cases, and the algorithm is used to estimate the position and severity of the damage. The outcomes and efficiency of the proposed FSC based method are evaluated in order to locate and quantify damages. The efficiency of the algorithm is demonstrated by locating and quantifying double damages in a real cantilever steel beam using vibration measurements.