Detection of stiffness reductions in concrete decks with arbitrary damage shapes using incomplete dynamic measurements

Abstract

A new refined nondestructive evaluation technique for concrete decks with arbitrary damage shapes is presented, and its utility in detecting the location and extent of the damage using only a single dynamic measurement signal is demonstrated. Six unknown parameters are considered to determine the damage distribution, which is a modified form of the bivariate Gaussian distribution function. Using a combination of the combined finite-element method (FEM) and the advanced uniform microgenetic algorithm, the various influences of different measurement locations on the damage detection are studied. In addition, the effect of noise is simulated in order to study the influence of the measurement errors and the uncertainty of the method. The sample studies demonstrate the excellence of the proposed method from the standpoints of its computation efficiency as well as its ability to investigate the complex distribution of an arbitrary stiffness reduction.