A two-step method for structural damage identification using static residual force and modal strain energy

One ofthe main differences of each damage identification method is the different precision and cost in statics and dynamics. As we all known, static sampling system is more accurate, convenient and cheaper than dynamics. Accompanying with the advantages of simple in static damage identification and online in dynamics, a two-step damage identification methods combined with statics and dynamics become an important issue in engineering. This study presents a two-step method based on static residual force and modal strain energy for structural damage identification. In the first step, the static residual force is used to select suspicious damage element, which are connected with the suspicious node. The values of these nodes solved by static residual force are different from others. After the static process, an index based on modal strain energy can be applied to quantify the damage levels in dynamic area. Instead of structural dynamic sensitivity applied to calculate the damage level, the burden of matrix inversion can be avoided in this study. The proposed method is verified with a truss numerical simulation. Therefore, the veracity and effectiveness of this study can be presented.