Application of artificial neural networks in the damage identification of structural elements

Abstract

The paper presents a structure test system developed for monitoring structural health, and discusses the results of laboratory experiments conducted on notched strip specimens made of various materials (aluminium, steel, Plexiglas). The system takes advantage of elastic wave signals actuated and sensed by a surface-mounted piezoelectric transducers. The structure responses recorded are then subjected to a procedure of signal processing and feature's extraction, which includes digital filters, wavelets decomposition, Principal Components Analysis (PCA), Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT), etc. A pattern database defined was used to train artificial neural networks and to establish a structure diagnosis system. As a consequence, two levels of damage identification problem were performed: novelty detection and damage evaluation. The system"s accuracy and reliability were verified on the basis of experimental data. The results obtained have proved that the system can be used for the analysis of simple as well as complex signals of elastic waves and it can operate as an automatic Structure Health Monitoring system.