Abstract In order to solve structural multi-damage identification problem, a damage detection method based on strain energy equivalence index is presented. First, the change of modal strain energy (MSE) before and after damage occurs and dissipation ratio formulas are given. Then, considering that the strain energy dissipation and the change of MSE should be equivalent, we deduced a quartic equation. Finally, four roots of the equation are obtained and a strain energy equivalence index is presented, which can conveniently calculate structural damage locations and extent. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed strain energy equivalence index method can identify structural damage locations and extent with good accuracy and the identification precision of the proposed method is obviously better than that of modal strain energy dissipation ration method.
2013, Vol. 34 
