Innovative method of empirical mode decomposition as spatial tool for structural damage identification

A new approach to sensitize detecting structural damage using empirical mode decomposition (EMD) of the spatial signals is proposed. The difference of undamaged and damaged spatial strain and strain energy data for the beam and bridge modes is processed through the EMD, which yields the respective IMF1, which shows that damage location can be identified distinctively for as low as 0.01% reduction in elemental stiffness of beam discretized with 30 elements. An analysis was also carried out for a two-dimensional bridge model (I-40). It can detect damage sensitivity up to 0.5% loss in stiffness of the bridge. EMD as a spatial analysis tool seems to be the most sensitive among all methods currently available.