Initial Damage Detection Based on Elastic Modulus Randomness

A damage detection method reflecting initial damage of the elastic structure is presented. It is based on the idea that the damage will decrease the structure stiffness. From eigenvalue issue, regard Poison ratio and elastic modulus as a constant and a random variable, respectively, and in terms of known data and a combination of the FEM, then equations solving random modulus of the undamaged and the damaged structure are obtained, respectively. Based on the element damage indicator, initial damage of the structure can be detected. At last, a five-storey shearing structure is simulated, and the results indicate that initial damage situation can be accurately calculated, and initial damage locations can be estimated based on the proposed method, which is simple and effective, and contributes to the application in Engineering.