Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 June 2011
Vibration-based structural damage detection has been the focus of attention by many researchers over the last few decades. However, most methods proposed for this purpose utilize extracted modal parameters or some indices constructed based on these parameters. A literature review revealed that few papers have employed Frequency Response Functions (FRFs) for detecting structural damage. In this paper, a technique is presented for damage detection which is based on measured FRFs. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) has been implemented on spatiotemporal responses in each frequency in order to reduce the dimension of the data. This is based on the concept that the forced harmonic response of a linear vibrating system can be fully captured utilizing a single basis vector. A different approach is also presented in this paper in which POD is applied to the frequency domain data. Operational Deflection Shapes (ODSs) have been decomposed using POD to localize the damage. The efficiency of the method is demonstrated through some numerical and experimental case studies.