Aguirre Realpe, Diego A.

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    Implementation of wavelet based damage detection methods using full-scale shaking table tests data and nonlinear finite element models
    (2013) Aguirre Realpe, Diego A.; Montejo Valencia, Luis A.; College of Engineering; López Rodríguez, Ricardo R.; Suárez, Luis E.; Department of Civil Engineering; Castillo, Paul E.
    Due to the scarce number of data available from instrumented buildings damaged during an earthquake, large scale shaking table tests of civil structures offer an invaluable opportunity to validate structural health monitoring (SHM) systems and their applicability to structures subjected to damaging earthquake loads. The main goal of this research was to validate wavelet-based model-free methodologies for damage detection in reinforced concrete (RC) structures. For this purpose, signal processing algorithms were developed to perform time-frequency and system identification analyses, among others, using full-scale shaking table tests data along with results obtained from nonlinear finite element (FE) models. The experimental data used in this work was collected during two tests recently performed. First, a full-scale RC bridge column shaking table test performed at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Second, two full-scale RC 3D frame shaking table test performed at the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC, by its initials in Portuguese) in Lisbon, Portugal. The structures were subjected to a sequence of earthquake excitations that induced different levels of inelastic demand on the structures. However, in the first case low-intensity white noise (WN) excitations were also applied between ground motions. The FE models developed in both cases were used only to obtain simulated responses (accelerations and/or displacements) in order to evaluate the feasibility of using numerical models for validation of the damage detection methodologies presented. Wavelet analyses were capable of identifying rebar fracture episodes and partially identified the frequency shifts in the structures as the inelastic demand increased. It was also found that, depending on the methodology employed, the use of numerical models to validate damage detection techniques can oversimplify the actual problem and/or induce spurious irregularities.