This study presents a damage detection method for transmission towers based on vector auto-regressive (VAR) models. The vibration signals obtained from both baseline and unknown conditions of the structure are divided into multiple data segments, respectively, and each segment is then modeled as a VAR time series. The diagonal elements of the VAR coefficient matrices series are extracted, and that vector’s Mahalanobis distance (MD) is used as a damage-sensitive feature. At the sensor locations where damage is introduced, the mean and variance of MD distribution will change from their values under baseline condition. Thus, the area under a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and deflection coefficient of MD distribution are used as the decision metric for damage detection, localization, and severity. The method’s effectiveness is assessed on a 6 degree-of-freedom mass-spring simulation system and a transmission tower model. The results confirm the high potential and effectiveness of this method for data-driven damage assessment.

Date Published: 17 April 2013
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 8695, Health Monitoring of Structural and Biological Systems 2013, 86953E (17 April 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2012248

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8695:
Health Monitoring of Structural and Biological Systems 2013
Tribikram Kundu, Editor(s)