Damage Location of Civil Large-Scale Space Structures Based on Average Axial-Strain Mode Shapes

Abstract

Civil large-scale space structures are usually built for venues where hundreds of people assemble, such as sports stadiums/arenas, gymnasiums, and others. Failure of this type of structure may endanger the safety of hundreds of people. Although structural health monitoring (SHM) and damage detection of a wide variety of structures (such as bridges, buildings, off-shore platforms, and dams) have been extensively studied, SHM of civil large-scale space structures is rarely studied due to their complexity. An effective damage detection approach for this type of structure would increase the integrity of the structure and the safety of the general public. This study proposes a novel approach to accurately localize damaged members without using the baseline data. First, average axial-strain (AAS) mode shapes are defined. AAS mode shapes are associated with average axial-strain of members, and they are extracted from translational mode shapes. Then, a damage indicator based on AAS mode shapes is proposed. This approach does not require baseline data, which circumvents the difficulty in matching mode shapes before and after damage, specifically exist in this type of structure. This approach has been validated by numerical simulation of a large-scale reticulated shell structure.