On the cross correlation function amplitude vector and its application to structural damage detection

A new approach to detecting structure damage using the cross correlation function amplitude vector (CorV) of the measured vibration responses is proposed. It is verified that under a steady random excitation with specific frequency spectrum, the CorV of a structure only depends on the frequency response function matrix of the structure, and it is also found that the normalized CorV has a specific shape. Thus the damage can be detected and located with the correlation and the relative difference between the CorVs obtained from intact and damaged structures. The Cross Correlation Function Amplitude Vector Assurance Criterion (CVAC) is then defined and can be used to quantify the variation of CorV. It is found that the CVAC decreases monotonously with the increasing of damage factor, which indicates the change of CorV is related to the damage severity. The methods of damage locating with CorV are then proposed and demonstrated by the experiments. Finally, the experiment on detection in the fasteners loosing of an aircraft panel model are presented to illustrate the application of the CorV. The feature of this approach lies in that the CorV is obtained from the time domain vibration responses of the structure under steady random excitation, and it has the advantages of simplicity in calculation and the damage detection, so it is possible that the presented approach applies to the structural health monitoring (SHM) with steady ambient excitations. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.