Damage detection of wood beams using the differences in local modal flexibility

Local damage such as knots, decay, and cracks can result in a reduction of service life due to mechanical and environmental loadings. In wood construction, it is very important to evaluate the weakest location and to detect damage at the earliest possible stage to avoid future catastrophic failure. In this study, modal testing was carried out on wood beams to generate the first two mode shapes. A novel statistical algorithm was proposed to extract the damage indicator by computing the local modal flexibility before and after damage in timbers. Different damage severities, damage locations, and damage counts were simulated by removing mass from intact beams to verify the algorithm. The results indicated that the proposed statistical algorithm is effective and suitable for the damage scenarios considered. The algorithm was reliable for detecting and locating local damage under different damage scenarios. The peak values of the damage indicators computed from the first two mode shapes were sensitive to different damage severities and locations. This approach was also reliable for detecting multiple defects.