METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING NONLINEAR DISTORTION IN THE VIBRATIONAL RESPONSE OF A STRUCTURE FOR USE AS AN INDICATOR OF POSSIBLE STRUCTURAL DAMAGE

摘要

Apparatus and method for analyzing data collected from a physical structure for purposes of damage detection or structural health monitoring. The invention attempts to detect signs of nonlinear distortion, which is known to result from most forms of structural damage. The invention uses generic models that can be adjusted to fit arbitrary data to explore the relationship between data sets collected from different locations on or near the physical structure and to capture and detect nonlinearity with those models when it exists in the structural dynamics.