THE APPLICATION OF POD CURVES TO DAMAGE DETECTION BASED ON PARTIAL MODELS– A NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Non-destructive techniques for damage detection became the focus of engineering interests in the last few years. However, applying these techniques to large complex structures like civil engineering buildings still has some limitations since these types of structures are unique and the methodologies often need a large number of specimens for reliable results. For this reason, cost and time can greatly influence the final results. Model Assisted Probability Of Detection (MAPOD) has taken its place among the ranks of damage identification techniques, especially with advances in computer capacity and modeling tools. Nevertheless, the essential condition for a successful MAPOD is having a reliable model in advance. This condition is opening the door for model assessment and model quality problems. In this work, an approach is proposed that uses Partial Models (PM) to compute the Probability Of damage Detection (POD). A simply supported beam, that can be structurally modified and tested under laboratory conditions, is taken as an example. The study includes both experimental and numerical investigations, the application of vibration-based damage detection approaches and a comparison of the results obtained based on tests and simulations. Eventually, a proposal for a methodology to assess the reliability and the robustness of the models is given