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Vibration-based Structural Health Monitoring is an ongoing field of research in many engineering disciplines. As for civil engineering, plenty of experimental structures have been erected in the past decades, both under laboratory and real-life conditions. Some of these facilities became a benchmark for different kinds of methods associated with Structural Health Monitoring such as damage analysis and Operational Modal Analysis, which led to fruitful developments in the global research community. When it comes to the continuous monitoring and assessment of the structural integrity of mechanical systems exposed to environmental and operational variability, the robustness and adaptability of the applied methods is of utmost importance. Such properties cannot be fully evaluated under laboratory conditions, which highlights the necessity of outdoor measurement campaigns. To this end, we introduce a test facility for Structural Health Monitoring comprising a lattice tower exposed to realistic conditions and featuring multiple reversible damage mechanisms. The structure located near Hanover in Northern Germany is densely equipped with sensors to capture the structural dynamics. The environmental conditions are monitored in parallel. The obtained continuous measurement data can be accessed online in an open repository. That is the foundation for benchmarks, consisting of a growing data set that enables the development, evaluation, and comparison of Structural Health Monitoring strategies and methods. In this article, we offer a documentation of the test facility and the data acquisition system. Lastly, we characterize the structural dynamics with the help of a finite element model and by analyzing several month of data.

Abstract. In this work, we present an experimental setup for very low frequency calibration measurements of low-noise integrated electronics piezoelectric (IEPE) accelerometers and a customised signal conditioner design for using IEPE sensors down to 0.05 Hz. AC-response IEPE accelerometers and signal conditioners have amplitude and phase deviations at low frequencies. As the standard calibration procedure in the low-frequency range is technically challenging, IEPE accelerometers with standard signal conditioners are usually used in frequency ranges above 1 Hz. Vibrations on structures with low eigenfrequencies like wind turbines are thus often monitored using DC-coupled micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) capacitive accelerometers. This sensor type suffers from higher noise levels compared to IEPE sensors. To apply IEPE sensors instead of MEMS sensors, in this work the calibration of the entire measurement chain of three different IEPE sensors with the customised signal conditioner is performed with a low-frequency centrifuge. The IEPE sensors are modelled using infinite impulse response (IIR) filters to apply the calibration to time-domain measurement data of a wind turbine support structure. This procedure enables an amplitude and phase-accurate vibration analysis with IEPE sensors in the low-frequency range down to 0.05 Hz.

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In this work, the systematic validation of a deterministic finite element (FE) model updating procedure for damage assessment is presented using a self-developed modular laboratory experiment. A fundamental, systematic validation of damage assessment methods is rarely conducted and in many experimental investigations, only one type of defect is introduced at only one position. Often, the damage inserted is irreversible and inspections are only performed visually. Thus, the damage introduced and, with it, the results of the damage assessment method considered are often not entirely analyzed in terms of quantity and quality. To address this shortcoming, a modular steel cantilever beam is designed with nine reversible damage positions and the option to insert different damage scenarios in a controlled manner. The measurement data are made available in open-access form which enables a systematic experimental validation of damage assessment methods. To demonstrate such a systematic validation using the modular laboratory experiment, a deterministic FE model updating procedure previously introduced by the authors is applied and extended. The FE model updating approach uses different parameterized damage distribution functions to update the stiffness properties of the structure considered. The mathematical formulation allows for an updating procedure that is independent of the FE mesh resolution and free of assumptions about the defect location while only needing few design variables. In this work, the FE model updating procedure is based only on eigenfrequency deviations. The results show a precise localization within $$\pm \, {0.05}{\textrm{m}}$$ ± 0.05 m of the nine different damage positions and a correct relative quantification of the three different damage scenarios considered. With that, first, it is shown that the deterministic FE model updating procedure presented is suitable for precise damage assessment. Second, this work demonstrates that the opportunity to introduce several reversible damage positions and distinctly defined types and severities of damage into the laboratory experiment presented generally enables the systematic experimental validation of damage assessment methods.