SUMMARY The well‐known Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT) consists of empirical mode decomposition to extract intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) and Hilbert spectral analysis to obtain time–frequency characteristics of IMFs through the Hilbert transform. There are two mathematical requirements that limit application of the Hilbert transform. Moreover, noise effects caused by the empirical mode decomposition procedure add a scatter to derivative‐based instantaneous frequency determined by the Hilbert transform. In this paper, a new enhanced HHT is proposed in which by avoiding mathematical limitations of the Hilbert spectral analysis, an additional parameter is employed to reduce the noise effects on the instantaneous frequencies of IMFs. To demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method, two case studies associated with structural modal identification are selected. In the first case, through identification of a typical 3‐DOF structural model subjected to a random excitation, accuracy of the enhanced method is verified. In the second case, ambient response data recorded from a real 15‐story building are analyzed, and nine modal frequencies of the building are identified. The case studies indicate that the enhanced HHT provides more accurate and physically meaningful results than HHT and is capable to be an efficient tool in structural engineering applications. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In order to implement a damage detection strategy and assess the condition of a structure, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) as a process plays a key role in structural reliability. This paper aims to present a methodology for online detection of damages that may occur during a strong ground excitation. In this regard, Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is superseded by Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) in the Hilbert Huang Transformation (HHT). Although analogous with EMD, EEMD brings about more appropriate Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs). IMFs are employed to assess the rst-mode frequency and mode shape. Afterwards, Arti cial Neural Network (ANN) is applied to predict story acceleration based on previously measured values. Because ANN functions precisely, any congruency between predicted and measured accelerations indicates the onset of damage. Then, another ANN method is applied to estimate the sti ness matrix. Though the rst-mode shape and frequency are calculated in advance, the process essentially requires an inverse problem to be solved in order to nd sti ness matrix, which is done by ANN. This algorithm is implemented on moment-resisting steel frames, and the results show the reliability of the proposed methodology for online prediction of structural damage.

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