Fabrication technology and structural engineering states-of-art have led
to a growing use of slender structures, making them more susceptible to
static and dynamic actions that may lead to some sort of damage. In this
context, regular inspections and evaluations are necessary to detect and
predict structural damage and establish maintenance actions able to
guarantee structural safety and durability with minimal cost. However,
these procedures are traditionally quite time-consuming and costly, and
techniques allowing a more effective damage detection are necessary.
This paper assesses the potential of Artificial Neural Network (ANN)
models in the prediction of damage localization in structural members,
as function of their dynamic properties – the three first natural
frequencies are used. Based on 64 numerical examples from damaged
(mostly) and undamaged steel channel beams, an ANN-based analytical
model is proposed as a highly accurate and efficient damage localization
estimator. The proposed model yielded maximum errors of 0.2 and 0.7 %
concerning 64 numerical and 3 experimental data points, respectively.
Due to the high-quality of results, authors’ next step is the
application of similar approaches to entire structures, based on much
larger datasets.