Damage detection of mixed concrete/steel frame subjected to earthquake excitation

This paper deals with the application of wavelet analysis on damage detection in mixed concrete/ steel frame structures subjected to earthquake excitation. Such buildings are typically the result of a building initially constructed as a reinforced concrete building and, at a later time, more storeys were added as steel moment resisting frames. These structures consist of reinforced concrete frames at the lower storeys and steel frames at the upper storeys. They are characterized by the material inconsistency in height. The proposed method of wavelet analysis of structural response is an output-only damage detection method. Non-linear dynamic analysis has been performed and response data at each story are obtained which are used as simulation data. Damage in the frame is due to hysteretic behaviour of columns and beams. Since the dynamic behaviour of an inelastic structure subjected to an earthquake excitation is a nonstationary process, discrete and continuous wavelet analysis were performed in order to retrieve the simulation response data. The proposed method is based on the assumption that there is a correlation between structural damage, due to non-linear behaviour of structural elements and spikes that can be clearly detected in the wavelet details. This is supported by the fact that at the time when the spikes are recorded, structural damage occurs as well. The numerical results indicate that the discrete wavelet analysis is a promising method for the detection of damage in structures without the need for visual inspection.