Damage identification using noisy frequency response functions based on topology optimization

This paper proposes a robust damage identification method using noisy frequency response functions (FRFs) and topology optimization. We formulate the damage identification problem as an inverse problem of generating the damage topology of the structure from measured dynamic responses of the structure to given external dynamic loading. The method is based on the minimization of the objective function representing errors between measured FRFs of the structure obtained by experimental modal analysis, and those obtained by harmonic response analysis using finite element analysis. In the minimization process, material distribution, or the topology of the structure is varied and the optimal damage topology is identified as regions with no material assigned as a result of the minimization using the solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP). In order to overcome the problems caused by the ill-posedness of the inverse problem, it is proposed that the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) regularization, or the penalization to the L1 norm of the design variable be applied to the original objective function. By applying Lasso regularization, the method is expected not only to eliminate spurious damaged regions but also to minimize the effect of measurement noises. This paper first presents the mathematical background and its numerical implementation of the proposed methodology. The method is then applied to the identification of a damage of cantilevered plates. The FRFs were experimentally obtained and the proposed method is applied. It is shown that the method successfully identifies the damage.