Damage detection test of a substructure model of the National Swimming Center

In order to detect the damage locations of complex spatial structures, a sensor region-based damage detection approach was developed based on the damage locating vectors method. A normalized damage locating index was introduced to identify the damage regions. An experiment on damage detection of a substructure model of the National Swimming Center ‘Water Cube’ was carried out. Two damage patterns were involved in the experiment. The test model was excited by using hammer impacts. Acceleration responses of the undamaged and damaged structure model were measured. Modal parameters were identified from the acceleration responses by utilizing the eigensystem realization algorithm (ERA). By using the developed sensor region-based method, the damage regions of the substructure model were located. The results show that the proposed method is able to effectively locate the damage regions. Supported by Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 8041002), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 8041002), the National Science and Technology Committee of China (Grant No. 2004BA904B02), and Beijing Science and Technology Committee (Grant No. Z0004028040221)