Damage Localisation Using Principal Component Analysis of Distributed Sensor Array

The spatial information given by the distributed sensors (e.g., piezoelectric laminates) can be used to forecast structural damage on localised critical spot. It is well known that a localised structural damage with relative small amplitude does not affect significantly the modal response of the structure, at least at low frequencies. Nevertheless, a local de-lamination or electrode deterioration at the distributed sensor level will show significant changes on the response of the sensor by modifying its apparent electromechanical coupling. Assuming that the number of sensors is greater than the number of involved structural modes, a local structural damage, with relative small amplitude, will only affect a particular distributed sensor without affecting significantly the response of the others. By applying a principal component analysis (PCA) on the sensor time responses, it is possible to see that any change of one particular sensor electromechanical coupling factor will affect the subspace generated by the complete sensor response set. The subspace generated with the damaged structure can then be compared with the subspace of an initial state in order to diagnose damage or not.