Non-destructive parametric system identification and damage detection in truss structures by static tests

This article presents theoretical background, computational implementation and numerical applications of a study devoted to the non-destructive parametric identification of truss structures by means of static load tests. The proposed methodology determines the (residual) stiffness of the bars. Therefore, it detects the elements with global or localised damages and assesses the extent of damage in terms of stiffness loss. A novelty introduced by the proposed technique is the ability to take into account plane and three-dimensional structures, both statically determinate and indeterminate. Moreover, when only a partial set of measurements is available, the procedure uses genetic algorithms to overcome the lack of information. Five numerical applications are collected to prove the capabilities of the proposed methodology and to exemplify the procedure.