DAMAGE IDENTIFICATION THROUGH REGULARIZATION METHOD - I - THEORY

This paper presents a solution procedure for damage identification thr ough measured structural response. The cost functional employed is bas ed on the regulation method for inverse problems. An optimization proc edure using the Euler-Lagrange equation is developed to reduce the min imization problem to a two-point boundary value problem (TPBVP) with j ump discontinuities. Compared to existing techniques in solving the mi nimization problem, this approach does not resolve to more advanced ma thematical tools and is thus more easily accepted in the engineering a pplication field. Numerical studies of 2-DOF and 10-DOF shear beam-typ e structures and experimental correlation with a three-story model str ucture demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed approa ch and are reported in a companion paper.