Adaptive-scale damage detection strategy for plate structures based on wavelet finite element model

An adaptive-scale damage detection strategy based on a wavelet finite element model (WFEM) for thin plate structures is established in this study. Equations of motion and corresponding lifting schemes for thin plate structures are derived with the tensor products of cubic Hermite multi-wavelets as the elemental interpolation functions. Sub-element damages are localized by using of the change ratio of modal strain energy. Subsequently, such damages are adaptively quantified by a damage quantification equation deduced from differential equations of plate structure motion. WFEM scales vary spatially and change dynamically according to actual needs. Numerical examples clearly demonstrate that the proposed strategy can progressively locate and quantify plate damages. The strategy can operate efficiently in terms of the degrees-of-freedom in WFEM and sensors in the vibration test.