Performance evaluation of wavelet and curvelet transforms based-damage detection of defect types in plate structures

This study focuses on the damage detection of defect types in plate structures based on wavelet transform (WT) and curvelet transform (CT). In particular, for damage detection of structures these transforms have been developed since the last few years. In recent years, the CT approach has been also introduced in an attempt to overcome inherent limitations of traditional multi-scale representations such as wavelets. In this study, the performance of CT is compared with WT in order to demonstrate the capability of WT and CT in detection of defect types in plate structures. To achieve this purpose, the damage detection of defect types through defect shape in rectangular plate is investigated. By using the first mode shape of plate structure and the distribution of the coefficients of the transforms, the damage existence, the defect location and the approximate shape of defect are detected. Moreover, the accuracy and performance generality of the transforms are verified through using experimental modal data of a plate.