An effective approach to structural damage localization in flexural members based on generalized S-transform

This paper presents a method for structural damage localization based on signal processing using generalized S-transform (SGS). The S-transform is a combination of the properties of the Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) and Wavelet Transform (WT) that has been developed over the last few years in an attempt to overcome inherent limitations of the wavelet and short-time Fourier transform in time-frequency representation of non-stationary signals. The generalized type of this transform is the SGS-transform that is characterized by an adjustable Gaussian window width in the time-frequency representation of signals. In this research, the SGS-transform was employed due to its favorable performance in the detection of the structural damages. The performance of the proposed method was verified by means of three numerical examples and, also, the experimental data obtained from the vibration test of 8-DOFs mass-stiffness system. By means of a comparison between damage location obtained by the proposed method and the simulation model, it was concluded that the method was sensitive to the damage existence and clearly demonstrated the damage location.