Vibration-based damage identification of plate structures via curvelet transform

This paper presents a new method based on curvelet transform to assess damage location in plate structures. The curvelet transform was developed over the last few years in an attempt to overcome inherent limitations of traditional multiscale representations such as wavelets. In this research, curvelet transform has been employed due to its favorable performance in detecting line feature. The formulation of discrete curvelet transform using unequally-spaced fast Fourier transforms for plate damage detection was investigated. The proposed method was applied to a four-fixed supported rectangular plate containing one or two damages with arbitrary length, depth and location. Thereafter, the damage was detected in the plate using the proposed method. By way of comparison between location obtained from the proposed method and simulation model, it was concluded that the method is sensitive to damage. Moreover, the performance of the method has been verified through using experimental modal data of a plate.