Bifurcation boundary analysis as a nonlinear damage detection feature: does it work?

Many systems in engineering and science are inherently nonlinear and require damage detection. For such systems, nonlinear damage detection methods may be useful. A bifurcation boundary analysis method as a new nonlinear damage detection tool was previously introduced in the literature to track bifurcation boundary changes due to damages over a small region of an aeroelastic panel model. Results of this method based upon a finite difference solution showed higher sensitivities to the small amount of damage than methods based upon linear models. In this paper, four methods including Finite Difference, Finite Element (FEM), Rayleigh–Ritz and Galerkin Approach are used to further investigate the sensitivity of the bifurcation boundary for damage detection. Results of the FEM and Rayleigh–Ritz method agree with each other and also show that the sensitivity of the bifurcation boundary to damage is much less than what previously reported when using a finite difference solution method.