Stiffness-mass ratios method for baseline determination and damage assessment of a benchmark structure

The benchmark problem on structural health monitoring developed by the ASCE Task Group on Structural Health Monitoring (TGoSHM) is addressed in this paper. This problem is a four-story steel building model created to compare performances of different vibrational damage identification methods. A new method based on ratios between stiffness and mass values from the eigenvalue problem is introduced and applied to the benchmark structure to obtain baseline modal parameters utilizing damaged state information. Next, location and severity of damage is carried out using the damage index method for all six existing damage patterns established by TGoSHM. This research will be of interest to structural engineers and inspection practitioners who deal with structural damage identification problems and who will corroborate the feasibility in terms of easiness of the proposed methodology.