Section: Research Program

Introduction

In this section, the main features for the key monitoring issues, namely identification, detection, and diagnostics, are provided, and a particular instantiation relevant for vibration monitoring is described.

It should be stressed that the foundations for identification, detection, and diagnostics, are fairly general, if not generic. Handling high order linear dynamical systems, in connection with finite elements models, which call for using subspace-based methods, is specific to vibration-based SHM. Actually, one particular feature of model-based sensor information data processing as exercised in I4S, is the combined use of black-box or semi-physical models together with physical ones. Black-box and semi-physical models are, for example, eigenstructure parameterizations of linear MIMO systems, of interest for modal analysis and vibration-based SHM. Such models are intended to be identifiable. However, due to the large model orders that need to be considered, the issue of model order selection is really a challenge. Traditional advanced techniques from statistics such as the various forms of Akaike criteria (AIC, BIC, MDL, ...) do not work at all. This gives rise to new research activities specific to handling high order models.

Our approach to monitoring assumes that a model of the monitored system is available. This is a reasonable assumption, especially within the SHM areas. The main feature of our monitoring method is its intrinsic ability to the early warning of small deviations of a system with respect to a reference (safe) behavior under usual operating conditions, namely without any artificial excitation or other external action. Such a normal behavior is summarized in a reference parameter vector ${\theta }_0$, for example a collection of modes and mode-shapes.