Multi-source information fusion applied to structural damage diagnosis

This study aims to import multi-source information fusion (MSIF) into structural damage diagnosis to improve its validity. Two structural damage identification methods based on MSIF are put forward, one of which is to fuse two or more structural damage detection methods by MSIF and another of which is the improved modal strain energy method by multi-mode information processing based on MSIF. Through a concrete plate experiment it is proved that, if two methods are integrated by character-level information fusion, structural initial damages can be more accurately identified than by a single method. In a simulation of a concrete box beam bridge, it is indicated that the improved modal strain energy method has a nice sensitivity to structural initial damages and a favorable robusticity to noise. These two structural damage diagnosis methods based on MSIF have good effects on structural damage identification and good practicability to actual structures.