This study introduces a new technique, named matched damage processing (MDP) technique, to perform damage detection, localization, and severity estimation. The MDP technique builds upon the concept of matched field processing already developed in the underwater acoustics community. In short, the MDP technique compares measured responses collected from the physical structure with multiple modeled results calculated based on various damage locations and severity. The comparison is displayed in a contour or image plot with damage location and severity as the independent coordinates. The concept, effectiveness and robustness of the MDP technique are numerically demonstrated via a simple example where a simply supported beam is used to model a bridge and the traffic loading is modeled as a constant weight moving with constant speed across the bridge. A localized reduction of structural stiffness is applied to represent the occurrence of damage to the bridge. According to the numerical results, it is found that the MDP technique is effective and robust to estimate location and severity of structural deterioration.
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