A novel technique for damage detection of structures is introduced anddiscussed. It is based on purely electric measurements of the state variablesof an electric network coupled to the main structure through a distributed setof piezoelectric patches. The constitutive parameters of this auxiliary networkare optimized to increase the sensitivity of global measurements- as thefrequency, response functions relative to selected electric degrees offreedom-with respect to a given class of variations in thestructural-mechanical properties. Because the proposed method is based onpurely electric input and output measurements, it allows for accurate resultsin the identification and localization of damages. Use of the electricfrequency-response function to identify the mechanical damage leads tononconvex optimization problems; therefore the proposed sensitivity-enhancedidentification procedure becomes computationally efficient if an a prioriknowledge about the damage is available.
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