Vibration Based Damage Identification of Masonry Structures

In the process of preservation of ancient masonry structures, damage evaluation and monitoring procedures are particularly attractive, due to the modern context of minimum re- pair and observational methods, with iterative and step-by-step approaches. High-priority re- search issues related to damage assessment and monitoring are global non-contact inspection techniques, sensor technology, data management, diagnostics (decision making and simulation), dynamic (modal) analysis, self-diagnosing / self-healing materials, and prediction of early deg- radation. On these concerns, the present paper aims to assess damage in masonry structures at an early stage. Replicates of historical constructions were built in virgin state. Afterwards, progres- sive damage was applied and modal identification analysis was performed at each damage stage, aiming at finding adequate correspondence between dynamic behavior and internal crack growth. Accelerations and dynamic strains were recorded in many points of the replicates. Comparisons between different techniques based on vibrations measurements are made to evaluate different damage identification methods.