Statistical damage detection method for frame structures using a confidence interval

A novel damage detection method is applied to a 3-story frame structure, to obtain statistical quantification control criterion of the existence, location and identifi cation of damage. The mean, standard deviation, and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) are applied to detect damage information according to statistical process control (SPC) theory. It is concluded that the detection is insignificant with the mean and EWMA because the structural response is not independent and is not a normal distribution. On the other hand, the damage information is detected well with the standard deviation because the infl uence of the data distribution is not pronounced with this parameter. A suitable moderate confidence level is explored for more significant damage location and quantification detection, and the impact of noise is investigated to illustrate the robustness of the method.