Confounder-adjusted Covariances of System Outputs and Applications to Structural Health Monitoring

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Neumann, Lizzie, Wittenberg, Philipp, Mendler, Alexander, Gertheiss, Jan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Neumann, Lizzie
Wittenberg, Philipp
Mendler, Alexander
Gertheiss, Jan
author_facet Neumann, Lizzie
Wittenberg, Philipp
Mendler, Alexander
Gertheiss, Jan
contents Automated damage detection is an integral component of each structural health monitoring (SHM) system. Typically, measurements from various sensors are collected and reduced to damage-sensitive features, and diagnostic values are generated by statistically evaluating the features. Since changes in data do not only result from damage, it is necessary to determine the confounding factors (environmental or operational variables) and to remove their effects from the measurements or features. Many existing methods for correcting confounding effects are based on different types of mean regression. This neglects potential changes in higher-order statistical moments, but in particular, the output covariances are essential for generating reliable diagnostics for damage detection. This article presents an approach to explicitly quantify the changes in the covariance, using conditional covariance matrices based on a non-parametric, kernel-based estimator. The method is applied to the Munich Test Bridge and the KW51 Railway Bridge in Leuven, covering both raw sensor measurements (acceleration, strain, inclination) and extracted damage-sensitive features (natural frequencies). The results show that covariances between different vibration or inclination sensors can significantly change due to temperature changes, and the same is true for natural frequencies. To highlight the advantages, it is explained how conditional covariances can be combined with standard approaches for damage detection, such as the Mahalanobis distance and principal component analysis. As a result, more reliable diagnostic values can be generated with fewer false alarms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_17735
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Confounder-adjusted Covariances of System Outputs and Applications to Structural Health Monitoring
Neumann, Lizzie
Wittenberg, Philipp
Mendler, Alexander
Gertheiss, Jan
Applications
Signal Processing
Automated damage detection is an integral component of each structural health monitoring (SHM) system. Typically, measurements from various sensors are collected and reduced to damage-sensitive features, and diagnostic values are generated by statistically evaluating the features. Since changes in data do not only result from damage, it is necessary to determine the confounding factors (environmental or operational variables) and to remove their effects from the measurements or features. Many existing methods for correcting confounding effects are based on different types of mean regression. This neglects potential changes in higher-order statistical moments, but in particular, the output covariances are essential for generating reliable diagnostics for damage detection. This article presents an approach to explicitly quantify the changes in the covariance, using conditional covariance matrices based on a non-parametric, kernel-based estimator. The method is applied to the Munich Test Bridge and the KW51 Railway Bridge in Leuven, covering both raw sensor measurements (acceleration, strain, inclination) and extracted damage-sensitive features (natural frequencies). The results show that covariances between different vibration or inclination sensors can significantly change due to temperature changes, and the same is true for natural frequencies. To highlight the advantages, it is explained how conditional covariances can be combined with standard approaches for damage detection, such as the Mahalanobis distance and principal component analysis. As a result, more reliable diagnostic values can be generated with fewer false alarms.
title Confounder-adjusted Covariances of System Outputs and Applications to Structural Health Monitoring
topic Applications
Signal Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.17735