Dynamic Simulation of Cracked Buildings for Damage Detection

A dynamic simulation method for cracked structures is implemented to determine their dynamic response with the purpose of evaluating their structural behavior. The procedure makes possible the simulation of three-dimensional cracked structures. The excitation force is randomly generated to simulate wind gusts. It is assumed the structure remains in the elastic range, which allows for each mode that contributes to its dynamic response to be decoupled. The results indicate that the presence of damage causes changes in the modals parameters of the structure as accurate as other similar methods proposed for simpler structures. Therefore, it is concluded that the proposed method is a reliable way to evaluate the dynamic behavior of three-dimensional cracked building structures.