Model updating methods based on structural vibration data have been developed and applied to detecting structural damages in civil engineering. Compared with the large number of elements in the entire structure of interest, the number of damaged elements which are represented by the stiffness reduction is usually small. However, the widely used [Formula: see text] regularized model updating is unable to detect the sparse feature of the damage in a structure. In this paper, the [Formula: see text] regularized model updating based on the sparse recovery theory is developed to detect structural damage. Two different criteria are considered, namely, the frequencies and the combination of frequencies and mode shapes. In addition, a one-step model updating approach is used in which the measured modal data before and after the occurrence of damage will be compared directly and an accurate analytical model is not needed. A selection method for the [Formula: see text] regularization parameter is also developed. An experimental cantilever beam is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the [Formula: see text] regularization approach can be successfully used to detect the sparse damaged elements using the first six modal data, whereas the [Formula: see text] counterpart cannot. The influence of the measurement quantity on the damage detection results is also studied.
Model updating of uncertain parameters of carbon/epoxy composite plates from experimental modal data