Detecting and clustering structural damages using modal information and variational autoencoder with triple loss

Among vibration-based structural health monitoring (SHM), methods based on modal analysis are the most popular and efficient ones for assessing the inherent states of structures. The primary techniques involve tracking changes in modal parameters regularly during the monitoring period. Numerous studies have utilized both modal frequencies and mode shapes for damage detection, as mode shapes help identify damage locations, and the combination is more robust against environmental effects. Obviously, recent advances in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) have revolutionized SHM based on modal analysis. This study aims to develop a clustering technique using variational autoencoder (VAE) for classifying structural damages. To fully expand the entangled spaces that may arise from lower-dimensional representation, the loss function incorporates triplet loss (known as triplet VAE or tVAE) while preserving all dimensions in the encoded space. The proposed approach is thoroughly developed and evaluated using both numerical simulations and experimental investigations of multistory building structures. The effectiveness of detecting changes via VAE-based and tVAE-based modal clustering has been demonstrated under the consideration of environmental variations and uncertainties. Additionally, a procedure is suggested for the field applications and the proposed approach’s capability for structural inspection during long-term monitoring is showcased using a practical scenario.