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An accurate non-model-based method for delamination identification of laminated composite plates is proposed in this work. A weighted mode shape damage index is formulated using squared weighted difference between a measured mode shape of a composite plate with delamination and one from a polynomial that fits the measured mode shape of the composite plate with a proper order. Weighted mode shape damage indices associated with at least two measured mode shapes of the same mode are synthesized to formulate a synthetic mode shape damage index to exclude some false positive identification results due to measurement noise and error. An auxiliary mode shape damage index is proposed to further assist delamination identification, by which some false negative identification results can be excluded and edges of a delamination area can be accurately and completely identified. Both numerical and experimental examples are presented to investigate effectiveness of the proposed method, and it is shown that edges of a delamination area in composite plates can be accurately and completely identified when measured mode shapes are contaminated by measurement noise and error. In the experimental example, identification results of a composite plate with delamination from the proposed method are validated by its C-scan image. 

A continuously scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (CSLDV) system is capable of efficient and spatially dense vibration measurements by sweeping its laser spot along a scan path assigned on a structure. This paper proposes a new operational modal analysis (OMA) method based on a data processing method for CSLDV measurements of a structure, called the lifting method, under white-noise excitation and applies a baseline-free method to identify structural damage using estimated mode shapes from the OMA method. The lifting method enables transformation of raw CSLDV measurements into measurements at individual virtual measurement points, as if the latter were made by use of an ordinary scanning laser Doppler vibrometer in a step-wise manner. It is shown that a correlation function with nonnegative time delays between lifted CSLDV measurements at two virtual measurement points on a structure under white-noise excitation and its power spectrum contain modal parameters of the structure, that is, natural frequencies, modal damping ratios, and mode shapes. The modal parameters can be estimated by using a standard OMA algorithm. A major advantage of the proposed OMA method is that curvature mode shapes associated with mode shapes estimated by the method can reflect local anomaly caused by small-sized structural damage, while those estimated by other existing OMA methods that use CSLDV measurements cannot. Numerical and experimental investigations are conducted to study the OMA method and baseline-free structural damage identification method. In the experimental investigation, effects of the scan frequency of a CSLDV system on the two methods were studied. It is shown in both the numerical and experimental investigations that modal parameters can be accurately estimated by the OMA method and structural damage can be successfully identified in neighborhoods with consistently high values of curvature damage indices.