The minimum variance distortionless response beamformer for damage identification using modal curvatures

This study presents a damage identification procedure in beams based on the use of beamforming algorithms, which are mostly utilized in inverse problems of source identification and image reconstruction. We choose the modal curvatures as observed quantities and compare the performance of the Bartlett beamformer, minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) processor, and of a conventional objective function based on the modal curvatures. By means of a set of experiments, we show that the MVDR processor can overcome some of the difficulties encountered with other estimators, especially in cases of slight damage, or damage located between two sensors.