Damage localization and quantification of tower structures based on the super-element method

Abstract Tower structures are sensitive to hurricanes or earthquakes, whereupon they are easily damaged due to large deflection and dynamic responses. Herein, a method is proposed to accurately identify the location and extent of damage in tower structures. Firstly, a tower structure is divided into several sections along its height, and each section is regarded as a super element. Based on the finite element method (FEM), the displacement, mass, and stiffness matrices of a super element are constructed to establish the free motion equation of tower structures. Secondly, the stiffness of each ...