Baseline-Free Damage Localization in Periodic Cable-Net Structures Using a Two-Dimensional Recursive Finite Element Method
Lu Zhang1,2, Guifu Jia1,2, Haowei Xu1,2, Jian Zeng1,3,*
1 School of Civil Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, China
2 Guangxi Key Laboratory of Green Building Materials and Construction Industrialization, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, China
3 Nanning Urban Construction Investment Group Co., Ltd., Nanning, China
* Corresponding Author: Jian Zeng. Email: 
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: AI-driven Monitoring, Condition Assessment, and Data Analytics for Enhancing Infrastructure Resilience)
Structural Durability & Health Monitoring https://doi.org/10.32604/sdhm.2026.082602
Received 18 March 2026; Accepted 18 May 2026; Published online 29 June 2026
Abstract
Large-span cable-net roof systems used in public infrastructure require efficient and reliable inspection or structural health monitoring because local prestress loss is frequently observed, which significantly affects structural safety and mechanical performance. To address the high computational cost of dynamic analysis and over-reliance on baseline in conventional methods, this study proposes a baseline-free damage localization framework for two-dimensional periodic cable-net structures by integrating periodic structural design, recursive finite element analysis, and frequency-response-based identification. First, a square periodic cable-net unit cell with crossed diagonal cables is established, and the two-dimensional dispersion curve considering initial pre-stress is derived based on the Floquet-Bloch theorem. Then, a pre-stressed dynamic model is established, and an efficient two-dimensional recursive finite element method is developed to construct the global dynamic stiffness matrix by recursively assembling a single unit cell, which can significantly reduce the computational degrees of freedom. Local damage is simulated by pre-stress loss in a single cable, and the structural dynamic response is obtained using the frequency response function. Numerical results show that the proposed method can efficiently capture local dynamic changes induced by damage. By comparing the energy variation of adjacent periodic cells within a characteristic frequency band, the damaged cell can be accurately localized without the damage-free baseline model. The proposed framework offers an efficient and promising approach to the online monitoring of large periodic cable-net structures.
Keywords
Periodic cable-net; recursive finite element method; baseline-free damage detection; structural health monitoring
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