Experimental validation of the use of energy transfer ratio (ETR) for damage diagnosis of steel-concrete composite beams

The paper presents changes of modal parameters such as natural frequencies, damping ratios and energy transfer ratios (ETR) following damage of the connection of a steel-concrete composite beam. Sensitivity analysis of the parameters is conducted both for numerical simulation and experimental results. The energy transfer ratio ETR is determined: i) for the whole beam – as a global parameter which can be used for damage detection, ii) for segments of the beam – as a local parameter which can be used for damage localisation.