|
Nondestructive evaluation and sensing technology have been increasingly applied to characterize material properties and detect local damage in structures. More often than not, they generate images or data strings that are difficult to see any physical features without novel data extraction techniques. In the literature, popular data analysis techniques include Short-time Fourier Transform, Wavelet Transform, and Hilbert Transform for time efficiency and adaptive recognition. In this study, a new data analysis technique is proposed and developed by introducing an adaptive central frequency of the continuous Morlet wavelet transform so that both high frequency and time resolution can be maintained in a time-frequency window of interest. The new analysis technique is referred to as Adaptive Wavelet Analysis (AWA). This paper will be organized in several sections. In the first section, finite time-frequency resolution limitations in the traditional wavelet transform are introduced. Such limitations would greatly distort the transformed signals with a significant frequency variation with time. In the second section, Short Time Wavelet Transform (STWT), similar to Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT), is defined and developed to overcome such shortcoming of the traditional wavelet transform. In the third section, by utilizing the STWT and a time-variant central frequency of the Morlet wavelet, AWA can adapt the time-frequency resolution requirement to the signal variation over time. Finally, the advantage of the proposed AWA is demonstrated in Section 4 with a ground penetrating radar (GPR) image from a bridge deck, an analytical chirp signal with a large range sinusoidal frequency change over time, the train-induced acceleration responses of the Tsing-Ma Suspension Bridge in Hong Kong, China. The performance of the proposed AWA will be compared with the STFT and traditional wavelet transform.
|
