Time-frequency domain methods for the identification of breathing cracks in beam-like structures

Breathing cracks in beam-like structures are common types of damage that occur due to long-term cyclic loading, which makes the identification and assessment of breathing cracks is of great significance. However, the available methods have some limitations, especially when analyzing non-stationary signals, noise immunity, low resolution in time or frequency, etc. To provide a complete study of time-frequency domain methods for breathing crack identification in beams, a comprehensive analysis is presented. Numerical and experimental investigations are conducted on different beam models aiming to analyze the effect of crack depths, locations, and noise immunity by comparing different methods. The comprehensive study provides a better understanding and analyzes the main advantages and limitations of each utilized time-frequency domain method.