A Comparative Study to Evaluate the Performance of Various Deep Learning Models for Damage Identification in a Cantilever Beam

Damage detection is a key point in maintaining the service life of any structure. A structure encounters several types of load throughout its lifetime; this results in different types of damage, starting from the critical region and propagating further to other parts. This study presents a comparative study of different types of deep learning models, namely, artificial neural network (ANN), autoencoder neural network, and one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D-CNN) for the classification and quantification of damages present in a modelled cantilever beam. To perform numerical analysis, damage is introduced by reducing the stiffness of the cantilever beam. The study utilizes the frequency response function (FRF) as a damage-sensitive parameter and evaluates the models using metrics such as precision, recall, and confusion matrix. The 1D-CNN model demonstrates superior performance, achieving a maximum accuracy of 99.06% in training and 99.03% in validation. Moreover, the classification metrics reveal exemplary performance for all three models, with an F1-score of 1.