Fault detection is relevant to many applications, including structural health monitoring and machine health monitoring. Furthermore, output measurement data may be the only information known about a system. Hence we develop and demonstrate techniques for output-only fault detection. We also investigate implementation issues, including computational complexity and output noise.

First, we consider real-time detection of an abrupt change in a noisy signal. Existing techniques exhibit sensitivity to gradual (incipient) changes in the data, as well as detection delays, false alarms, and missed detections. Hence, we propose an adjacent moving window peak detection (AMWPD) approach that uses an approximate low-pass filter and statistical process control techniques to determine whether an abrupt change has occurred. We compare the AMWPD approach with existing techniques for change detection and show that the AMWPD approach exhibits comparable detection speed and number of missed detections while providing fewer false alarms.

Second, we consider feature extraction and clustering for classification. For industrial applications, existing methods provide insufficient classification accuracy and require significant training time. Hence, we propose new features that improve classification accuracy and apply a modified tabu search and probabilistic neural network (mTS + PNN) approach to select and cluster the features and thereby classify the data. We compare the mTS + PNN approach with an existing feature selection and clustering technique that employs principal component analysis and a multi-layer perceptron neural network. Using an application example, we demonstrate that the mTS + PNN approach provides higher classification accuracy while requiring less training and classification time.

Finally, we consider identification of output-to-output relationships in linear system dynamics. Existing approaches, including operational modal analysis, assume that the excitation signal is a realization of a white random process, which may not be true. Hence, we define and characterize pseudo transfer functions (PTFs), which relate output measurements, and we use changes in the identified PTF to detect faults. We demonstrate the effects of non-zero initial conditions, non-white excitation, unknown model order, and output noise on the accuracy of the identification and fault detection results.