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In recent years more emphasis has been placed on in-situ condition based monitoring of engineering systems and structures. Aerospace components are manufactured from composite materials more often. Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems are required in the aerospace industry to monitor the safety and integrity of the structure and will ensure that composites reach its full potential within the industry. Damage detection techniques form an integral part of such SHM systems. With this work a damage detection technique is developed for intended eventual use on composite structures, but starting first on isotropic structures. The damage mechanism that is of interest is delamination damage in composites. A simple numerical equivalent is implemented here however. Two damage indicators, the strain cumulative damage factor (SCDF) and the strain-frequency damage level (SFDL) are introduced. The respective damage indicators are calculated from output-only strain and acceleration response data. The effectiveness of the system to detect damage in the structure is critically evaluated and compared to other damage detection techniques such as the natural frequency method. The sensitivity to damage and performance of both these indicators is examined numerically by evaluating two deterministic damage cases. The numerical study is enhanced through the use of an updated finite element model. The minimum number of sensors capable of detecting the presence and locate damage spatially is determined from numerical simulations. Monte Carlo type analysis is performed by letting the damaged area vary stochastically and calculating the respective damage indicators. The model updating procedure from measured mobility frequency response functions (FRFs) is described. The application of the technique to real structures is examined experimentally. Two test structures with two different damage scenarios are examined. The spatial location and presence of damage can be established from both the SCDF and SFDL values, respectively. The spatial location obtained from the SCDF values corresponded to the known damage location for both the numerical and experimental study. The SFDL proved to be more sensitive than the natural frequency method and could be used to calculate the level of damage within the structure. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / unrestricted