The structural damages can lead to structural failure if they are not identified at early stages. Different methods for detecting and locating the damages in structures have been always appealing to designers in the field. Due to direct relation between the stiffness, natural frequency, and mode shapes in the structure, the modal parameters could be used for the purpose of detecting and locating the damages in structures. In the current study, a new damage indicator named “DLI” is proposed, using the mode shapes and their derivatives. A finite element model of a beam is used, and the numerical model is validated against experimental data. The proposed index is investigated for two beams with different support conditions and the results are compared with those of two well-known indices – MSEBI and CDF. To show the capability and accuracy of the proposed index, the damages with low severity at various locations of the structures containing the elements near the supports were investigated. The results under noisy conditions are investigated by considering 3% and 5% noise on modal data. The results show a high level of accuracy of the proposed index for identifying the location of the damaged elements in beams.
