<p>A deep-sea mining riser is a crucial component of the system used to lift seafloor mineral resources to the vessel. It is prone to damage and failure because of harsh environmental conditions and internal fluid erosion. Furthermore, damage can impact the response characteristics of the riser, but varying environmental loadings easily mask it. Thus, distinguishing between riser damage and environmental effects poses a considerable challenge. To address this issue, a cantilevered model is created for a deep-sea mining riser via the concentrated mass method, and a time-domain analytical strategy is developed. The vortex-induced vibration (VIV) response characteristics of the riser are initially examined, considering various damage conditions and flow velocities. The study results revealed four primary observations: (a) effective tension can serve as a reliable indicator for identifying damage at lower velocities; (b) there are noticeable differences in displacement between the healthy and damaged risers in the in-line direction rather than the cross-flow direction; (c) frequency characteristics can more effectively distinguish the damage conditions at high flow velocities, with the mean square frequency and frequency variance being more effective than the centroid frequency and root variance frequency; (d) displacement differences are more sensitive to damage occurring near the top and bottom of the riser, while both velocity variations and structural damage can influence displacements, especially in regions between modal nodes. The vibrational behavior and damage indicators are clarified for structural health monitoring of deep-sea mining risers during lifting operations.</p>