Structural Damage Detection Using a Multi-Stage Particle Swarm Optimization

Abstract

An efficient method is proposed to detect the multiple damages of structural systems. Natural frequency changes of a structure are considered as a criterion for damage presence. Finite element method is also employed to evaluate the required natural frequencies. A multi-stage optimization approach based on the swarm intelligence algorithm is presented to accurately identify the locations and extent of eventual damages. Test example results demonstrate the computational advantages of the proposed method to precisely determine the sites and extent of multiple structural damages.