Structural health monitoring using the Firefly optimization algorithm and finite elements

Abstract

In this study, a novel technique for multiple damage detection of structures using modal characterization to evaluate the dynamic response of the structure given a damage model is investigated. The damage identification problem is seen as an optimization problem to be solved using a firefly optimization algorithm. The objective function is based on a numerical damage model that considers the modal response of the structures. We show some implementation details and discuss the obtained results for a benchmark problem used to assess the performance of the method and its advantages for structural health monitoring.

Keywords

• Firefly algorithm
• optimization
• finite element method
• modal analysis
• structural health monitoring