Boundary Strategy for Optimization-based Structural Damage Detection Problem using Metaheuristic Algorithms

The present paper proposes a new strategy namely Boundary Strategy (BS) in the process of optimization-based damage detection using metaheuristic algorithms. This strategy gradually neutralizes the effects of structural elements that are healthy in the optimization process. BS causes the optimization method to find the optimum solution better than conventional methods that do not use the proposed BS. This technique improves both aspects of the accuracy and convergence speed of the algorithms in identifying and quantifying the damage. To evaluate the performance of the developed strategy, a new damage-sensitive cost function, which is defined based on vibration data of the structure, is optimized utilizing the Shuffled Shepherd Optimization Algorithm (SSOA). Different examples including truss, beam, and frame are investigated numerically in order to indicate the applicability of the proposed technique. The proposed approach is also applied to other well-known optimization algorithms including TLBO, GWO, and MFO. The obtained results illustrate that the proposed method improves the performance of the utilized algorithms in identifying and quantifying of the damaged elements, even for noise-contaminated data.