A novel sensor placement strategy based on an enhanced damage assessment method in beam‐like structures: Saddle point criteria

Sensor placement is one of the vital concerns in civil structure monitoring. A sensor placement strategy based on a damage assessment method has been introduced for beam‐like structures. An existing damage detection method adapted to multi‐modes and different types of beam‐like structures. Then, it is numerically verified to be suitable for detecting any damage location in a 100 degrees of freedom mass‐spring system. Depending on the noise in the response and the limited measurements, the results demonstrate the validity of using the multi‐mode damage indicator. However, there are limitations to this method due to mode shape saddle points. Sensor deployment schemes have been proposed to address the restriction. In contrast to the corresponding procedure, this method does not rely on the optimization algorithm. Sensor placement strategies involve the simultaneous use of accelerometers and large‐area electronics.