Structural damage detection using improved particle swarm optimization

An approach based on an improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is proposed for structural damage detection in this study. A disturbance is introduced in the evolution process to avoid the occurrence of premature. The present algorithm focuses on the mutation of global or individual best known positions to guide the swarm to escape from the local minimum. The feasibility and robustness of the modified PSO are verified by three different structures, including a beam, a truss and a plate. The results show that the method is efficient and effective for structural damage identification when measurement noise is considered.