Optimal Sensor Placement for Health Monitoring of High-Rise Structure Based on Genetic Algorithm

Abstract

Optimal sensor placement (OSP) technique plays a key role in the structural health monitoring (SHM) of large-scale structures. Based on the criterion of the OSP for the modal test, an improved genetic algorithm, called “generalized genetic algorithm (GGA)”, is adopted to find the optimal placement of sensors. The dual-structure coding method instead of binary coding method is proposed to code the solution. Accordingly, the dual-structure coding-based selection scheme, crossover strategy and mutation mechanism are given in detail. The tallest building in the north of China is implemented to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the GGA. The sensor placements obtained by the GGA are compared with those by exiting genetic algorithm, which shows that the GGA can improve the convergence of the algorithm and get the better placement scheme.