Ensuring reliable damage detection based on the computation of the optimal quantity of required modal data

This paper proposes an adaptive particle swarm optimiser to solve the optimisation problem associated with the assessment of the structural integrity of a multi-supported beam structure. Also, it presents how to determine the optimal quantity of modal data that is necessary to guarantee a correct damage detection. Adaptation is implemented to avoid defining of the PSO parameters by trial and error. The results show that a minimum quantity of modal data is necessary to guarantee the success of the damage detection methodology and that the ability to locate and quantify damage may not be improved by using excessive information.