Damage reconstruction of 3D frames using genetic algorithms with Levenberg-Marquardt local search

A damage detection method based on harmonic structural vibrations has been applied to reconstruct typical damage patterns of reinforced concrete beams and frames vibrating in three dimensions. It has been shown that comparison of harmonic vibrations of damaged and intact structures makes it possible to formulate optimization criterion which can be solved effectively for large number of unknowns. The application of combined genetic algorithms and Levenberg-Marquardt local search enabled to reconstruct vectors of distinct stiffness distributions containing up to 32 elements with stiffness loss as low as 5% and with accuracy of 1%. To test the algorithm in more realistic environment of practical data acquisition, measuring noise with various levels has been added to the analyzed signal. Such a method of damage detection can be quite effective during post-earthquake assessment of civil engineering structures or if one wants to control the stiffness loss of a reinforced concrete structure after it was accidentally overloaded. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.