A New Damage Detection Method: Big Bang-Big Crunch (BB-BC) Algorithm

Abstract

The present paper aims to explore damage assessment methodology based on the changes in dynamic parameters properties of vibration of a structural system. The finite-element model is used to apply at an element level. Reduction of the element stiffness is considered for structural damage. A procedure for locating and quantifying damaged areas of the structure based on the innovative Big Bang-Big Crunch (BB-BC) optimization method is developed for continuous variable optimization. For verifying the method a number of damage scenarios for simulated structures have been considered. For the purpose of damage location and severity assessment the approach is applied in three examples by using complete and incomplete modal data. The effect of noise on the accuracy of the results is investigated in some cases. A great unbraced frame with a lot of damaged element is considered to prove the ability of proposed method. More over BB- BC optimization method in damage detection is compared with particle swarm optimizer with passive congregation (PSOPC) algorithm. This work shows that BB-BC optimization method is a feasible methodology to detect damage location and severity while introducing numerous advantages compared to referred method.