Sensor location in concrete slabs with various layout of opening using modified ‘FEMS-COMAC’ approach

Abstract

Two-way concrete slabs are widely used around the world for the construction of many types of infrastructures and common buildings. The optimal sensor placement (OSP) in slabs with various opening positions is the most important issue in structural health monitoring (SHM) to increase reliability. In this study, a novel approach of OSP was evaluated to obtain the number and placement of sensors using examination of the closed loop performance. The nonlinear finite element (NFE) was used to discretize the mechanism behavior of slab. Multi-Objective Optimization based on the coordinate modal assurance criterion (COMAC) and cost considerations was considered in the optimization processes. All of the analysis, discretization and optimization process was designed and developed as a novel approach in Matlab by the author under the name ‘FEMS-COMAC’ (FEM analysis of slab with COMAC). The points in the finite element method (FEM) mesh were classified as line by line information along the slab. The OSP in each line was optimized according to the objective function. The slabs with various width, thickness, aspect ratio and opening position were selected as case studies. The results of the OSP using the COMAC algorithm around the slab openings were compared with the novel ‘FEMS-COMAC’ method. The statistical analysis according Mann-Whitney criteria shows that there were significant differences between them in some of the case studies (mean P-value=0.54).