Hybridization of Harmony Search and Ant Colony Optimization for optimal locating of structural dampers

► The problem of optimal locations for structural dampers is discussed. ► An improved version of Harmony Search algorithm is proposed. ► Harmony Search is augmented with key features from Ant Colony Optimization. ► Natural mode shapes of the structure are used to guide the search scheme. ► Convergence rate improves in contrast to original Harmony Search.