Damage assessment of structures using hybrid neuro-genetic algorithm

Techniques for detecting elemental level damage using the traditional methods receive the setback because of the difficulties in formulating the problems mathematically, specially in case of inverse problems. Artificial neural networks (ANN) have been proved to be an effective alternative for solving the inverse problems because of the pattern-matching capability. But there is no specific recommendation on suitable design of network for different structures and generally the parameters are selected by trial and error, which restricts the approach context dependent. A hybrid neuro-genetic algorithm is proposed in order to automate the design of neural network for different type of structures. The neural network is trained considering the frequency and strain as input parameter and the location and amount of damage as output parameter. The performance is demonstrated using two test problems: (i) clamped-free beam and (ii) plane frame. The outcomes of the results are quite encouraging and prove the robustness of the proposed damage assessment algorithm.