Layout optimisation method for active structural health monitoring

Abstract

This paper describes optimisation method for designing sensoric layout for Active Structural Health Monitoring (A-SHM) by Ultrasonic Guided Waves (UGW) on metal and non-metal (composite) materials. The SHM sensors need to be placed optimally in order to detect structural damage with high probability before the damage turns critical. Configuration of used optimisation algorithm for such task is not straightforward. Differential Evolution (DE) has two configuration parameters – the mutation factor F and the crossover rate CR – whose settings largely influence the solution quality the optimisation process can yield. For that matter we describe an elaborated a method to guide this selection towards good results using visual heat maps with the intent to select best DE’s variant and particular configuration to receive the most optimal SHM sensorics layout.