Optimal piezoelectric sensors location for cracks and damage detection in dynamic structures using genetic algorithms

Structural health monitoring is an important research topic employed in aerospace, automotive and mechanical engineering. This paper concerns optimal placement of discrete piezoelectric sensors on flexible composite structures under multiple modes of vibration for structure health monitoring to detect micro-cracks and damage in composite structures using genetic algorithms. This study develops a placement methodology to optimize the locations of the discrete sensor using genetic algorithms for structural health monitoring. In this study, fitness and objective functions are proposed based on the maximization of sensor output voltage to optimize the locations of discrete sensors. A composite plat stiffened by beams bonded with the discrete piezoelectric transducer is modeled in this paper by first-order shear deformation theory using finite element method and Hamilton’s principle.