Structural damage identification using an iterative two-stage method combining a modal energy based index with the BAS algorithm

The purpose of this study is to develop an effective iterative two-stage method (ITSM) for structural damage identification of offshore platform structures. In each iteration, a new damage index, Modal Energy-Based Damage Index (MEBI), is proposed to help effectively locate the potential damage elements in the first stage. Then, in the second stage, the beetle antenna search (BAS) algorithm is used to estimate the damage severity of these elements. Compared with the well-known particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA), this algorithm has lower computational cost. A modal energy based objective function for the optimization process is proposed. Using numerical and experimental data, the efficiency and accuracy of the ITSM are studied. The effects of measurement noise and spatial incompleteness of mode shape are both considered. All the obtained results show that under these influences, the ITSM can accurately identify the true location and severity of damage. The results also show that the objective function based on modal energy is most suitable for the ITSM compared with that based on flexibility and weighted natural frequency-mode shape.