Model updating and damage detection in multi-story shear frames using Salp Swarm Algorithm

This paper studies damage detection as an optimization problem. A new objective function based on changes in natural frequencies, and Natural Frequency Vector Assurance Criterion (NFVAC) was developed. Due to their easy and fast acquisition, natural frequencies were utilized to detect structural damages. Moreover, they are sensitive to stiffness reduction. The method presented here consists of two stages. Firstly, Finite Element Model (FEM) is updated. Secondly, damage severities and locations are determined. To minimize the proposed objective function, a new bio-inspired optimization algorithm called salp swarm was employed. Efficiency of the method presented here is validated by three experimental examples. The first example relates to three-story shear frame with two single damage cases in the first story. The second relates to a five-story shear frame with single and multiple damage cases in the first and third stories. The last one relates to a large-scale eight-story shear frame with minor damage case in the first and third stories. Moreover, the performance of Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) was compared with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The results show that better accuracy is obtained using SSA than using PSO. The obtained results clearly indicate that the proposed method can be used to determine accurately and efficiently both damage location and severity in multi-story shear frames.