A minimax sensor placement approach for damage detection in composite structures

Abstract

This article proposes a new method for optimal placement of sensors for detecting damages in composite structures. The problem is formulated as a minimax optimization in which the goal is to find the coordinates of a given number of sensors so that the worst (maximum) probability of nondetection of the sensor network is made as good as possible (minimized). It is shown that a minimax approach can more efficiently place the sensors on complex geometries, compared to existing placement methods that consider average probability of detection. The method allows one to account for characteristics of sensors by assuming that the effectiveness of a sensor decreases with the distance from damage via an experimentally determined sensor probability of detection function and sensor noise in sensor network optimization. The formulation also enables to account for nonuniform likelihood of damages on the structure, which often arises due to irregular loading or boundary conditions, using a damage probability density. Numerical examples and an experimental validation study involving a Lamb-wave sensing system are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A Real-Valued Genetic Algorithm for Optimization of Sensor Placement for Guided Wave-Based Structural Health Monitoring

“…Haynes [9] built on the Bayes' risk framework and included the cost of the SHM system in the decisionmaking process. Similar approaches based on the false alarms were also proposed by Vanli et al [10] and Coelho et al [11].…”

Damage identification in welded structures using symmetric excitation of Lamb waves

“…The arrangement of the PZT sensor is also shown in Figure 6. Another important issue regarding the transducers is their configuration and optimal placement (Vanli et al 13 and Grondel et al 14 ). The cross-shaped configuration from Wandowski et al 15 is used in this study.…”

Optimal sensors layout design based on reference‐free damage localization with lamb wave propagation

“…Also, a simulated annealing optimization framework implemented in order to place minimum number of sensors on complex metallic geometries such that the entire structure can be interrogated with a user‐defined probability of false alarm . Moreover, sensors coordinates were identified with a probabilistic optimizationmethod for the purpose of detecting damage of a composite structure . The objective considered in this study was to minimize the maximum probability of nondetection by the sensor network.…”

“…32 Moreover, sensors coordinates were identified with a probabilistic optimizationmethod for the purpose of detecting damage of a composite structure. 33 The objective considered in this study was to minimize the maximum probability of nondetection by the sensor network. A genetic algorithm (GA), based on a delay and sum damage detection algorithm, was developed in.…”