Optimal Sensor Placement of Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridges Based on Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

An optimization based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was put forward for optimal sensor placement (OSP) in the structural health monitoring system (SHMs) of long-span cable-stayed bridges. The mathematical model was firstly presented and dual-structure coding was adopted to improve the individual encoding method in the PSO algorithm. Fitness function was established to solve the optimal problem based on the root-mean-square value of off-diagonal elements of modal assurance criterion matrix. Finally, one long-span cable-stayed bridge was taken as an example, and implemented the sensor placement based on PSO. The stimulation results show that the proposed PSO algorithm has better improvement in search ability and computation efficiency when compared with genetic algorithm (GA).