Optimal sensors placement for structural health monitoring based on system identification and interpolation methods

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is required before and after major disasters to assess the safety of structures. In the stochastic subspace identification (SSI) method, the accuracy of the calculated frequency and damping ratio depends on the amount of collected data. However, setting sensors on each floor is time-consuming and difficult for high-rise structures. This study proposes an optimal sensor placement (OSP) method that can be used when a structure requires repeated monitoring, in order to reduce the number of sensors required, and to find the higher modal frequencies for the structure. Numerical results based on the dynamic responses of a ten-story shear frame were used to verify the proposed method. In addition, in-situ experiments in the Civil Engineering Research Building of the National Taiwan University were used to demonstrate the feasibility of this method. ? 2021 The Chinese Institute of Engineers.