Quantum-Behaved Particle Swarm Optimization-Based Structural Modal Parameter Identification Under Ambient Excitation

Under ambient excitation of white noise, structural modal parameters can be identified from cross-power spectrum calculated from structural outputs, without known input. The minimization of difference between theoretical value and test value of cross-power spectrum — the former is an equation including modal parameters to be identified, and the latter is computed based on the output-only data of structure — is adopted as an objective function for optimization. The optimal objective function value can be obtained through optimal modal parameter search. Quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) — swarm intelligence optimization algorithm based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) — is used for optimization to identify the modal parameters of structure under the ambient excitation. Then, the modal parameter identification method based on QPSO presented herein had been demonstrated by a numerical simulation of three-span continuous beam and experimental results of a three story structure. The computed results indicated that QPSO can be effectively used in the structural modal parameter identification under ambient excitation.