Intelligent hybrid fuzzy logic system for damage detection of beam-like structural elements

Fuzzy logic has been used in different research fields for more than three decades. It has become a robust method to solve complex and intricate problems which are otherwise difficult to solve by traditional methods. But it still requires some human experience and knowledge. In the present study, an attempt is made to design a hybrid optimization technique for automatic formation of the fuzzy knowledge based rules using an evolutionary algorithm. This hybridization technique has been applied in the field of damage detection and location of cracks in cracked structural elements. In this paper, a robust fault diagnostic tool based on a differential evolution algorithm and fuzzy logic has been proposed. Theoretical and Finite Element analyzes are done to model the crack and to find the effect of the presence of cracks on changes of vibrational characteristic (natural frequencies) of a fixed-fixed beam. The inputs to DEA-FL system are the first three relative natural frequencies, and the outputs from the system are the relative crack depth and relative crack location. For the validation of the results obtained from the proposed method and to check the robustness of the controller, experimental analysis is performed. To find average error rates, the bootstrap method has been adopted.