Comparison of different optimum criteria for sensor placement in lattice towers

Placing sensors at appropriate locations is an important task in the dynamic assessment of the mechanical systems, and its role is central in structural health monitoring. All sensors have to be placed on the structure so that all sought system features be obtained from the experimental tests. Sensor network design is rather diffused in laboratory applications, but there are scarce investigations on real civil structures, and they are not so well documented. In order to give a contribution in this framework, the present paper deals with the optimal sensor placement problem in lattice towers. With reference to six of the most diffused existing optimum criteria and according to mechanical and energetic formulations, several sensor network configurations are calculated for two broadcasting antennas, adopted as benchmark cases of studies. The final topological configurations of the networks are compared, and the most relevant differences are discussed. Moreover, the information content behaviour is computed to investigate the connection between sensor network topology and its ability to withstand the presence of undesired signals (e.g., noise) during the measurements. The results illustrated here may be useful for sensor network design for this special class of structures. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.