The optimum number and location of control devices not only play an important role in effectiveness of the structural control system but also lead to a cost-effective structural design. In the current paper, based on an innovative meta-heuristic optimization method, tug of war optimization (TWO) firstly, an active control algorithm is designed in order to reduce the structural responses and then the optimum number and location of control devices are found to increase the efficiency of the bridge control system. The presented active control algorithm is a neuro-fuzzy adaptive controller that its output functions parameters are optimized by the tug of war optimization method. The optimum number and location of actuators is determined based on the use of the multi-objective mode of TWO and minimization of three objective functions. The first one is maximum of the bridge base shear, second is maximum of mid-span displacement and the third is maximum of mid-span acceleration. In addition, through choosing a predefined performance level for the dynamic responses of the bridge structure, the designer would be able to decide on increasing or decreasing the control devices and minimizing control costs. The optimization results for different number of actuators are shown in this work. The results show that achieving an ideal control plan requires both an appropriate control algorithm and an actuator optimal placement technique. In this paper, using these two factors, the responses of the structure have been desirably less than the responses provided in Ning et al. (Struct Control Health Monit 16(6):639–656, 2009)

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