ABSTRACT
This work presents a study on the application of Bayesian approach as a technique for solving the inverse problem of structural damage identification, where the integrity of the structure is continuously described by a structural cohesion parameter. The structurechosen for analysis is a simply supported Euler - Bernoulli beam. The damage identification is based on changes in the impulse response of the structure caused by the presence. The direct problem is solved by the finite element method (FEM), which, in turn, is parameterized by the cohesion parameter of the structure. The problem of identifying damages is formulated as an inverse problem, whose solution, from the Bayesian framework, is a posteriori probability distribution of the cohesion parameter, obtained using the sampling methodology of Monte Carlo with Markov Chain. The uncertainties inherent to the measured data will be included in the likelihood function. Three solution strategies and a set of numerical results are presented taking into account different noise levels for the three strategies considered.
Keywords:
Damage identification; Continuum damage model; Bayesian inference; Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods