In this paper, the application of stochastic global optimization techniques, in particular the GlobalSearch and MultiStart solvers from MatLab, to improve the updating of a structural dynamic model, are presented. For comparative purposes, the efficiency of these global methods relatively to the local search method previously used in a Finite Element Model Updating program is evaluated. The obt...

Belief Updating Algorithms There are several algorithms for exact belief updating, for example, the polytree algorithm, clustering (Pearl 1988) or the Jensen tree method (Jensen, Lauritzen, & Olesen 1989). However, approximate methods are often preferred because the complexity of exact updating is NP-hard. Approximate updating is usually done by stochastic simulation (Pearl 1988). Variants incl...

The prediction of thermo-mechanical behaviour of heterogeneous materials such as heat and moisture transport is strongly influenced by the uncertainty in parameters. Such materials occur e.g. in historic buildings, and the durability assessment of these therefore needs a reliable and probabilistic simulation of transport processes, which is related to the suitable identification of material par...

Understanding the degradation of quoin block is vital for failure prognostics in miter gates. Due to complicated mechanism, models based on simplifications and assumptions cannot accurately describe damage evolution. It observed that small errors a simplified model can lead large discrepancy remaining useful life estimation attributed error accumulation over time. Aiming address this issue prog...

For the widely studied consensus-type distributed multi-agent algorithms, a standard discrete-time model is a linear system whose system matrix is stochastic, thus implementing the “averaging” updating rule for each agent. To ensure agreement among all the agents asymptotically, one usually requires the stochastic matrix to be indecomposable and aperiodic (SIA). In this paper, we show that in p...

In this paper, effects of changing ambient temperatures on finite element (FE) model updating of the Dowling Hall Footbridge are investigated. The Dowling Hall Footbridge is located on the Tufts University campus in Medford, Massachusetts. The footbridge is equipped with a continuous monitoring system that records vibration and temperature of the bridge once an hour or when triggered by large v...