Investigation of model uncertainties in Bayesian structural model updating

Model updating procedures are applied in order to improve the matching between experimental data and corresponding model output. The updated, i.e. improved, finite element (FE) model can be used for more reliable predictions of the structural performance in the target mechanical environment. The discrepancies between the output of the FE-model and the results of tests are due to the uncertainties that are involved in the modeling process. These uncertainties concern the structural parameters, measurement errors, the incompleteness of the test data and also the FE-model itself. The latter type of uncertainties is often referred to as model uncertainties and is caused by simplifications of the real structure that are made in order to reduce the complexity of reality. Several approaches have been proposed for taking model uncertainties into consideration, where the focus of this manuscript will be set on the updating procedure within the Bayesian statistical framework. A numerical example involving different degrees of nonlinearity will be used for demonstrating how this type of uncertainty is considered within the Bayesian updating procedure.