System identification of structures is concerned with extracting information about the parameters in a mechanical model of a constructed structure based on measured data. The parameters may be related to stiffness, mass or boundary conditions. The observed data may be static or dynamic (vibration) in nature. System identification is an ‘inverse problem’ as the (output) structural response is used for identifying the (input) system parameters rather than being predicted from the model for a give set of assumed parameter values. The inverse nature of the problem gives rise to a number challenging issues that are of practical relevance and are still under intensive research. Examples are identifiability (whether there is relevant information in the data for identifying the parameter), modelling error (the model can be wrong), parameter uncertainty (the accuracy of the identified value), sensor location (where to put sensors) and more generally experiment design. The solution strategy can depend on the scale of the structure (laboratory or field) and the environment under which the data is obtained (e.g., laboratory controlled or random ambient).

 

This project shall develop feasible solutions contributing to addressing one or more of the challenging issues, depending on the candidate’s interest. New theoretical formulation and numerical techniques shall be developed whenever necessary. Experimental work is an indispensible component of this research. For applications related to civil engineering structures full-scale field tests are expected.

 

The project shall be supervised by Prof. Siu-Kui Au, Chair of Uncertainty, Reliability and Risk at the University of Liverpool. Further information about recent research activities can be found on the following web pages:

 

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