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Inspections are an efficient means of enhancing the reliability of redundant structural Systems subjected to fatigue. To investigate the effect of such inspections, we represent the deterioration state of a Daniels System by means of a probabilistic fatigue crack growth model of all elements, which considers stochastic dependence among element fatigue behavior. We include inspection results in the calculation of the System collapse probability through Bayesian updating of the System deterioration state. Based on this approach, we calculate the collapse probability of a deteriorating Daniels System conditional on different inspection strategies in terms of inspection coverage and inspection times. The acceptability of an inspection strategy is verified by comparing the calculated collapse probabilities with maximum acceptable System failure probabilities. This study is a Step towards identifying optimal inspection strategies for redundant structural Systems subjected to fatigue.
The fatigue deterioration modeling for welded steel structures subjected to high cycle fatigue is presented in the current document. The aim of this paper is to formulate approaches based on actual Research results for the phases fatigue crack initiation, fatigue propagation and fatigue failure. The physical characteristics of the approaches are discussed in combination with the associated uncertainties and the probabilistic modeling of this time variant reliability problem. The fatigue deterioration modeling documented here serve as a basis for a reliability-based approach to inspection planning.
A reliability-based approach to inspection planning for welded steel structures subjected to high cycle fatigue is presented in the current document. Inspections are an effective means to control the Progress of fatigue deterioration and the presented approach allows to determine the minimum required inspection effort so that the considered structure complies with the given risk acceptance criteria in terms of target reliability throughout its service life.
Effect of different inspection strategies on the reliability of Daniels systems subjected to fatigue
(2013)
Updating of fatigue reliability with inspection data using subset simulation - problems encountered
(2013)
In this contribution, we consider two applications in which probabilistic approaches can potentially complement or enhance the design and assessment of offshore wind turbine foundations. First, we illustrate in a numerical example that probabilistic modelling can be helpful in dealing with chang-es in turbine locations during the planning phase of an offshore wind farm. In this case, spatial probabilistic modelling of the ground conditions enables (a) an inference of the soil properties at the modified turbine location from field data collected at different locations across an offshore wind farm site and (b) an optimisation of further site investigations. Second, we discuss the uncer-tainties and risks associated with the installation of large diameter monopiles in soils with hetero-geneities such as strong layers and/or embedded boulders. Subsequently, we present a concept for modelling, understanding, and managing these risks based on a probabilistic model of the subgrade conditions, monopile, and subgrade-pile-interaction.
Gradual or sudden changes in the state of structural systems caused, for example, by deterioration or accidental load events can influence their load-bearing capacity. Structural changes can be inferred from static and/or dynamic response data measured by structural health monitoring systems. However, they may be masked by variations in the structural response due to varying environmental conditions. Particularly, the interaction of nominally load-bearing components with nominally non-load bearing components exhibiting characteristics that vary as a function of the environmental conditions can significantly affect the monitored structural response. Ignoring these effects may hamper an inference of structural changes from the monitoring data. To address this issue, we adopt a probabilistic model-based framework as a basis for developing digital twins of structural systems that enable a prediction of the structural behavior under varying ambient condition. Within this framework, different types of data obtained from real the structural system can be applied to update the digital twin of the structural system using Bayesian methods and thus enhance predictions of the structural behavior. In this contribution, we implement the framework to develop a digital twin of a simply supported steel beam with an asphalt layer. It is formulated such that it can predict the static response of the beam in function of its temperature. In a climate chamber, the beam was subject to varying temperatures and its static response wass monitored. In addition, tests are performed to determine the temperature-dependent properties of the asphalt material. Bayesian system identification is applied to enhance the predictive capabilities of the digital twin based on the observed data.
In this presentation, we discuss the potential of probabilistic approaches to the design and assessment of offshore foundations. The potential is demonstrated in a numerical example considering a laterally loaded monopile. As an outlook, we present a concept for managing the risk associated with installing large monopiles.
In this presentation, a framework for integrating vibration-based structural health monitoring data into the optimization of inspection and maintenance of deteriorating structural systems is presented. The framework is demonstrated in an illustrative example considering a steel frame subject to fatigue.
Changes in the measured response of structural systems can be an indication of structural damages. However, such changes can also be caused by the effect of varying environmental conditions. To detect, localize and quantify changes or damages in structural systems subject to varying environmental conditions, physics-based models of the structural systems have to be applied which explicitly account for the influence of ambient conditions on the structural behavior. Data obtained from the structural systems should be used to calibrate the models and update predictions. Bayesian system identification is an effective framework for this task. In this paper, we apply this framework to learn the parameters of two competing structural models of a reinforced concrete beam subject to varying temperatures based on static response data. The models describe the behavior of the beam in the uncracked and cracked condition. The data is collected in a series of load tests in a climate chamber. Bayesian model class selection is then applied to infer the most plausible condition of the beam conditional on the available data.
Nach den bisherigen Regeln werden Bauwerksprüfungen von Brücken in starr definierten Intervallen durchgeführt. Diese starre, periodische, zustandsbasierte Instandhaltungsstrategie soll zukünftig durch eine flexible und prädiktive Instandhaltung ersetzt werden. Hierbei sollen Inspektionen und Instandhaltungsmaßnahmen unterstützt durch autonome Systeme auf der Grundlage von Monitoringdaten geplant und zusätzlich bei unvorhergesehenen Ereignissen ausgelöst werden. Im Rahmen des Verbundforschungsvorhabens AISTEC wird ein Vorgehen für Großbauwerke und kleinere Regelbauwerke zur Umsetzung eines kombinierten globalen, schwingungsbasierten und quasistatischen Monitorings entworfen. An der Maintalbrücke Gemünden – einer semiintegralen Rahmenbrücke aus Spannbeton auf der Schnellfahrstrecke Hannover–Würzburg – wurde als Demonstrator ein Dauermonitoring realisiert.
Im AISTEC Projekt erforscht der FB 7.2 Verfahren zur Bewertung von Verkehrsbrücken auf der Gruandlage von sensorbasierten Bauwerksmessungen. In diesem Vortrag wird ein Überlick über die Forschungsarbeiten des FB 7.2 präsentiert. Des Weiteren wird ein Ausblick zur quantitativen Integration von sensorbasierten Bauwerksmessungen in die risiko-basierte prädiktive Planung von Inspektionen und Reparaturen von Ingenieurbauwerken gegeben.
Fatigue is one of the main deterioration processes affecting the performance of welded steel support structures of wind turbines in offshore wind farms. In this contribution, we present a probabilistic physics-based fatigue deterioration model of a wind farm that accounts for the stochastic dependence among the fatigue behavior of different hotspots at turbine and wind farm level. The dependence exists because of uncertain common influencing factors such as similar material properties, fabrication qualities and load conditions. These system effects signify that an inspection of one hotspot provides indirect information of the condition of the remaining hotspots and thus enable an optimization of the inspection effort for a wind farm.
The wind farm model consists of two levels: A turbine support structure (level 1 system model) is represented by its fatigue hotspots and their stochastic dependence. The fatigue performance of a hotspot is described by a probabilistic fracture mechanics (FM) fatigue model. The probabilistic model of the parameters of the FM fatigue model is calibrated based on design data and is thus directly linked to the design of the turbine support structures. Dependence among the fatigue performances of different hotspots in a turbine support structure is modeled by introducing correlations between the stochastic parameters of the FM fatigue models. A wind farm (level 2 system model) consists of different turbine support structures (level 1 system models). Additional correlations are introduced at wind farm level to account for the dependence among the fatigue behavior of hotspots belonging to different turbine support structures. The wind farm model enables the computation of (marginal) hotspot fatigue reliabilities, system fatigue reliabilities of individual turbine support structures and the system fatigue reliability of an entire wind farm. The probabilistic model of the parameters of the two-level system model can be consistently updated with inspection outcomes using Bayesian methods. The updated probabilistic model of the model parameters then forms the basis for updating the estimates of the fatigue reliabilities.
We implement the wind farm model in a software tool named SysPark. The tool provides the means for planning inspections at wind farm level using an adaptive reliability-based threshold approach. In this approach, the first inspection campaign is planned in the year before the fatigue failure rates of the hotspots with the lowest fatigue reliabilities exceed a threshold failure rate. Once inspection results become available, the probabilistic model of the parameters of the wind farm model is updated. If repairs are performed, the wind farm model is additionally modified to describe the behavior of the repaired hotspots. The updated and modified model then enables the planning of the next inspection campaign and so on. The software tool is demonstrated in a case study considering a generic wind farm consisting of turbines with jacket support structures.
The reliability of deteriorating structures at time t is quantified by the probability that failure occurs within the period leading up to time t. This probability is often referred to as cumulative failure probability and is equal to the cumulative distribution function of the time to failure. In structural reliability, an estimate of the cumulative failure probability is obtained based on probabilistic Engineering models of the deterioration processes and structural performance. Information on the condition and the loading contained in inspection and monitoring data can be included in the probability estimate through Bayesian updating. Conditioning the
probability of failure on the inspection or monitoring outcomes available at time t (e.g. detections or no detection of damages) can lead to a reduction in that probability.
Such a drop in the cumulative failure probability might seem counterintuitive since the cumulative failure probability is a non-decreasing function of time. In this paper, we illustrate—with the help of a numerical example—that such a drop is possible because the cumulative probability before and after the updating is not based on the same information, hence not on the same probabilistic model.
The reliability of deteriorating structures at time t is quantified by the probability that failure occurs within the period leading up to time t. This probability is often referred to as cumulative failure probability and is equal to the cumulative distribution function of the time to failure. In structural reliability, an estimate of the cumulative failure probability is obtained based on probabilistic engineering models of the deterioration processes and structural performance. Information on the condition and the loading contained in inspection and monitoring data can be included in the probability estimate through Bayesian updating. Conditioning the probability of failure on the inspection or monitoring outcomes available at time t (e.g. detections or no detection of damages) can lead to a reduction in that probability.
Such a drop in the cumulative failure probability might seem counterintuitive since the cumulative failure probability is a non-decreasing function of time. In this paper, we illustrate—with the help of a numerical example—that such a drop is possible because the cumulative probability before and after the updating is not based on the same information, hence not on the same probabilistic model.
Predictive information and maintenance optimization for deteriorating structures is concerned with scheduling (a) the collection of information by inspection and monitoring and (b) maintenance actions such as repair, replacement, and retrofitting based on updated predictions of the future condition of the structural system. In this article, we consider the problem of jointly identifying—at the beginning of the service life—the optimal inspection time and repair strategy for a generic welded joint in a generic offshore wind turbine structure subject to fatigue. The optimization is performed based on different types of decision analyses including value of information analyses to quantify the expected service life cost encompassing inspection, repair, and fatigue damage for all relevant combinations of inspection time, repair method, and repair time. Based on the analysis of the expected service life cost, the optimal inspection time, repair method, and repair time are identified. Possible repair methods for a welded joint in an offshore environment include welding and grinding, for which detailed models are formulated and utilized to update the joint’s fatigue performance. The decision analyses reveal that an inspection should be scheduled approximately at mid-service life of the welded joint. A repair should be performed in the same year after an indication and measurement of a fatigue crack given an optimal inspection scheduling. This article concludes with a discussion on the results obtained from the decision and value of information analyses.
Support structures of offshore wind turbines are subject to cyclic stresses generated by different time-variant random loadings such as wind, waves, and currents in combinationwith the excitation by the rotor. In the design phase, the cyclic demand on wind turbine support structure is calculated and forecasted with semi or fully probabilistic engineering models. In some cases, additional cyclic stresses may be induced by construction deviations, unbalanced rotor masses and structural dynamic phenomena such as, for example, the Sommerfeld effect. Both, the significant uncertainties in the design and a validation of absence of unforeseen adverse dynamic phenomena necessitate the employment of measurement Systems on the support structures. The quality of the measurements of the cyclic demand on the support structures depends on (a) the precision of the measurement System consisting of sensors, amplifier and data normalization and (b) algorithms for analyzing and converting data to structural health information. This paper presents the probabilistic modelling and analysis of uncertainties in strain measurements performed for the purposes of reconstructing stress resultants in wind turbine towers.
It is shown how the uncertainties in the strain measurements affect the uncertainty in the individual components of the reconstructed forces and moments. The analysis identifies the components of the vector of stress resultants that can be reconstructed with sufficient precision.
Die Infrastruktursysteme der Industriestaaten erfordern heute und in Zukunft ein effizientes Management bei alternder Bausubstanz, steigenden Lasten und gleichbleibend hohem Sicherheitsniveau. Digitale Technologien bieten ein großes Potenzial zur Bewältigung der aktuellen und künftigen Herausforderungen im Infrastrukturmanagement. Im BMBF-geförderten Projekt Bewertung alternder Infrastrukturbauwerke mit digitalen Technologien (AISTEC) wird untersucht, wie unterschiedliche Technologien und deren Verknüpfung gewinnbringend eingesetzt werden können. Am Beispiel der Maintalbrücke Gemünden werden ein sensorbasiertes Bauwerksmonitoring, bildbasierte Inspektion mit durch Kameras ausgestatteten Drohnen (UAS) und die Verknüpfung digitaler Bauwerksmodelle umgesetzt. Die aufgenommenen Bilder dienen u. a. als Grundlage für spätere visuelle Anomaliedetektionen und eine 3D-Rekonstruktion, welche wiederum für die Kalibrierung und Aktualisierung digitaler Tragwerksmodelle genutzt werden. Kontinuierlich erfasste Sensordaten werden ebenfalls zur Kalibrierung und Aktualisierung der Tragwerksmodelle herangezogen. Diese Modelle werden als Grundlage für Anomaliedetektionen und perspektivisch zur Umsetzung von Konzepten der prädiktiven Instandhaltung verwendet. Belastungsfahrten und historische Daten dienen in diesem Beitrag der Validierung von kalibrierten Tragwerksmodellen.
Structural health monitoring (SHM) intends to improve the management of engineering structures. The number of successful SHM projects – especially SHM research projects – is ever growing, yielding added value and more scientific insight into the management of infrastructure asset. With the advent of the data age, the value of accessible data becomes increasingly evident. In SHM, many new data-centric methods are currently being developed at a high pace. A consequent application of research data management (RDM) concepts in SHM projects enables a systematic management of raw and processed data, and thus facilitates the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) methods to the SHM data. In this contribution, a case study based on an institutional RDM framework is presented. Data and metadata from monitoring the structural health of the Maintalbrücke Gemünden for a period of 16 months are managed with the RDM system BAM Data Store, which makes use of the openBIS data management software. An ML procedure is used to classify the data. Feature engineering, feature training and resulting data are performed and modelled in the RDM system.
Support structures of wind turbines in German offshore wind farms are regularly inspected. Currently, inspection outcomes are generally not systematically recorded. This prevents their consistent handling and processing, which is a key requirement to enable an efficient structural integrity management. As part of the DiMoWind-Inspect project, a data model and reference designation system for such inspection results is developed to facilitate their identification, localization, quantification, tracing and linking throughout the lifetime of a wind farm and beyond. The inspection results together with structural health monitoring results and information on repairs form the basis for assessing and predicting the structural condition, estimating the remaining lifetime, and planning of future inspections, structural health monitoring, and repairs. As a basis for developing a digital structural integrity management, a generic framework is proposed in this paper, which describes the stakeholders, data, models, processes and workflows of the integrity management of support structures in offshore wind farms and their interrelations. The framework adopts a building information modelling approach to describe the information relevant to the structural integrity management. The central digital space of the framework is a common data environment. An implementation of the framework will enable a digital structural integrity management in which inspection, structural health monitoring, repair, assessment and planning outcomes generated throughout the life cycle of a wind farm can be consistently collected, managed, shared and processed by the relevant shareholders.
A digital structural integrity management of offshore structures enables an optimized planning of inspections and repairs with risk-based methods. In a risk-based approach, the inspection and repair strategy that minimizes the expected lifetime costs consisting of the expected inspection, repair and failure costs is determined. In addition to inspections, information on the structural condition can be continuously obtained by monitoring the vibration response of the structural system. Changes in the vibration characteristics quantified in terms of modal properties can be an indication of structural damage. In risk-based inspection and repair planning, the effect of monitoring results is determined via Bayesian updating of the structural condition and reliability. This information should be applied to inform decisions on inspections and may result in a reduced inspection effort. The benefit of continuously monitoring the structural health can be quantified in terms of the value of information, which corresponds to the difference between the expected lifetime costs with and without monitoring. In this work, we demonstrate in a numerical example how an optimized sensor placement for a vibration-based structural health monitoring system can be determined by maximizing the value of information.
Brücken werden durch Inspektionen und teilweise durch Monitoring überwacht, um Daten und Informationen über den Zustand und die Einwirkungen zu sammeln. Auf deren Grundlage werden Entscheidungen hinsichtlich Maßnahmen zur Gewährleistung der Sicherheit und Verfügbarkeit getroffen. In diesem Vortrag werden die Potentiale der Digitalisierung zur Unterstützung und Verbesserung der Brückenüberwachung diskutiert. Insbesondere werden die Bereiche Datenmanagement, Brückenmodellierung und Entscheidungsfindung betrachtet.
We present a concept for assessing the system reliability of monitored jacket support struc-tures of offshore wind turbines subjected to fatigue. The concept assumes that a structural health monitoring system periodically records accelerations of the jacket structure caused by ambient excitations. The recorded data is processed by a stochastic subspace-based damage detection algorithm to provide information on the global damage state of the jacket structure. This information is generally uncertain. To determine the effect of such uncertain global monitoring information on the structural reliability, the deterioration state of the jacket structure is described by a probabilistic fatigue deterioration model of all structural elements, which considers stochastic dependence among element fatigue behavior. The system deterioration model is coupled with a probabilistic structural model to compute the system failure probability. Global damage detection information is included in the reliability assessment through Bayesian updating of the system failure probability.
Die BAM erforscht mit Partnern an der TUM und DTU Methoden und Modelle für ein optimiertes Tragwerksmanagement von Infrastrukturbauwerken. Im Rahmen des vom BMVI und der BASt aufgelegten Projektclusters „Intelligente Brücke“ wurde ein Software-Prototyps zur zuverlässigkeitsbasierten Bewertung eines konkreten Spannbetonüberbaus unter Berücksichtigung von Inspektionen und Überwachungssystemen entwickelt. Der entwickelte Software-Prototyp ermöglicht Benutzern ohne vertiefte Kenntnisse der Zuverlässigkeitstheorie eine Berechnung des Einflusses von Bauwerksinformationen auf den Systemschädigungszustand und die Tragsicherheit. Auf dieser Grundlage können effiziente Inspektions- und Überwachungsmaßnahmen identifiziert und das Erhaltungsmanagement optimiert werden.
Der vorliegende Bericht beschreibt Konzepte für eine intelligente Brücke auf der Grundlage einer zuverlässigkeitsbasierten Zustandsbewertung unter Berücksichtigung von Bauwerksinformationen, welche aus Prüfungen, Inspektionen und Überwachung gewonnen werden. Das Brückensystem wird durch ein Modell beschrieben, welches den zentralen Teil des Konzeptes darstellt. Das Modell wird in Schädigungsmodelle und ein Tragwerkssystem-Modell unterteilt. Dieses Modell wird a-priori durch die Eingangsdaten (welche etwa die Geometrie, die Materialien und die Verwendung der Brücke beschreiben) charakterisiert. Aus diesen ergeben sich dann auch die Ausgangsmodelle. Um die signifikanten Streuungen und Unsicherheiten adäquat abzubilden sind diese Modelle probabilistisch. Das Modell liefert eine sich kontinuierlich ändernde probabilistische Zustandsbewertung. Die Zustandsbewertung gibt eine Aussage über den Zustand und die Zuverlässigkeit des Brückensystems und seiner Bauteile und dient als Grundlage für die Planung und die Optimierung von Maßnahmen. Die Verwendung von Resultaten aus Inspektionen, Prüfungen und Überwachungen erfolgt durch eine Aktualisierung der Modellparameter. Die Aktualisierung beruht auf der Methode der Bayes'schen Aktualisierung und wird auf der Grundlage der entwickelten Klassifizierung der Bauwerksinformationen mit entsprechenden Methoden durchgeführt. Dieses Verfahren erlaubt es, alle Informationen in konsistenter Weise in ein einziges Modell einfließen zu lassen. Dabei wird die Genauigkeit und Aussagekraft der gewonnenen Daten und Beobachtungen explizit berücksichtigt. Durch die Aktualisierung der Modellparameter unter Berücksichtigung von Systemeffekten wird die Zustandsbewertung der Bauteile und des Brückensystems aktualisiert. Das ermöglicht die Planung und die Optimierung von Maßnahmen unter Berücksichtigung der Bauwerksinformationen. Auf diese Weise wird die intelligente Brücke mit Inspektionen und Überwachungen zu einem adaptiven System, welches sich Veränderungen anpassen kann.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This report describes concepts for an intelligent bridge on the basis of a reliability-based condition assessment utilizing inspection and monitoring data. The central part of the concept is a model describing the bridge system. The overall bridge model is comprised of deterioration models and a mechanical system model of the structure. The model is a-priori characterized by the input data (such as the geometry, the materials, and the utilization of the bridge). Significant uncertainties in the deterioration modeling as well as the load conditions motivate a probabilistic modeling. The model enables a continuously updated probabilistic condition assessment. It provides information about the condition and the reliability of the bridge system and its components and serves as a basis for the planning and the optimization of maintenance actions. Inspection, measurement, and monitoring information are included by updating the model parameters. Bayesian updating is utilized for the updating of the model parameters and is performed on the basis of the developed classification of structural information and the corresponding procedures. These methodologies allow to consistently incorporate all available information into the model and the prediction. Thereby, the precision and the validity of the data and observations are explicitly accounted for. The condition assessment of the bridge system and its components is updated by updating the model parameters, and maintenance actions can be planned and optimized taking into account all available information in a rational and consistent manner. In this way, the intelligent bridge with inspections, measurements, and monitoring information becomes an adaptive system, which has the ability to adjust to changes.
The Influence of brittle Daniels system characteristics on the value of load monitoring information
(2016)
This paper addresses the influence of deteriorating brittle Daniels system characteristics on the value of structural health monitoring (SHM). The value of SHM is quantified as the difference between the life cycle benefits with and without SHM. A value of SHM analysis is performed within the framework of the Bayesian pre-posterior decision theory and requires (1) structural performance modelling and prediction, (2) structural integrity management models, (3) the (pre-posterior) modelling of SHM and (4) the coupling of SHM and the structural performance models. The pre-posterior decision theoretical framework facilitates that the value of SHM can be quantified before the SHM system is quantified and before data are acquired. The results of this study support decisions to select structural systems for which the SHM strategy load monitoring is optimal.
An efficient approach to reliability analysis of deteriorating structural systems is presented, which considers stochastic dependence among element deterioration. Information on a deteriorating structure obtained through inspection or monitoring is included in the reliability assessment through Bayesian updating of the system deterioration model. The updated system reliability is then obtained through coupling the updated deterioration model with a probabilistic structural model. The underlying high-dimensional structural reliability problems are solved using subset simulation, which is an efficient and robust sampling-based algorithm suitable for such analyses. The approach is demonstrated in two case studies considering a steel frame structure and a Daniels system subjected to high-cycle fatigue.
A software prototype is developed for assessing and updating the reliability of single-cell prestressed concrete box girders subjected to chloride-induced reinforcement corrosion. The underlying system model consists of two integrated sub-models: a condition model for predicting the deterioration state of the box girder and a structural model for evaluating the overall system reliability. The condition model is based on a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) model which considers the spatial variation of the corrosion process. Inspection data are included in the calculation of the system reliability through Bayesian updating on the basis of the DBN model. To demonstrate the effect of partial inspections, the software prototype is applied to a case study of a typical highway bridge with six spans. The case study illustrates that it is possible to infer the condition of uninspected parts of the structure due to the spatial correlation of the corrosion process.
Inspection and maintenance of concrete bridges is a major cost factor in transportation infrastructure, and there is significant potential for using information gained during inspection to update predictive models of the performance and reliability of such structures. In this context, this paper presents an approach for assessing and updating the reliability of prestressed concrete bridges subjected to chloride-induced reinforcement corrosion. The system deterioration state is determined based on a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) model that considers the spatial variability of the corrosion process. The overall system reliability is computed by means of a probabilistic structural model coupled with the deterioration model. Inspection data are included in the system reliability calculation through Bayesian updating on the basis of the DBN model. As proof of concept, a software prototype is developed to implement the method presented here. The software prototype is applied to a typical highway bridge and the influence of inspection information on the system deterioration state and the structural reliability is quantified taking into account the spatial correlation of the corrosion process. This work is a step towards developing a software tool that can be used by engineering practitioners to perform reliability assessments of ageing concrete bridges and update their reliability with inspection and monitoring data.
This paper addresses the quantification of the value of structural health monitoring (SHM) before its implementation for structural systems on the basis of its Value of Information (VoI). The value of SHM is calculated utilizing the Bayesian pre-posterior decision analysis modelling the structural life cycle performance, the integrity management and the structural risks. The relevance and precision of SHM information for the reduction of the structural system risks and the expected cost of the structural integrity management throughout the life cycle constitutes the value of SHM and is quantified with this framework. The approach is focused on fatigue deteriorating structural steel systems for which a continuous resistance deterioration formulation is introduced. In a case study, the value of SHM for load monitoring is calculated for a Daniels system subjected to fatigue deterioration. The influence of and the value of SHM in regard to the structural system risks and the integrity management is explicated and explained. The results are pointing to the importance of the consideration of the structural system risks for the quantification of the value of SHM.
Monitoringsysteme erfassen kontinuierlich Bauwerksdaten wie z.B. Bauwerksbeschleunigungen, auf deren Grundlage Bauwerksschäden mit Hilfe von SHM-Methoden quantifiziert werden können. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen über den aktuellen Bauwerkszustand können Vorhersagen des Bauwerkszustandes und der Bauwerkszuverlässigkeit aktualisiert und erforderliche Inspektionen und Instandhaltungsmaßnahmen vorausschauend geplant werden. Im BMBF-Forschungsvorhaben AISTEC entwickeln der Fachbereich 7.2 „Ingenieurbau“ innovative Monitoringverfahren zur Systemidentifikation und automatischen Detektion, Lokalisierung und Quantifizierung von Schäden an Infrastrukturbauwerken anhand von gemessenen dynamischen und statischen Bauwerksdaten. Im Rahmen dieses Projektes werden die Verfahren an der Maintalbrücke bei Gemünden angewendet, welche Teil der ICE-Strecke Hannover-Würzburg ist. In diesem Vortrag wird das für die Maintalbrücke Gemünden geplante und umgesetzte Monitoingsystem vorgestellt.
The current practice of operating and maintaining deteriorating structural systems ensures acceptable levels of structural reliability, but it is not clear how efficient it is. Changing the current prescriptive approach to a risk-based approach has great potential to enable a more efficient management of such systems. Risk-based optimization of operation and maintenance strategies identifies the strategy that optimally balances the cost for controlling deterioration in a structural system with the achieved risk reduction. Inspections and monitoring are essential parts of operation and maintenance strategies. They are typically performed to reduce the uncertainty in the structural condition and inform decisions on future operation and maintenance actions. In risk-based optimization of operation and maintenance strategies, Bayesian updating is used to include information contained in inspection and monitoring data in the prediction of the structural reliability. All computations need to be repeated many times for different potential inspection and monitoring outcomes. This motivates the development of robust and efficient approaches to this computationally challenging task.
The reliability of deteriorating structural systems is time-variant because the loads on them and their capacities change with time. In most practical applications, the reliability analysis of deteriorating structural systems can be approached by dividing their lifetime into discrete time intervals. The time-variant reliability problem can then be represented by a series of time-invariant reliability problems. Using this methodology as a starting point, this thesis proposes a novel approach to compute the time-variant reliability of deteriorating structural systems for which inspection and monitoring data are available. The problem is formulated in a nested way in which the prediction of the structural condition is separated from the computation of the structural reliability conditional on the structural condition. Information on the structural condition provided by inspections and monitoring is included in the reliability assessment through Bayesian updating of the system deterioration model employed to predict the structural condition. The updated system reliability is obtained by coupling the updated deterioration model with a probabilistic structural model utilized to calculate the failure probability conditional on the structural condition. This approach is the first main outcome of this thesis and termed nested reliability analysis (NRA) approach. It is demonstrated in two numerical examples considering inspected and monitored steel structures subject to high-cycle fatigue.
An alternative – recently developed – approach, which also follows the strategy of discretizing time, describes deteriorating structural systems with hierarchical dynamic Bayesian networks (DBN). DBN combined with approximate or exact inference algorithms also enable the computation of the time-variant reliability of deteriorating structural systems conditional on information provided by inspection and monitoring data. In this thesis – as a proof of concept – a software prototype is developed based on the DBN approach, which can be used to assess the reliability of a corroding concrete box girder for which half-cell potential measurements are available. This is the second main outcome of this thesis.
Both approaches presented in this thesis enable an integral reliability analysis of inspected and monitored structures that accounts for system effects arising from (a) the correlation among deterioration states of different structural elements, (b) the interaction between element deterioration and system failure, and (c) the indirect information gained on the condition of all unobserved structural elements from inspecting or monitoring the condition of some structural elements. Thus, both approaches enable a systemwide risk-based optimization of operation and maintenance strategies for deteriorating structural systems.
The NRA approach can be implemented relatively easily with subset simulation, which is a sequential Monte Carlo method suitable for estimating rare event probabilities. Subset simulation is robust and considerably more efficient than crude Monte Carlo simulation. It is, however, still sampling-based and its efficiency is thus a function of the number of inspection and monitoring outcomes, as well as the value of the simulated event probabilities. The current implementation of the NRA approach performs separate subset simulation runs to estimate the reliability at different points in time. The efficiency of the NRA approach with subset simulation can be significantly improved by exploiting the fact that failure events in different years are nested. The lifetime reliability of deteriorating structural systems can thus be computed in reverse chronological order in a single subset simulation run.
The implementation of the DBN approach is much more demanding than the implementation of the NRA approach but it has two main advantages. Firstly, the graphical format of the DBN facilitates the presentation of the model and the underlying assumptions to stakeholders who are not experts in reliability analysis. Secondly, it can be combined with exact inference algorithms. In this case, its efficiency neither depends on the number of inspection and monitoring outcomes, nor on the value of the event probabilities to be calculated. However, in contrast to the NRA approach with subset simulation, the DBN approach with exact inference imposes restrictions on the number of random variables and the dependence structure that can be implemented in the model.
Kontinuierliche sensorbasierte Bauwerksmessungen leisten einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Sicherheit von Verkehrsbauwerken. Hierzu werden im Vorhaben AISTEC Referenzbauwerke und Referenzverfahren untersucht mit Schwerpunkt auf den Einfluss klimatischer Bedingungen. Der Vortrag stellt den aktuellen Projektstand des FB 7.2 vor.
Dieser Bericht beschreibt ein Systemmodell für eine integrale Ermittlung und Prognose der Schadens- und Zustandsentwicklung der Elemente eines Brückensystems unter Berücksichtigung von Ergebnissen aus Inspektionen und Überwachung. Das Systemmodell wurde anhand eines ausgesuchten Spannbetonüberbaus in einzelliger Kastenbauweise entwickelt. Es besteht aus zwei integralen Teilmodellen: ein Modell zur Beschreibung des Systemschädigungszustandes und ein Modell zur Beschreibung der Standsicherheit. Für die Modellierung des stochastischen Systemschädigungszustandes eines Brückensystems werden dynamische Bayes'sche Netze (DBN) vorgeschlagen. Dieser Ansatz ermöglicht es, alle relevanten Schädigungsprozesse und deren stochastische Abhängigkeiten zu berücksichtigen. Ein wesentlicher Vorteil dieses Ansatzes ist es, dass DBN ideal dafür geeignet sind, Bayes'sche Aktualisierungen auf Grundlage von Informationen aus Inspektionen und Überwachungsmaßnahme auf eine effiziente und robuste Art und Weise durchzuführen. Der DBN-Ansatz ist deshalb für die Entwicklung von Software für das Erhaltungsmanagement von alternden Brückenbauwerken, die vom Benutzer keine vertieften Kenntnisse der Zuverlässigkeitstheorie verlangt, ideal geeignet. Für die Modellierung der Standsicherheit eines alternden Kastenträgers wird vereinfachend Biegeversagen des globalen Längssystems betrachtet. Zur Berechnung der maximalen Traglast eines Kastenträgers infolge des Systemschädigungszustandes wird ein plastisch-plastisches Verfahren eingesetzt, wobei die Beanspruchungen mittels der Fließgelenktheorie unter Ausnutzung der plastischen Beanspruchbarkeit der Querschnitte des Kastenträgers ermittelt werden. Ein Kastenträger versagt, wenn sich durch die Ausbildung einer ausreichend großen Anzahl von Fließgelenken eine kinematische Kette ausbildet. Dieser Modellierungsansatz berücksichtigt Redundanzen, die sich aus der plastischen Beanspruchbarkeit der Querschnitte und der statischen Unbestimmtheit eines Kastenträgers ergeben. Zum Nachweis der praktischen Einsetzbarkeit des entwickelten Systemmodells wurde ein Software-Prototyp entwickelt, der eine intuitiv benutzbare graphische Benutzeroberfläche (Front-End) mit einem Berechnungskern (Back-End) koppelt. Die aktuelle Version des Software-Prototyps implementiert ein Modell der chloridinduzierten Bewehrungskorrosion und ein Tragwerksmodell, welches das Verfahrens der stetigen Laststeigerung zur Bestimmung der maximalen Traglast des Kastenträgers auf der Grundlage eines Finite-Elemente-Modells umsetzt. Zur Durchführung von Bayes'schen Aktualisierungen des Systemschädigungszustandes auf der Grundlage des DBN-Modells implementiert der Prototyp den Likelihood-Weighting-Algorithmus. Die entwickelte Architektur des Prototyps ermöglicht eine Erweiterung der Software um weitere Schädigungsprozesse. Der entwickelte Software-Prototyp ermöglicht Benutzern ohne vertiefte Kenntnisse der Zuverlässigkeitstheorie eine Berechnung des Einflusses von Bauwerksinformationen auf den Systemschädigungszustand und die Tragsicherheit eines Kastenträgers. Auf dieser Grundlage können effiziente Inspektions- und Überwachungsmaßnahmen identifiziert und das Erhaltungsmanagement optimiert werden.
Owners or operators of offshore wind farms perform inspections to collect information on the condition of the wind turbine support structures and perform repairs if required. These activities are costly and should be optimized. Risk-based methods can be applied to identify inspection and repair strategies that ensure an optimal balance between the expected total service life cost of inspection and repair, and the achieved risk reduction. Such an optimization requires explicit modeling of repairs. In this paper, the impact of different repair models on the results of a risk-based optimization of inspection and repair strategies is quantified in a numerical example considering a jacket-type steel frame subject to high-cycle fatigue. The example showed that, in this specific application, there is no need for detailed modeling of the behavior of repaired welded connections.
Owners or operators of offshore wind farms perform inspections to collect information on the condition of the wind turbine support structures and perform repairs if required. These activities are costly and should be optimized. Risk-based methods can be applied to identify inspection and repair strategies that ensure an optimal balance between the expected total service life cost of inspection and repair, and the achieved risk reduction. Such an optimization requires explicit modeling of repairs. In this paper, the impact of different repair models on the results of a risk-based optimization of inspection and repair strategies is quantified in a numerical example considering a jacket-type steel frame subject to high-cycle fatigue. The example showed that, in this specific application, there is no need for detailed modeling of the behavior of repaired welded connections.
Reliability analysis of deteriorating structural systems requires the solution of time-variant reliability problems.
In the general case, both the capacity of and the loads on the structure vary with time. This analysis can be approached by approximation through a series of time-invariant reliability problems, which is a potentially effective strategy for cases where direct solutions of the time-variant reliability problem are challenging, e.g. for structural systems with many elements or arbitrary load processes. In this contribution, we thoroughly Review the formulation of the equivalent time-invariant reliability problems and extend this approximation to structures for which inspection and monitoring data is available. Thereafter, we present methods for efficiently evaluating the reliability over time. In particular, we propose the combination of sampling-based methods with a FORM (first-order reliability method) approximation of the series system reliability problem that arises in the computation of the lifetime reliability. The framework and algorithms are demonstrated on a set of numerical examples, which include the computation of the reliability conditional on inspection data.
Inspection and maintenance contribute significantly to the lifetime cost of bridges. There is significant potential in using information obtained through structural health monitoring to update predictive models of the condition and performance of such structures, and thus ena-ble an improved decision-making regarding inspection and maintenance activities. Within the AISTEC project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, we develop vibration-based structural health monitoring systems aimed at continuously provid-ing information on the structural condition of bridges. Environmental variations such as changing ambient temperatures can significantly influence the dynamic characteristics of bridges and thus mask the effect of structural changes and damages. It remains a challenge to account for such influences in structural health monitoring. To study the effect of ambient temperatures on the dynamic characteristics of beam structures, we monitor the vibration response of a reinforced concrete beam in the uncracked and cracked state at varying tem-peratures in a climate chamber. We postulate a set of competing parameterized probabilistic structural models, which explicitly account for the effect of varying ambient temperatures on the mechanical properties of the system. We then combine the information provided by the structural models with the information contained in the recorded vibration data to learn the parameters of the temperature-dependent structural models and infer the plausible state of the beam using Bayesian system identification and model class selection.
Growth of vehicle traffic density can be observed in many countries all over the world. This accretion is caused by world-wide population growth on the one hand, but also by increasing freight volumes and, thus, freight transports on the streets on the other hand.
This increased exposure becomes more and more of a problem for the civil infrastructure such as bridges. Many of these bridges are nowadays stressed to their limits by higher loads than they were originally designed for and/or operating times beyond the initially predicted life span. This raises questions about structural safety and lifetime prediction, of course, and therefore illustrates the need for accurate structural monitoring.
Since the lifetime of bridge structures is primarily influenced by their traffic loading, an accurate identification of load configurations over the whole length of a structure is most desirable.
In this paper, a method for vehicle load identification is proposed. It involves Bayesian Analysis and (quasi-)static importance functions in order to estimate vehicle positions, velocities and weights. The structure is modeled with finite elements in order to generate model predictions for different load configurations. The model predictions are compared to the actual measured data to identify the most probable loading configuration for that measurement. This involves the use of enhanced Monte Carlo simulations such as MCMC to reduce the computational effort. The measured data from different kinds of sensors can (and should) be combined for accuracy gain – in this case a combination of measured displacements and inclinations.
Since the measurements take place over some time during the passage of the vehicle, these estimations are carried out for several time instants for which the estimation is carried out. The advantage of using Bayesian Updating Method is the embodied learning effect leading to an improvement of the estimation when adding new information in a new calculation step.
Using the estimates for the loading conditions of a bridge structure as well as measurements of the structural responses, Bayesian analysis is again used in order to estimate localized structural parameters such as Young's modulus or Moments of Inertia in form of probability density functions yielding most probable values for the parameters.
Considering the difficulties for load identification close to the support poles of the bridge and therefore for the proposed structural parameter identification procedure, it is clear that this problem is ill posed. Bayesian regularization methods also have proven to be very effective when handling ill posed problems.