Uncertainty assessment in the results of inverse problems: applied to damage detection in masonry dams

Abstract

In this work, we study the uncertainties in the results of inverse problems. The inverse problems solve damage identification problems in multifield-multiphase problems for fluid-flow problems in deforming porous materials under non-isothermal boundary conditions. These analyses are important within the structural health monitoring of masonry dams. Results of the inverse problems show a scatter due to different sources of uncertainties in model parameters, measurement data, field of measurements, and in the solving algorithms of the inverse problem. In order to see and analyse the scatter, the inverse problem is solved repeatedly by a sampling process. The uncertainty in the inverse solutions can be quantified by their probability distributions according to the sampling results.