Sensitivity‐Based Weighted‐Average in Structural Damage Assessment

Abstract

To quantify the global damageability of a structure, the weighted‐average function defined in terms of damage condition and the importance or weightages of structural elements has generally been used in literature. Judgment of structural importance of a structural element is a difficult task. The opinion provided by experts could have different perspective or bias, which may reflect in the overall assessment process. Structural analysis being precise these days, structural importance of a member could be realistically estimated using standard structural procedures. In this paper it is proposed that the weightage computation could be linked to damage sensitivity of the element response. It is argued that the weighted‐average computation based on damage sensitivity is a more realistic index for integrity assessment. In this perspective, the concept of damage sensitivity and its computational aspects based on the finite‐element method are also presented. Finally, examples of weighted‐average computation comprising fuzzy sets and importance factor obtained from normalized damage sensitivity are illustrated.