Virtual Distortion Method-Based Finite Element Model Updating of Bridges by Using Static Deformation

A superelement-based virtual distortion method (VDM) was proposed to improve the efficiency of the finite element model (FEM) updating of large-scaled bridges by using static information. On one side, VDM was deemed as a new type of metamodel for static analysis of structures, i. e., a surrogate model of FEM for bridges. In this way, the efficiency of FEM updating could be improved dramatically because massive iterative calculations need to be implemented during the process of FEM updating. On the other side, the superelement was applied to reduce the size of the influence matrix which was the kernel of building VDM; therefore, it is effective to enhance the efficiency of generating the metamodel (VDM) of large-scale bridges. Finally, with the measured static deformation data, the effectiveness of the proposed method was demonstrated by updating the FEM of a practical bridge. (C) 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.