Fuzzy Data Processing in Damage Assessment

In the safety and damage evaluation of structures, it is important to establish a rational method for handling or interpreting the available data obtained from inspection or experiment. Due to the vagueness or scarcity of available data, probabilistic methods may fail to provide a reliable model for the evaluation of damage state.In this paper, attempts are made to apply the concept of fuzzy sets to data processing in the damage assessment of bridge structure. By using the fuzzy quantification theory, which was proposed for the discrimination of qualitative data, the inspection results obtained from the fact-finding inquiries are analyzed to classify the damage state of existing bridges. For the fatigue analysis of reinforced concrete bridge deck, a new interpretation of S-N curve is presented based on the concept of possibility distribution. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the procedure of data processing presented herein.