ASSESSM ENT O F A RESIDUAL ENERG Y ERRO R INDICATO R FO R M O DEL

SUM MARY: Error localization techniques for model updating from test data seek the regions where damage or model errors may be present, being these places responsable for the discrep-ancies between the analytical and experimental results. The aim of this paper is to analize the limitations of the indicator proposed by the Minimization of Errors in the Constitutive Equation (MECE) to locate model errors. This indicator is based on a residual strain energy result of the unbalance in the nite element model equilibrium equation. To perform the analysis, rst a brief explanation of the expansion methods is presented, then the error localization technique is explained. Numerical examples verify the ability of the MECE indicator to produce good localization results. Beyond that, the work highlights several problems related to the use of the indicator and several techniques are here proposed to avoid these difculties. These techniques allow the analysis of condence in the damage detection procedure and appear to be valuable tools to evaluate localization results. KEYWO RDS:model updating, damage assessment, error localization. INTRO DUCTION Methods for localizing errors [4] in a nite element (FE) model to be adapted from experimenta