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Inverse analysis problems in structural engineering of concrete dams

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COMPUTATIONAL MECHANICS
WCCM VI in conjunction with APCOM’04, Sept. 5-10, 2004, Beijing, China
© 2004 Tsinghua University Press & Springer-Verlag

Inverse analysis problems in structural engineering of concrete

dams
Giulio Maier1*, Raffaele Ardito1, Roberto Fedele1
1
Department of Structural Engineering, Technical University (Politecnico) of Milan, Piazza Leonardo
da Vinci 32, Milan, 20133, Italy.
e-mail: giulio.maier@polimi.it

Abstract: In a number of technologies computational and experimental mechanics join for the solution
of inverse problems. Concrete dams are referred to in this lecture, which is intended to outline and
briefly discuss recent research results on representative inverse problems in structural engineering,
namely: diagnostic overall analysis of a dam monitored by radar, under hydrostatic loading, in the
possible presence of damages due to alkali-silica reaction; identification of local stresses, stiffness and
strength by means of a two-holes dilatometric technique; stochastic calibration of a piecewise-linear
cohesive crack model for concrete by wedge splitting tests and extended Kalman-Bucy filter.

Key words: inverse problems; concrete dams; diagnosis; local parameter identification; wedge splitting
test.

INTRODUCTION
Inverse analysis, and in particular parameter identification, can be described as an assessment of some
features of the causes on the basis of information or requirements concerning their effects in physical
phenomena. In recent times a growth is noticed in the number of engineering situations to which inverse
analysis is applied. This growth occurs with remarkable advantages especially in non-traditional
technological areas, e.g. for the characterization of material behaviour through constitutive model
calibration and for the diagnostic assessment of damages and defects in existing constructions and
products. The present developments in inverse analysis applications can be interpreted as results of a
synergistic confluence of computational mechanics and experimental mechanics. Such fruitful mutual
integration is likely to occur more and more frequently in the future, with remarkable economical
benefits in an increasing number of real-life technological problems.
The applications of inverse analysis briefly discussed in this lecture with reference to concrete dams are
intended to be representative of the above trend and exhibit some novelties from methodological and
practical standpoints. Theoretical, algorithmical and experimental issues are not considered in any detail
herein, but can be found in referenced sources.
Dams are economically and socially important constructions, instrumental to the following main
purposes: irrigation of agricultural areas; water supplies for human communities; control of floods;
navigation along rivers; non-polluting production of renewable energy (20% of the present world's
consumption). A meaningful investigation [1] led to the conclusion that the total amount of exploitable
water on earth is roughly six times the amount exploited at the present time, and that a significant growth
of the dam number world-wide should occur in the future, of course with increasing attention to impacts
on the environment. An almost mythical symbol of such developments in dam engineering is represented
by the Three Gorges Dam under construction in China on the Yangtse River [2]. This dam is the largest
structure even materialized by mankind: equivalent to 18 nuclear power plants for energy production;
28.5 million cubic meters of concrete; in service starting from 2009.
In existing dams a variety of past events and ageing processes may imply serious reductions of structural
safety. Reliable and accurate integrity assessments of existing large dams, and sound decisions on
possible retrofitting or demolishing works, represent nowadays frequent and urgent social needs in
several countries. To these purposes, substantial contributions can be provided by computational and
experimental mechanics combined in inverse analysis, as exemplified in what follows.

DIAGNOSTIC OVERALL ANALYSIS OF CONCRETE DAMS BY HYDROSTATIC LOADING

AND RADAR MONITORING
Damages in existing concrete dams, especially in Europe where most dams are more than thirty years
old, are amenable primarily to the following causes: extremely loading conditions (e.g. a strong
earthquake or an extreme flood); slow deterioration, along decades of ageing, due to Alkali-Silica
Reaction (ASR) and/or other physico-chemical phenomena; heat generation and high temperature
gradients during the maturing process of concrete, with consequent diffused cracking; intrusion of
moisture or pressurized, sometimes aggressive, water and freeze and thaw cycles; orogenetic
displacements in the surrounding geological formation; inadequate analysis tools at the design time.
Whatever their manifestations at the microscale may be (microcracks, growth of voids, gel expansion
etc.), for the evaluation of their consequences on structural safety the above damages have to be
quantified as correlated degradations of stiffness and strength within a suitable material model
concerning local but average stresses and strains. Strength parameters obviously cannot be identified by
overall non-destructive tests. Therefore, although the correlation between stiffness and strength losses is
often difficult to assess (as for ASR, it is fairly well experimentally quantified, see [3-5]), the damage-
reduced Young moduli are often regarded as practically representative of damages in concrete dams (one
modulus, or two where the original casting technique induces anisotropy with transversal horizontal
isotropy).
Three quite distinct approaches can be adopted at present for the global diagnosis of concrete dams: (i)
stochastic reliability analysis based on data concerning past structural behaviour of the dam in point and
of other comparable dams; (ii) inverse analysis resting on experimental data gathered by monitoring the
dynamic response to shakers (or sometimes to mild earthquakes); (iii) inverse analysis concerning dam
response to quasi-statical loads generated by significant changes in the reservoir level.
The methodology (i), which is the least demanding in computational mechanics terms, has been
frequently applied so far, see e.g. [6]. A method consistent with approach (ii) and centered on modal
analysis and derivation of eigen-frequencies and eigen-modes from accelerometric monitoring, see e.g.
[7], was recently developed in an industrial research project (“Hystride”) financed by the European
Union.
To the present purpose of briefly describing the central role of computational mechanics in dam
diagnosis, the third approach (iii) only, developed by the Authors’ team, is considered herein and
outlined below (details can be found in [8] and in papers in preparation).
(a) Reference is made to an existing arch-gravity dam (maximum height 80 m; in service since 1970;
deteriorated by ASR), considered to different purposes for an international benchmark of ICOLD [9]: it
is subjected to a transition from full to empty reservoir in about one week (with slower seasonal
transition, thermal effects, not considered here, would be essential).
(b) Displacements (19 altogether) are measured by a traditional monitoring system, namely by pendula
(with typical accuracy of ±0.05 mm) and collimators (±0.5 mm). Other displacements of the downstream
surface are measured by ground-based radar (acronym of Radio Detection and Ranging), specifically by
Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR). This radar instrumentation, resulting
from recent research at the European Joint Research Center Ispra (see e.g. [10]) and applied only once so
far on dams, represents an important promising novelty for quasi-static dam monitoring in view of the
following main features: simultaneous measurements of displacements (along the line-of-sight) in a large
number of downstream surface points (347 by a single equipment in the present diagnosis exercise)
without targets to be positioned; high and still growing accuracy (now ±0.25 mm can be reasonably
assumed); independence from weather conditions.
(c) The simulation of the test (“the forward operator” in the jargon of inverse analysis) can be
summarized as follows: linear elasticity hypothesis; finite element discretization (brick elements, 10472
nodes); elastic condensation of the degrees of freedom concerning the dam foundation to reduce
computing time;
(d) The dam is subdivided into individually homogeneous zones (in the present case 10, see Figure 1,
and later 18), to each one of which an unknown Young modulus E is attributed as representative of
damage to be estimated.
(e) A suitable norm of the discrepancy between the experimental data generated by the monitoring
system at stage (b) and the corresponding values computed by the discrete model (c) is minimized with
respect to the damaged stiffness parameters defined at (d). Among the various approaches to inverse
problems (see e.g. [11-13]) the deterministic least-square one is chosen here as the simplest and most
suitable to the present situation. The only stochastic ingredient is the covariance matrix of measurements
(here a diagonal matrix since the data are uncorrelated) which is employed to construct the objective
function as a quadratic form of the discrepancies.

1
(a) (b)
6 4

9
10
2 5
7 3
8

Fig. 1 Downstream (a) and cross-section (b) views of the dam subdivided into ten homogeneous zones for
identification of deteriorated Young moduli.

(f) For the (generally non-convex) minimization formulated at stage (e), with constraints consisting of
bounds on the sought parameters, various algorithms implemented in available computer codes have
been numerically tested and compared: both zero-order (Nelder and Mead direct search; genetic
algorithms) and first-order algorithms (Gauss-Newton; Levenberg-Marquardt; “trust region”). For the
present problem, the most cost-effective and robust technique turned out to be the “trust region”
algorithm, characterized at each iteration by a computationally inexpensive approximation of the
Hessian (based on gradients only) and two-dimensional quadratic programming [14].
(g) In order to achieve an understanding of the essential features of the inverse problem in point
(parameter identifiability, well-posedness in Hadamard sense) and also in view of a possible re-design of
its formulation (e.g.: enhanced location of monitoring instruments and of dam zoning; updated finite
element model), the following computational developments have been carried out: sensitivity maps
(computed by direct differentiation of the discrete governing equations) of measurable displacements
with respect to the sought damaged moduli [15-16]; checks on the resulting minimum of the
discrepancy norm and on the nearby behaviour of the objective function (maps, approximate Hessian)
for possible “bias removal” on modeling and avoidance of local minima; parametric studies by varying
zone subdivision, algorithm initialization, unknown parameter normalization and, most important, nature
and number of the (pseudo)-experimental data and their random disturbances (“noises”) on them in order
to assess the consequences on the resulting estimates and to check the robustness of the estimation.
Some representative results achieved in the present study are visualized in Figures 2-3 and concisely
explained by the relevant captions.
The above outlined inverse analysis, stages (a) to (g), has been a purely computational study based on
“pseudo-experimental” data (truly experimental data were not available), namely: measurable
displacements were computed assuming reasonable values of the deteriorated elastic moduli, which later
were employed to check the accuracy of their estimates resulting from the inverse analysis resting on
those displacements as its input. This typical exercise of diagnostic analyses led to the following main
conclusions of practical and general interest: if the new radar technique is employed for measuring a
large set of displacements on the downstream surface of a dam, the possible local stiffness deterioration
can be identified in a large portion of the dam volume (not near the foundation, at least when a single
radar is employed); fast changes of the reservoir level provide a suitable static loading and an
inexpensive one when required by other circumstances (e.g. sediment removal); the trust region
algorithm and relevant available software, combined with once-for-all sensitivity mapping, are effective,
perhaps optimal, computational tools for the least-square numerical solution of the deterministic
identification of the elastic moduli as damage parameters.

3 4
5
10
1
6 7

Fig. 2 Comparison of the errors in the identified Young moduli as a consequence of a single random
perturbation of pseudo-experimental data. In the case of radar-based identification, the measurable
displacements (347) are perturbed by a random noise in the range [-0.25mm;+0.25mm]; with traditional
monitoring, errors lie in the ranges [-0.05mm;+0.05mm] and [-0.5mm;+0.5mm] for pendulums (16
displacements) and collimators (3 measurements), respectively.

(a) 5 10
4 (b)
8
2 9 9 10
3 8

1
2
7 3 7

6 4
1 5 6

Fig. 3 Outcomes of a Monte Carlo identification process employing 250 samples of random errors, with
constant probability density over the same ranges indicated in Figure 2. (a) Average estimates based on
radar data (black dots), together with the 90% confidence intervals, compared to the “exact” values
(gray boxes); integrity parameters are defined as the unknown Young moduli divided by undamaged
value as reference. (b) Comparison of the a posteriori standard deviations in the cases of radar (crosses)
and traditional monitoring (circles, with 90% confidence intervals)
MATERIAL AND STRESS PARAMETER IDENTIFICATION BY DILATOMETRIC IN SITU
TESTS
The overall diagnosis described in the preceding Section (and its dynamic counterpart earlier mentioned
in passing) exhibits two serious limitations: (i) measurable displacements are, as expected, almost
insensitive to damages in lower zones of the dam near the foundation and the “pulvino” joint, so that
damages are hardly identifiable there; (ii) this inverse analysis strategy cannot identify self-stresses,
which are expected, structurally important consequences of ASR expansion and/or orographic
settlements in the surrounding geological formation. An effective remedy to both such limitations might
be provided by a novel procedure which combines inverse analysis and local, non-destructive
dilatometric test and is briefly described below through the sequence of its operative stages.
(a) By a tool already used especially in rock mechanics (see e.g. [17-18]) or eventually by an improved
version of it, a hole is excavated (diameter of, say, 8÷10 cm; length suitable to reach the zone of interest)
and equipped with an instrument (“dilatometer”) apt to measure changes of its diameters (e.g. in 3÷6
directions, at 60°÷30° intervals).
(b) The above operation is duplicated, namely: a second hole, parallel to the preceding one, is made at a
suitable distance (say of 2 diameters between centers), in the direction that a preliminary overall analysis
indicates as the direction of the largest principal stress in the plane orthogonal to the hole axis.
(c) The stress release due to the second perforation (b) gives rise to deformations which are measured by
the dilatometer in the first hole (a).
(d) The second hole is pressurized (like in traditional dilatometer tests on rocks) and, subsequently, the
first hole as well, while consequent changes of diameters in both are measured at various pressure levels.
(e) A model is constructed (“forward operator”) for computer simulation of the mechanical processes (c)
and (d). It consists of two- or three-dimensional finite element space-discretization of governing
relationships, including as parameters to identify those which define the pre-existing stress and are
reasonably regarded as uniform over the problem domain enucleated around the holes within the much
larger dam volume.
(f) Inverse analyses are performed by the same simple approach and least-square procedure adopted in
what precedes for overall diagnosis. However, now the parameter identification process is naturally
subdivided in two phases: first, the stress and the elastic parameters; second, inelastic parameters under
pressure levels which are selected as a compromise between the conflicting requirements of inelastic
strain activations and negligible damages to the dam.
(g) Sensitivity analyses and parametric studies are again, like for overall diagnoses, important
developments for the optimal design of the experiment (e.g. geometry selection of the hole pair) and of
the relevant equipment and for the assessment of potentialities and limitations of the method.
Despite a basic methodological similarity between the global diagnostic analysis of the preceding
Section and the local one of this Section, a substantial difference should be noticed: in the former it is
practically desirable to keep as large as possible the number of damage parameters (Young moduli) to
estimate; in the latter the number of sought parameters is small by their very nature (principal stresses
and constitutive constants in a material model chosen for engineering practice). This circumstance makes
soft computing and in particular Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) eligible with expected advantages
for the two-holes in situ tests. The ANN alternative at stage (f), in the light of our current research, turns
out to be computationally more robust and much less costly than the discrepancy minimization
algorithms, if a suitable “learning” stage is provided.
Figures 4-6 visualize a small sample of results which are illustrative of the above methodological outline
and representative of those achieved through current research. According to the available literature, see
e.g. [17-18], the information extracted from dilatometric tests rest on semi-empirical criteria and/or
formulae, although inverse analysis had been proposed many years ago in combination with pressure
tunnel tests for excavations at the large scale [19].
The two-holes procedure proposed herein as a confluence of in situ testing, computer simulation and
parameter identification, appears to exhibit promising novelties.
Similar remarks and investigations in progress concern flat-jack tests, which are since long time applied
to monumental structures and rocks, and recently have sometimes been employed on concrete dams for
assessments of stresses and material properties near the surface.

L = 2,16 m

H=2m

d d d
8 cm

Fig. 4 Two-holes dilatometric test and the finite element model adopted for its simulation.

(a) (b)
1.2 1.2

1 1

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6
sigma H 1/E
0.4 sigma H - Noise 0.4 1/E - Noise
sigma V nu
0.2 0.2
sigma V - Noise nu - Noise
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Fig. 5 Least-square estimations (as functions of the iteration sequence with the “trust region” algorithm)
on the basis of two-hole test pseudo-experimental data (“exact” and corrupted by 10 % artificial noise):
(a) stresses, horizontal H and vertical V; (b) Young and Poisson modulus, under the hypothesis of
isotropic elasticity.
 (a) (b)
1.2 3
sigma T
1 2.5
sigma T - Noise
0.8 2 sigma C
0.6 1/Eh 1.5 sigma C - Noise
0.4 1/Eh - Noise 1
1/Ev
0.2 0.5
1/Ev - Noise
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fig. 6 Least-square estimation like in Fig. 5 on the basis of two-hole data “exact” and corrupted by 10%
noise, under the hypotheses of elastic orthotropy, Poisson ratio assigned a priori, Huber-Mises perfect
plasticity:(a) possibly deteriorated Young moduli, horizontal h and vertical v;(b) yield stresses, in tension
T and compression C.

IDENTIFICATION OF CONCRETE FRACTURE PARAMETERS

Computational fracture mechanics is frequently involved in safety evaluations of existing dams and in
design of new ones. A reasonable and now popular assumption is represented by the Mode I cohesive
crack model endowed with bilinear softening branch (Figure 8a) and, hence, governed by four
parameters (e.g.: tensile strength; fracture energy; traction and opening displacement as coordinates of
the “break point”). These parameters cannot be identified by the in situ tests considered in the preceding
section, within their “non-destructiveness” constraints. The laboratory tests called Wedge-Splitting Tests
(WST), Figure 7a, appear to be especially suitable to concrete for new dams and to specimens extracted
from old ones, also in view of the possible large average size of the aggregate in dams. The higher
accuracy and the larger data amount achievable in laboratory experimentation with respect to the in situ
one considered in what precedes, motivates recourse to advanced stochastic sequential procedures for
parameter identification, such as the extended Kalman-Bucy filter method developed in [20] for inverse
analysis associated to WST.

(a) (b)

Fig. 7 Laboratory equipment for Wedge-Splitting Test (a). Experimental diagram (b) of the force F
versus the crack opening displacements COD imposed by the wedge at the crack mouth; black dots
indicate some of the measurement instants.

This method can be concisely described as follows. The geometry of the specimen and equipment, and
the monotonic growth in time of the imposed “crack opening displacement” guarantee regularly
progressive fracture processes, without manifestations of irreversibility in terms of crack closure (or
“local unloading” in the usual sense of plasticity). Therefore the piecewise-linear cohesive crack model
(Figure 8a) can be regarded, in the present case, as path-independent or “holonomic”, and can be
formulated as a linear complementarity problem (LCP) [21].

(a) (b)

Fig. 8 (a) Piece-wise linear cohesive crack model with bilinear softening evolution: tractions p versus
transversal opening displacement w (Mode I) and the four parameters to identify. (b) Kalman filter
estimation of parameter h on the basis of pseudo-experimental data (correct value h=13 MPa/mm):
mean values (marked by o) and 99% confidence limits ( ∆ marks) versus measurement situation index i,
with noisy data; the thick line visualises the mean value estimation sequence with noise absence as
instabilizing factor.

The space discretization is performed by means of finite elements (FE) in generalized variables (in
Prager's sense). This kind of FE modelling preserves the energy meaning of the dot product and the
essential mathematical features of the involved operators in passing from the continuum to the discrete
formulation. An alternative approach to the computer simulation of the WST can be provided by the
traditional (collocation) boundary element method (BEM), or, better, by the symmetric Galerkin BEM
which preserves those features, see e.g. [22].
Since the cohesive crack model represented as a LCP is the only nonlinear ingredient in the computer
simulation, also the overall FE or BE analysis of the WST can be formulated as a LCP. This turns out to
be associated to a nondefinite matrix and, hence, is equivalent to a nonconvex quadratic program. Ad
hoc mathematical programming techniques can be employed to solve the fracture problem thus
formulated, in order to simulate the specimen response in terms of the horizontal splitting force F versus
the imposed crack opening displacement COD during the test, [23].
The four parameters in the cohesive crack model, Figure 8a, must be identified on the basis of the F vs
COD plot measured during the test, Figure 7b. This inverse problem can be effectively solved, in a
statistical context, by the extended Kalman filter procedure. Such technique basically consists of a time-
stepping sequence of estimations, which starts from “a priori” estimates accompanied by a covariance
matrix quantifying their uncertainties (Bayesian approach) and exploits a flow of experimental or
pseudo-experimental data. Re-starting from the results achieved, the whole sequence can be repeated
(“global iterations”) until convergence is achieved.
Each estimate includes mean values and a covariance matrix of the sought parameters. The capacity of
processing experimental uncertainties and quantifying the resulting uncertainties of the identified
parameters represents an advantageous peculiar feature of this methodology. The mathematical construct
(LCP) is exploited to obtain in a computational convenient closed form the derivatives of the measurable
quantities (i.e. the reactive force F) with respect to the parameters to identify, gathered in the so-called
"sensitivity matrix", indeed to compute the “gain matrices” at each step. Some fundamentals and
operative details on Kalman filter applications to the present kind of inverse mechanical problems can be
found e.g. in [11] and [24].
The identification procedure was preliminarily assessed by means of pseudo-experimental (i.e. computer
generated) data. The results referred to herein are presented in [20].
Figure 8b shows, as an example, the convergence of the estimated mean value of parameter h to the
correct value assumed for generating the pseudo-experimental data. The confidence range (99% with
Gaussian distribution) shrinks progressively as new data are processed, until convergence is achieved.
The experimental F vs COD plot and the recalculated one by the use of the identified cohesive model, are
comparatively shown in Figure 9.

Fig. 9 Experimental force F vs COD imposed by the wedge, compared to the simulated response
computed by means of the identified model ("recalculated data").
In general, the extended Kalman filter methodology, if combined with a suitable mathematical model of
the experimental tests, represents a powerful and reliable tool which not only identifies important
material parameters but also provides a quantitative assessment of their uncertainties to structural
analyses purposes.
Clearly, the deterministic, batch, least square parameter identification methodology adopted for inverse
analyses dealt with in the preceding Sections, represents a simpler, in principle computationally more
economical alternative to the above considered filtering methodology. It is worth noting here that this
alternative approach (not discussed herein for paucity of space), in view of the LCP formulation of the
piece-wise linear cohesive crack model, would lead to a problem called “mathematical programming
under equilibrium constraints” (MPEC). This is at present a fashionable problem in mathematics applied
to economics, see e.g. [25] and [26], although a solution method was developed earlier in [27] for
parameter identification in structural plasticity.

FUTURE PROSPECTS AND CLOSING REMARKS

The three inverse analysis issues briefly presented in this lecture require further research in order to
improve their practical use in dam engineering practice. Overall static diagnosis outlined in the second
Section should be integrated with thermal analysis in view of inexpensive seasonal loading, and
extended to nonlinearities due to joints (artificial and “natural” joints, i.e. large cracks). The latter
extension and consequent step-by-step character of the forward operator induces recourse to sequential
and stochastic identification strategies, like Kalman filter referred to in the preceding Section. Parallel
generalization is desirable also for dynamic diagnostic analysis allowing for non-linear behaviour of
joints.
Computer simulation and inverse analysis should still advantageously be put to work in various
methodologies employed in dam and civil engineering for local mechanical characterization, e.g. flat
jackets and other techniques, as pointed out earlier in the third Section.
Wedge splitting tests combined with sequential inverse analysis are likely to be further investigated in
the near future, for extensions to mixed mode fracture and to other, possibly time-dependent, models,
and in view of its routine use in all structural engineering areas centered on concrete. The very same
mathematical context and procedures referred to in the preceding Section are preserved if mixed mode
fracture is described by the “piecewise-linear” cohesive-crack model proposed in [28]. Computational
gains should arise from recent developments in the extended Kalman-Bucy filter methodology, as
experienced in [29] where “unscented” filter was applied to microscale parameter identification in
periodic composites.
Dam engineering, in which China is nowadays a leading country, represents one of several technologies
where inverse analyses play more and more frequent and important roles (as shown by an ad hoc
MiniSymposium in this Conference). John von Neumann wrote: “the sciences mainly make models, i.e.
mathematical constructs which describe phenomena; the justification of such constructs is solely that
they are expected to work”. In many real-life mechanical problems such expectation is made likely to be
satisfied by the mix of computation and experimentation which is a typical essential feature of inverse
analysis. Even more generally, perhaps the following citation from A. Tarantola [11] holds: “Inverse
problem theory tries to describe the rules human beings should use for quantitative updatings of their
internal model of the world”.

Acknowledgements The results outlined in this paper have been achieved in research projects supported
by MIUR on dam engineering. Thanks are expressed to the visitor Dr. Bartosz Miller for his
contributions on neural network applications and to the master students P. Bartalotta, L. Ceriani, M.
Lettieri and L. Piola for their various contributions.

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