Simultaneous identification of moving loads and structural damage by adjoint variable

This paper presents a novel method based on sensitivity of structural response for identifying both the system parameters and input excitation force of a bridge. This method, referred to as \"Adjoint Variable Method\", is a sensitivity-based finite element model updating method. The computational cost of sensitivity analyses is the main concern associated with damage detection by these methods. The main advantage of proposed method is inclusion of an analytical method to augment the accuracy and speed of the solution. The reliable performance of the method to precisely indentify the location and intensity of all types of predetermined single, multiple and random damages over the whole domain of moving vehicle speed is shown. A comparison study is also carried out to demonstrate the relative effectiveness and upgraded performance of the proposed method in comparison to the similar ordinary sensitivity analysis methods. Moreover, various sources of error including the effects of noise and primary errors on the numerical stability of the proposed method are discussed.