Call for Papers

Submit Paper » Background Engineering systems and structures are often subject to a wide range of uncertainties arising from material properties, environmental conditions, manufacturing tolerances, operational fluctuations, etc. Probabilistic analysis is usually applied to describe these uncertainties, although more often than not they also involve epistemic uncertainties arising from modelling the randomness under insufficient information, and/or a lack of modelling details of the physical processes with computational simulators. Accurately quantifying these uncertainties is critical for designing robust and reliable engineering solutions. This Special Issue aims to highlight the latest developments and innovative approaches in the field of uncertainty quantification tailored specifically for engineering applications. ...

Submit Paper » Background This Special Collection (SC) aims to gather contributions to advance the state-of-the-art methods and applications of uncertainty propagation in high-dimensional stochastic systems. Effective uncertainty propagation is critical for rational decision-making, risk assessment, and optimization of engineering systems. Particularly, high-dimensional stochastic systems represent a significant class of problems encountered in various domains. Nevertheless, uncertainty propagation in high-dimensional settings poses significant challenges due to the “curse of dimensionality”. Traditional methods often become computationally prohibitive. Consequently, there is a growing need for advanced techniques to handle the complexity of high-dimensional systems accurately and efficiently. This SC focuses on efficient analytical, data-driven, and computational methods for uncertainty propagation, novel control techniques for stochastic systems, and advanced optimization approaches. Grounded in solid theory, these methods aim for real-world applications, bridging the gap between theory and practice with practical solutions in aerospace, civil engineering, energy systems, and environmental modeling. ...

Submit Paper » Aims & Scope This Special Collection (SC) aims to provide a dedicated space for in-depth exploration and dissemination of advancements in uncertainty modeling and quantification of numerical methods in geotechnical engineering. The primary goal of this SC is to feature emerging developments, which address the calibration of soil or rock constitutive models developed in recent time, data-driven and physics-informed models for soil or rock constitutive relations, database assessment of the variability in geotechnical numerical predictions, and benchmark exercises for geotechnical analyses by commercial software. The contributions are supposed to provide a deeper insight into the calibration and verification of numerical models in geotechnics, as well as the quantification of variability in numerical predictions of geo-structural response (e.g., deformation, capacity or stability). By establishing this SC, we aim to foster a collaborative environment that encourages researchers to contribute high-quality works, sharing insights and innovations in the field of uncertainty in geotechnical numerical methods. ...

Submit Paper » Engineering systems are increasingly complex. They need to meet advanced requirements for mission-critical fields with a low failure tolerance. As unexpected failures during the designed lifespan of a system may lead to catastrophic consequences, their reliability modeling and assessment are of utmost importance. The reliability modeling should achieve the assessment at a reasonable confidence level to help decision-makers arrive at sound decisions in practice. ...

Submit Paper » Fuel cells area vital component of renewable energy warranting significant consideration and ever-increasing applications. With the increase in the application of these systems, the need for safety analysis also increases. These systems can fail due to several reasons that can result in economic losses and catastrophes. Increasing the life expectancy of fuel cells is an important aspect that needs substantial attention. Hence, to avoid sudden failures and achieve better life expectancy the discovery, identification, and implementation of enhanced health indicators for effective diagnosis and prognosis is critical. ...

Submit Paper » Background This Special Collection (SC) aims to provide a dedicated space for in-depth exploration and dissemination of advancements in vulnerability analysis, risk management, and uncertainty modeling. The primary goal of this SC is to feature emerging developments, which address hazards, risks and respective mitigation strategies towards resilience and sustainability of our infrastructure systems and the built environment. The contributions are supposed to provide key ideas, concepts and technologies to solve major challenges concerned with the high complexity and the multi-disciplinary character of the problems as well as with the comprehensive quantification, efficient processing and management of the involved uncertainties. By establishing this SC, we aim to foster a collaborative environment that encourages researchers to contribute high-quality works, sharing insights and innovations in the multifaceted fields of risk, uncertainty, and decision-making. ...

Submit Paper » Background The reliability of civil engineering structures is paramount for sustainable and resilient infrastructure. Ensuring robust behavior, particularly in the face of extreme events, is crucial for longevity and adaptability. This Special Collection focuses on a pivotal aspect of structural resilience: the control of vibrations, specifically addressing uncertainties. Scholars are invited to contribute original research papers exploring the nuanced interplay between vibration control and broader resilient civil engineering structures. This thematic issue serves as a guide for risk and reliability analysis, emphasizing the vital role of vibration control devices in reinforcing stability amidst uncertainty. ...

Submit Paper » Background Understanding the data and reaching accurate conclusions are of paramount importance in the present era of Big Data. Machine learning has been widely used in academia and industry to analyze voluminous and intricate datasets to uncover hidden patterns and reach incisive insights. Whilst machine learning approaches have extraordinary potential and are increasingly employed to aid in various complicated tasks, their results are not wholly reliable due to the challenges introduced by data uncertainty (aleatory uncertainty) and model uncertainty (epistemic uncertainty). It is essential to accommodate uncertainties and provide uncertainty estimates to uncover beneficial information for a better decision-making process. To this end, the development and application of novel uncertainty quantification methods in tandem with different machine-learning-enhanced techniques are crucial to yield useful information and amplify the interpretability and reliability of the results. With this in mind, this SC will gather contributions presenting state-of-the-art breakthroughs in uncertainty quantification for machine learning. ...

Submit Paper » In recent decades, fault diagnostics and failure prognostics have demonstrated their great potential for health monitoring and risk management of complex engineering systems, including smart factories, power plants, space systems, and heavy equipment. The credibility and applicability of fault diagnostics and failure prognostics, however, are significantly affected by various uncertainties, such as model uncertainty, data uncertainty, process uncertainty, environmental uncertainty, and the inherent uncertainty of engineered systems. Therefore, accurately quantifying the effects of these uncertainties is essential and one of the most widely-held concerns to ensure trustworthy decision-making based on diagnostic and prognostic results. The purpose of this special issue is to present the latest advancements in the field of uncertainty-aware diagnostics and prognostics for the health management of engineered systems. ...

Please find attached the Call for Papers for the Special Collection on Non-Deterministic Model Updating and Structural Health Monitoring for Existing Structures. Click to download the CFP Submit Paper » Guest Editors Masaru Kitahara, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Tokyo, kitahara@bridge.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp Sifeng Bi, Lecturer, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Strathclyde, sifeng.bi@strath.ac.uk Matteo Broggi, Deputy Head, Institute for Risk and Reliability, Leibniz University Hannover, broggi@irz.uni-hannover.de Takayuki Shuku, Associate Professor, Architecture, Civil Engineering and Environmental Management Program, Okayama University, shuku@cc.okayama-u.ac.jp Aims & Scope This Special Collection (SC) aims to gather contributions presenting the state-of-the-art on uncertainty analysis in model updating and structural health monitoring (SHM) for existing structures. Over the past few decades, civil infrastructures have been aging in many countries, and more and more infrastructures are being assessed as structurally deficient. Such structural deficiencies in key infrastructures come with massive consequences such as structural failures and even human deaths. The development of a framework for the safe operation and maintenance of infrastructures is thus required. To this end, SHM has attracted increasing attention in recent years, aiming at condition assessment and service life monitoring of existing structures, often on the basis of structural vibration data. SHM strategies can be mainly classified into two categories, i.e., model-based and data-driven methods. Model-based SHM employs physics-based models in combination with inverse analysis techniques to infer a set of model parameters, such that the best possible fit is gained between model outputs and measurements. This approach is generally referred to as model updating. Data-driven SHM, on the other hand, only exploits the monitoring data without use of physics-based models to infer structural condition. This approach is often rooted in signal processing, pattern recognition or machine learning techniques. Regardless of whether model-based or data-driven approach is used, uncertainties are practically inevitable in both the measuring and modeling processes due to very limited number of sensors, variation in environmental and operational conditions, simplification and approximation of complex physical behavior, and so on. Uncertainties may cause large deviations in model updating and SHM results and thus need to be appropriately dealt with by non-deterministic approaches, i.e., either probabilistic or non-probabilistic approaches. Considering the above issues, this SC reports the latest advances and challenges related to uncertainty analysis in model updating and SHM, encompassing not only the theoretical and computational aspects but also the practical and application aspects, especially for large-scale civil infrastructures. The concept of model updating and health monitoring have been widely accepted and used in many different fields such as geotechnical engineering, and the scope of this SC is not limited to structural engineering. ...