ABSTRACT
Identifying damage scenarios and their probability of occurrence requires that the existing knowledge bases, whenever available, should be explored and realistic simulations, capable of relating each possible scenario to the severity of its consequences and the meaningfulness of its symptoms should be conducted. Dynamical tests and modal identification are powerful tools that can provide this required knowledge. In addition, simulations performed with stochastically updated models supply reliable estimations of the residual performance a building is still able to provide after structural changes inferred by each particular damage scenario. This kind of information allows the health condition of the construction to be predicted for each damage hypothesis.
