No abstract

In [1], a new method based on the Laplace approximation was developed to accelerate the estimation of the post-experimental expected information gains (Kullback-Leibler divergence) in model parameters and predictive quantities of interest in the Bayesian framework. A closed-form asymptotic approximation of the inner integral and the order of the corresponding dominant error term were obtained in the cases where the parameters are determined by the experiment. In this work, we extend that method to the general case where the model parameters cannot be determined completely by the data from the proposed experiments. We carry out the Laplace approximations in the directions orthogonal to the null space of the Jacobian matrix of the data model with respect to the parameters, so that the information gain can be reduced to an integration against the marginal density of the transformed parameters that are not determined by the experiments. Furthermore, the expected information gain can be approximated by an integration over the prior, where the integrand is a function of the posterior covariance matrix projected over the aforementioned orthogonal directions. To deal with the issue of dimensionality in a complex problem, we use either Monte Carlo sampling or sparse quadratures for the integration over the prior probability density function, depending on the regularity of the integrand function. We demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency and robustness of the proposed method via several nonlinear under-determined test cases. They include the designs of the scalar parameter in a one dimensional cubic polynomial function with two unidentifiable parameters forming a linear manifold, and the boundary source locations for impedance tomography in a square domain, where the unknown parameter is the conductivity, which is represented as a random field.

In this work, we present a statistical treatment of stress-life (S-N) data drawn from a collection of records of fatigue experiments that were performed on 75S-T6 aluminum alloys. Our main objective is to predict the fatigue life of materials by providing a systematic approach to model calibration, model selection and model ranking with reference to S-N data. To this purpose, we consider fatigue-limit models and random fatigue-limit models that are specially designed to allow the treatment of the run-outs (right-censored data). We first fit the models to the data by maximum likelihood methods and estimate the quantiles of the life distribution of the alloy specimen. To assess the robustness of the estimation of the quantile functions, we obtain bootstrap confidence bands by stratified resampling with respect to the cycle ratio. We then compare and rank the models by classical measures of fit based on information criteria. We also consider a Bayesian approach that provides, under the prior distribution of the model parameters selected by the user, their simulation-based posterior distributions. We implement and apply Bayesian model comparison methods, such as Bayes factor ranking and predictive information criteria based on cross-validation techniques under various a priori scenarios