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To examine the capability to detect and localise damage using the Measurement- and Model-based Structural Analysis (MeMoS), a small-scale truss bridge (1520 mm × 720 mm × 720 mm) made of aluminium profiles is built as a test specimen for this purpose. The truss frame of the test bridge is made of aluminium profiles with a sophisticated design of the cross-sectional area. In comparison, with solid profiles, only a fraction of the material is needed to produce the profiles, while their bending resistance decreases slightly. The profiles are built into a truss frame by connecting them by means of fastening sets made of steel. The bridge model is mounted on four steel bearings which each of them consist of a cylinder arranged between two plates. Fixed bearings are made by holding onto one end of the bridge. The bridge is subjected by an external load by placing a heavy object beneath it. At the same time, measurements can be conducted below the bridge. Therefore, the bridge specimen is elevated by attaching it on a pedestal with four columns. Damages can be induced by loosening the fastening pieces.

The determination of material parameters from displacement field measurement is being examined for linear elastic solid. A frequently used approach to compute material constants can be found in many studies. Even though they presented the approach in many different variations, but in the end they are essentially based on the same algorithm: Parameters are iteratively tuned until the computed results are in accordance with the measurements. The main drawback of this approach is that mainly commercial software is used that hinders us to investigate its inner evaluation process. This leads to the question, how the results from this commercial software can be trusted. On the contrary to these debatable approaches, we present a method that inverts the procedure of finite element method by using the most general model for a least-squares adjustment – the Gauss - Helmert Model.