ESTIMATION OF ELASTIC COEFFICIENTS FOR A MULTIPLE-BEAM STRUCTURE

In this paper, we consider the estimation of spatially dependent elast ic parameters in a static distributed model of a simple structure comp osed of two beams at a fixed angle to one another. We formulate the po tential energy functional of the system and obtain existence of optima l estimators to a regularized-output least-squares estimation problem. We discuss regularity and approximation results for the basic problem and penalized problem in which nonconforming elements are used to mod el the junction of the beams. Numerical examples are presented and gen eralizations to multiple-beam systems are discussed.