Abstract
In this paper an experimental – numerical methodology is proposed for the in situ assessment of possibly deteriorated elastic properties of dam concrete and for the estimation of the local stress state in a concrete dam. The methodology described herein consists of the following operative stages: excavation of two parallel small holes (instead of the single one generally employed for rock testing); measurements of diameter variations in both holes by dilatometers; combination of experimental tests with computer simulations and inverse analyses for the parameter identification by means of artificial neural networks. Numerical validation tests of this parameter identification methodology are presented and its novelties and potentialities are discussed.