Identification of imperfections in thin plates based on the modified potential energy principle

• An identification procedure for imperfections in thin plates based on static tests.
• The modified potential energy principle allowing for experimental measurements.
• The general identification procedure is exemplified by three typical applications.

A procedure to identify the imperfection in thin plates is proposed in this paper. The modified potential energy principle, which serves as the theoretical basis of the identification procedure, is improved to allow for the experimental measurements in static tests. Several typical examples are studied to illustrate the effectiveness of the procedure.