On July 20, 2020, Matias Birrell defended his M.Sc. thesis entitled “Bayesian parameter estimation for reinforcing steel constitutive models”. He graduated with maximum distinction (maximum grade 7.0).
His work focused on a comprehensive probabilistic analysis of three state-of-the-art reinforcing steel models, including modified Giuffre-Menegotto-Pinto (GMP), Dodd-Restrepo modified by Carreño, and the GMP modified by Zsarnóczay models. Local and global sensitivity analysis, uncertainty quantification, and prediction capabilities of the constitutive models were conducted and investigated. High-quality experimental datasets from monotonic and cyclic tests conducted at the University of California, San Diego by professor José Restrepo and his students were employed in the study.