Asanefficienttoolinhandlinguncertainissues,Dempster-Shaferevidencetheoryhasbeenincreasinglyusedinstructuralhealthmonitoringanddamagedetection.Inapplications,however,Dempster-Shaferevidencetheorysometimesleadstocounter-intuitiveresults.Inthisstudy,anewfusionalgorithmofevidencetheoryisputforwardtoaddressvariouscounter-intuitiveproblemsandmanagethereliabilitydifferenceoftheevidence.Theproposedalgorithmcomprisesthefollowingaspects:(1)Dempster’scombinationruleisgeneralizedbyintroducingtheconceptofevidenceullage.ThenewruleallowsclassicalDempster’sruleandcanresolvecounter-intuitiveproblemscausebyevidenceconflictandevidencecompatibility;(2)areliabilityassessingmethodbasedonaprioriandposteriorknowledgeisproposed.Comparedwithconventionalreliabilityassessment,theproposedmethodcanreflecttheactualevidencereliabilitiesandcanefficientlyreducedecisionrisk.Numericalexamplesconfirmthevalidityandutilityoftheproposedalgorithm.Inaddition,anexperimentalinvestigationonaspatialtrussstructureiscarriedouttoillustratetheidentifiedabilityoftheproposedapproach.Theresultsindicatethatthefusionalgorithmhasnostrictrequestontheaccuracyandconsistencyofevidencesourcesandcanefficientlyenhancediagnosticaccuracy.
