This paper presents a surrogate modelling technique based on domain partitioning for Bayesian parameter inference of highly nonlinear engineering models. In order to alle-viate the computational burden typically involved in Bayesian inference applications, a multielement Polynomial Chaos Expansion based Kriging metamodel is proposed. The de-veloped surrogate model combines in a piecewise function an array of local Polynomial Chaos based Kriging metamodels constructed on a finite set of non-overlapping subdo-mains of the stochastic input space. Therewith, the presence of non-smoothness in the response of the forward model (e.g. nonlinearities and sparseness) can be reproduced by the proposed metamodel with minimum computational costs owing to its local adaptation capabilities. The model parameter inference is conducted through a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach comprising adaptive exploration and delayed rejection. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed approach are validated through two case studies, including an analytical benchmark and a numerical case study. The latter relates the partial differential equation governing the hydrogen diffusion phenomenon of metallic materials in Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy tests.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )