• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.405-430
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• 2017

The aerodynamic characteristics of vehicles are critical to assess vehicle safety and passenger comfort for vehicles running on long span bridges in a windy environment. However, in previous wind-vehicle-bridge (WVB) system analysis, the aerodynamic interference between the vehicle and the bridge was seldom considered, which will result in changing aerodynamic coefficients. In this study, the aerodynamic coefficients of a high-sided truck on the ground (ground case) and a typical bridge deck (bridge deck case) are determined in a wind tunnel. The effects of existent structures including the bridge deck and bridge accessories on the high-sided vehicle's aerodynamic characteristics are investigated. A three-dimensional analytical framework of a fully coupled WVB system is then established based on the finite element method. By inputting the aerodynamic coefficients of both cases into the WVB system separately, the vehicle safety and passenger comfort are assessed, and the critical accidental wind speed for the truck on the bridge in a windy environment is derived. The differences in the bridge response between the windward case and the leeward case are also compared. The results show that the bridge deck and the accessories play a positive role in ensuring vehicle safety and improving passenger comfort, and the influence of aerodynamic interference on the response of the bridge is weak.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.473-487
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• 2012

GPS has become an established technique in structural health monitoring. This paper presents the application of an on-line GPS RTK system on the Zhujiang Huangpu Bridge (China) for monitoring bridge deck and towers movements. In this study, both the form and functions of movements of the deck and towers of the bridge under affecting loads were monitored in lateral, longitudinal and vertical directions. Such movements were described in time and frequency domains by determining the trend, torsion, periodical of the series using probability density function (PDF). The results of the time series GPS data are practical and useful to bridge health monitoring.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.144-153
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• 1998

Base isolation is an innovative design strategy that provides a practical alternative for the seismic design of structures. Base isolators, mainly employed to isolate large structures subjected to earthquake ground excitations and to rehabilitate structures damaged by past earthquakes, deflect and absorb the seismic energy horizontally transmitted to the structures. This study demonstrates that the base isolation system may offer effective performance for bridges during severe seismic events through shaking table tests. Two base isolation system using laminated rubber bearings with and without hydraulic dampers are tested. The test results strongly show that the laminated rubber bearings cause the natural period of the bridge structure increased considerably, which results in the deck acceleration and the shear forces on the piers reduced significantly. The results also demonstrate that the hydraulic dampers enhance the system's capacity in dissipating energy to reduce the relative displacement between the bridge deck and the pier.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.367-384
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• 2017

The Maanshan Bridge over Yangtze River in China is a new long-span suspension bridge with double main spans of $2{\times}1080m$ and a closed streamline cross-section of single box deck. The flutter and buffeting performances were investigated via wind tunnel tests of a full bridge aeroelastic model at a geometric scale of 1:211. The tests were conducted in both smooth wind and simulated boundary layer wind fields. Emphasis is placed on studying the interference effect of adjacent span via installing a wind deflector and a wind separating board to shelter one span of the bridge model from incoming flow. Issues related to effects of mid-tower stiffness and deck supporting conditions are also discussed. The testing results show that flutter critical wind velocities in smooth flow, with a wind deflector, are remarkably lower than those without. In turbulent wind, torsional and vertical standard deviations for the deck responses at midspan in testing cases without wind deflector are generally less than those at the midspan exposed to wind in testing cases with wind deflector, respectively. When double main spans are exposed to turbulent wind, the existence of either span is a mass damper to the other. Furthermore, both effects of mid-tower stiffness and deck supporting conditions at the middle tower on the flutter and buffeting performances of the Maanshan Bridge are unremarkable.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.101-139
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• 2015

In this paper, it is aimed to investigate the restoration effect on the structural behavior of masonry arch bridges. Dandalaz masonry arch bridge located on the 4km east of Karacasu town of Aydin, Turkey is selected as a numerical example. The construction year of the bridge is not fully known, but the bridge is dated back to 15th century. Considering the current situation, it can be easily seen that the structural elements such as arch, side walls and timber blocks are heavily damaged and the bridge is unserviceable. Firstly finite element model of the bridge is constituted to reflect the current situation (before restoration) using building survey drawings. After, restoration project is explained and finite element model is reconstituted (after restoration). The structural responses of the bridge are obtained before and after restoration under dead load, live load and dynamic earthquake loads. For both conditions, maximum displacements, maximum-minimum principal stresses and maximum-minimum elastic strains are given with detail using contours diagrams and compared with each other to determine the restoration effect. From the study, it can be seen that the maximum internal forces are consisted under dynamic loads before and after restoration. Also, the restoration projects and studies have important and positive effects on the structural response of the bridge to transfer these structures to future.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.239-255
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• 2009

In the companion paper, a simple but effective analysis procedure termed an Improved Modal Pushover Analysis (IMPA) is proposed to estimate the seismic capacities of multi-span continuous bridge structures on the basis of the modal pushover analysis, which considers all the dynamic modes of a structure. In contrast to previous studies, the IMPA maintains the simplicity of the capacity-demand curve method and gives a better estimation of the maximum dynamic response in a bridge structure. Nevertheless, to verify its applicability, additional parametric studies for multi-span continuous bridges with large differences in the length of adjacent piers are required. This paper, accordingly, concentrates on a parametric study to review the efficiency and limitation in the application of IMPA to bridge structures through a correlation study between various analytical models including the equivalent single-degree-of-freedom method (ESDOF) and modal pushover analysis (MPA) that are usually used in the seismic design of bridge structures. Based on the obtained numerical results, this paper offers practical guidance and/or limitations when using IMPA to predict the seismic response of a bridge effectively.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.445-457
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• 2020

The buffeting response is a vital consideration for long-span bridges in typhoon-prone areas. In the conventional analysis, the turbulence and structural vibrations are assumed as stationary processes, which are, however, inconsistent with the non-stationary features observed in typhoon winds. This poses a question on how the stationary assumption would affect the evaluation of buffeting responses under non-stationary wind actions in nature. To figure out this problem, this paper presents a comparative study on buffeting responses of a long-span cable-stayed bridge based on stationary and non-stationary perspectives. The stationary and non-stationary buffeting analysis frameworks are firstly reviewed. Then, a modal analysis of the example bridge, Sutong Cable-stayed Bridge (SCB), is conducted, and stationary and non-stationary spectral models are derived based on measured typhoon winds. On this condition, the buffeting responses of SCB are finally analyzed by following stationary and non-stationary approaches. Although the stationary results are almost identical with the non-stationary results in the mean sense, the root-mean-square value of buffeting responses are underestimated by the stationary assumption as the time-varying features existing in the spectra of turbulence are neglected. The analytical results highlights a transition from stationarity to non-stationarity in the buffeting analysis of long-span bridges.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.645-663
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• 2015

Recently, an indirect displacement estimation method using data fusion of acceleration and strain (i.e., acceleration-strain-based method) has been developed. Though the method showed good performance on beam-like structures, it has inherent limitation in applying to more general types of bridges that may have complex shapes, because it uses assumed analytical (sinusoidal) mode shapes to map the measured strain into displacement. This paper proposes an improved displacement estimation method that can be applied to more general types of bridges by building the mapping using the finite element model of the structure rather than using the assumed sinusoidal mode shapes. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by numerical simulations on a deck arch bridge model and a three-span truss bridge model whose mode shapes are difficult to express as analytical functions. The displacements are estimated by acceleration-based method, strain-based method, acceleration-strain-based method, and the improved method. Then the results are compared with the exact displacement. An experimental validation is also carried out on a prestressed concrete girder bridge. The proposed method is found to provide the best estimate for dynamic displacements in the comparison, showing good agreement with the measurements as well.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.5_6
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• pp.505-524
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• 2010

Wireless structural monitoring systems consist of networks of wireless sensors installed to record the loading environment and corresponding response of large-scale civil structures. Wireless monitoring systems are desirable because they eliminate the need for costly and labor intensive installation of coaxial wiring in a structure. However, another advantageous characteristic of wireless sensors is their installation modularity. For example, wireless sensors can be easily and rapidly removed and reinstalled in new locations on a structure if the need arises. In this study, the reconfiguration of a rapid-to-deploy wireless structural monitoring system is proposed for monitoring short- and medium-span highway bridges. Narada wireless sensor nodes using power amplified radios are adopted to achieve long communication ranges. A network of twenty Narada wireless sensors is installed on the Yeondae Bridge (Korea) to measure the global response of the bridge to controlled truck loadings. To attain acceleration measurements in a large number of locations on the bridge, the wireless monitoring system is installed three times, with each installation concentrating sensors in one localized area of the bridge. Analysis of measurement data after installation of the three monitoring system configurations leads to reliable estimation of the bridge modal properties, including mode shapes.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.501-516
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• 2023

Dynamic irregularity and acceleration of bridges subjected to high-speed trains provide crucial information for comprehensive evaluation of the health state of under-track structures. This paper proposes a novel approach for real-time estimation of vertical track dynamic irregularity and bridge acceleration using deep generative adversarial network (GAN) and vibration data from in-service train. The vehicle-body and bogie acceleration responses are correlated with the two target variables by modeling train-bridge interaction (TBI) through least squares generative adversarial network (LSGAN). To realize supervised learning required in the present task, the conventional LSGAN is modified by implementing new loss function and linear activation function. The proposed approach can offer pointwise and accurate estimates of track dynamic irregularity and bridge acceleration, allowing frequent inspection of high-speed railway (HSR) bridges in an economical way. Thanks to its applicability in scenarios of high noise level and critical resonance condition, the proposed approach has a promising prospect in engineering applications.