• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.447-468
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• 2015

Modal identification of civil engineering structures based on ambient vibration measurement has been widely investigated in the past decades, and a variety of output-only operational modal identification methods have been proposed. However, vibration modes, even fundamental low-order modes, are not always identifiable for large-scale structures under ambient vibration excitation. The identifiability of vibration modes, deficiency in modal identification, and criteria to evaluate robustness of the identified modes when applying output-only modal identification techniques to ambient vibration responses were scarcely studied. In this study, the mode identifiability of the cable-stayed Ting Kau Bridge using ambient vibration measurements and the influence of the excitation intensity on the deficiency and robustness in modal identification are investigated with long-term monitoring data of acceleration responses acquired from the bridge under different excitation conditions. It is observed that a few low-order modes, including the second global mode, are not identifiable by common output-only modal identification algorithms under normal ambient excitations due to traffic and monsoon. The deficient modes can be activated and identified only when the excitation intensity attains a certain level (e.g., during strong typhoons). The reason why a few low-order modes fail to be reliably identified under weak ambient vibration excitations and the relation between the mode identifiability and the excitation intensity are addressed through comparing the frequency-domain responses under normal ambient vibration excitations and under typhoon excitations and analyzing the wind speeds corresponding to different response data samples used in modal identification. The threshold value of wind speed (generalized excitation intensity) that makes the deficient modes identifiable is determined.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.363-389
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• 2016

Deficient modes that cannot be always identified from different sets of measurement data may exist in the application of operational modal analysis such as the stochastic subspace identification techniques in large-scale civil structures. Based on a recent work using the long-term ambient vibration measurements from an instrumented cable-stayed bridge under different wind excitation conditions, a benchmark problem is launched by taking the same bridge as a test bed to further intensify the exploration of mode identifiability. For systematically assessing this benchmark problem, a recently developed SSI algorithm based on an alternative stabilization diagram and a hierarchical sifting process is extended and applied in this research to investigate several sets of known and blind monitoring data. The evaluation of delicately selected cases clearly distinguishes the effect of traffic excitation on the identifiability of the targeted deficient mode from the effect of wind excitation. An additional upper limit for the vertical acceleration amplitude at deck, mainly induced by the passing traffic, is subsequently suggested to supplement the previously determined lower limit for the wind speed. Careful inspection on the shape vector of the deficient mode under different excitation conditions leads to the postulation that this mode is actually induced by the motion of the central tower. The analysis incorporating the tower measurements solidly verifies this postulation by yielding the prevailing components at the tower locations in the extended mode shape vector. Moreover, it is also confirmed that this mode can be stably identified under all the circumstances with the addition of tower measurements. An important lesson learned from this discovery is that the problem of mode identifiability usually comes from the lack of proper measurements at the right locations.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.1003-1021
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• 2015

MR dampers have been proposed for the control of cable vibration of cable-stayed bridge in recent years due to their high performance and low energy consumption. However, the highly nonlinear feature of MR dampers makes them difficult to be designed with efficient semi-active control algorithms. Simulation study has previously been carried out on the cable-MR damper system using a semi-active control algorithm derived based on the universal design curve of dampers and a bilinear mechanical model of the MR damper. This paper aims to verify the effectiveness of the MR damper for mitigating cable vibration through a full-scale experimental test, using the same semi-active control strategy as in the simulation study. A long stay cable fabricated for a real bridge was set-up with the MR damper installed. The cable was excited under both free and forced vibrations. Different test scenarios were considered where the MR damper was tuned as passive damper with minimum or maximum input current, or the input current of the damper was changed according to the proposed semi-active control algorithm. The effectiveness of the MR damper for controlling the cable vibration was assessed through computing the damping ratio of the cable for free vibration and the root mean square value of acceleration of the cable for forced vibration.

• Magazine of the Korea Institute for Structural Maintenance and Inspection
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.50-56
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• 2015

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2011

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.893-893
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• 2006

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.11-22
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• 2017

The long-term effect of ambient temperature on bridge strain is an important and challenging problem. To investigate this issue, one year data of strain and ambient temperature of a long-span cable-stayed bridge is studied in this paper. The measured strain-time history is decomposed into two parts to obtain the strains due to vehicle load and temperature alone. A linear regression model between the temperature and the strain due to temperature is established. It is shown that for every $1^{\circ}C$ increase in temperature, the stress is increased by 0.148 MPa. Furthmore, the extreme value distributions of the strains due to vehicle load, temperature and the combination effect of them during the remaining service period are estimated by the average conditional exceedance rate approach. This approach avoids the problem of declustering of data to ensure independence. The estimated results demonstrate that the 95% quantile of the extreme strain distribution due to temperature is up to $1.488{\times}10^{-4}$ which is 2.38 times larger than that due to vehicle load. The study also indicates that the estimated extreme strain can reflect the long-term effect of temperature on bridge strain state, which has reference significance for the reliability estimation and safety assessment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.691-704
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• 2011

This paper presents an investigation on the ultimate behavior of steel cable-stayed bridges in the construction stage, considering various geometric nonlinearities and material nonlinearities. To numerically determine the state of cable-stayed bridges in the construction stage, initial shape analysis and construction stage analysis via backward process analysis were done sequentially. Then nonlinear analysis of the state under the construction load condition, considering the weight of the derrick crane and the key segment of the girder loaded onto the tip of the center span, was performed to investigate the ultimate behavior of the structure. The effects of the girder-mast stiffness ratio, the cable-arrangement types, and the area of the stay cables on the ultimate behavior were also extensively investigated. Moreover, the results of the ultimate analysis, considering both geometric nonlinearities and material nonlinearities, were compared with the results of the geometric nonlinear analysis, for a more meaningful investigation of the ultimate behavior of steel cable-stayed bridges in the construction stage.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.277-289
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• 2005

The study examines the limit strength for steel cable-stayed bridges. A case studies have been performed in order to evaluate the limit strength lot steel cable-stayed bridges using nonlinear inelastic analysis approach and bifurcation point instability analysis approach, effective tangent modulus $(E_f)$ method. To realize it, a practical nonlinear inelastic analysis condoling the initial shape is developed. In the initial shape analysis, updated structural configuration is introduced instead of initial member forces for beam-column members at every iterative step. Geometric and material nonlinearities of beam-column members are accounted by using stability function, and by using CRC tangent modulus and parabolic function, respectively Besides, geometric nonlinearity of cable members is accounted by using secant value of equivalent modulus of elasticity. The load-displacement relationships obtained by the proposed method are compared well with those given by other approaches. The limit strengths evaluated by the proposed nonlinear inelastic analysis for the proposed cable-stayed bridges with tee dimensional configuration compared with those by the inelastic bifurcation point instability analyses.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.31-38
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• 2022

In the case of special bridges whose superstructure is supported by cables, there are many blind spots that are difficult to access without special equipment and personnel. As a result, there are difficulties in the safety inspection of special bridges. The purpose of this study is to review the inspection blind spots of cable-supported bridges such as cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges, and to study ways to eliminate blind spots using drones. To this end, the cables, stiffened girder, and pylons of the cable-stayed bridge located in the sea were inspected using drones. Through this study, it was confirmed that external safety inspection of special bridges that are difficult for inspectors to access is possible using drones. In particular, drone inspection to check the external condition and damage of the pylon, which is a blind spot for inspection of special bridges, is a very effective safety inspection method.