• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.66-73
• /
• 2024

Stay-cable is one of the most important load carrying members in cable-stayed bridges. Monitoring structural integrity of stay-cables is crucial for evaluating the structural condition of the cable-stayed bridge. For stay-cables, tension and damping ratio are estimated based on modal properties as a measure of structural integrity. Since the monitoring system continuously measures the vibration for the long-term period, data acquisition systems should be stable and power-efficiency as the hardware system. In addition, massive signals from the data acquisition systems are continuously generated, so that automated analysis system should be indispensable. In order to fulfill these purpose simultaneously, this study presents an autonomous cable monitoring system based on domain-knowledge using IoT for continuous cable monitoring systems of cable-stayed bridges. An IoT system was developed to provide effective and power-efficient data acquisition and on-board processing capability for Edge-computing. Automated peak-picking algorithm using domain knowledge was embedded to the IoT system in order to analyze massive data from continuous monitoring automatically and reliably. To evaluate its operational performance in real fields, the developed autonomous monitoring system has been installed on a cable-stayed bridge in Korea. The operational performance are confirmed and validated by comparing with the existing system in terms of data transmission rates, accuracy and efficiency of tension estimation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.859-887
• /
• 2015

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has gained in popularity in recent years since it can assess the performance and condition of instrumented structures in real time and provide valuable information to the asset's manager and owner. Operational modal analysis plays an important role in SHM and it involves the determination of natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes of a constructed structure based on measured dynamic data. This paper presents the operational modal analysis and seismic response characterization of the Tsing Ma Suspension Bridge of 2,160 m long subjected to different earthquake events. Three kinds of events, i.e., short-distance, middle-distance and long-distance earthquakes are taken into account. A fast Bayesian modal identification method is used to carry out the operational modal analysis. The modal properties of the bridge are identified and compared by use of the field monitoring data acquired before and after the earthquake for each type of the events. Research emphasis is given on identifying the predominant modes of the seismic responses in the deck during short-distance, middle-distance and long-distance earthquakes, respectively, and characterizing the response pattern of various structural portions (deck, towers, main cables, etc.) under different types of earthquakes. Since the bridge is over 2,000 m long, the seismic wave would arrive at the tower/anchorage basements of the two side spans at different time instants. The behaviors of structural dynamic responses on the Tsing Yi side span and on the Ma Wan side span under each type of the earthquake events are compared. The results obtained from this study would be beneficial to the seismic design of future long-span bridges to be built around Hong Kong (e.g., the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge).

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.195-214
• /
• 2017

Full-scale wind characteristics based on the field measurements is an essential element in structural wind engineering. Statistical analysis of the wind characteristics at Sutong Cable-stayed Bridge (SCB) site is conducted in this study with the recorded long-term wind data from structural health monitoring system (SHMS) between 2008 and 2015. Both the mean and turbulent wind characteristics and power spectra are comprehensively investigated and compared with those in the current codes of practice, such as the measured wind rose diagram, monthly maximum mean wind speed, turbulence intensity, integral length scale. Measurement results based on the monitoring data show that winds surrounding the SCB site are substantially influenced by the southeast monsoon in summer and strong northern wind in winter. The measured turbulence intensity is slightly higher than the recommended values in specifications, while the measured ratio of lateral to longitudinal turbulence intensity is slightly lower. An approximately linear relationship between the measured turbulence intensities and gust factors is obtained. The mean value of the turbulence integral length scale is smaller than that of typical typhoon events. In addition, it is found that the Kaimal spectrum is suitable to be adopted as the power spectrum for longitudinal wind component at the SCB site. This contribution would provide important wind characteristic references for the wind performance evaluation of SCB and other civil infrastructures in adjacent regions.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.169-181
• /
• 2020

Sensor placement is a crucial aspect of bridge health monitoring (BHM) dedicated to accurately estimate and locate structural damages. In addressing this goal, a sensor placement framework based on the deflection influence line (DIL) analysis is here proposed, for the optimal design of damage detection-oriented BHM system. In order to improve damage detection accuracy, we explore the change of global stiffness matrix, damage coefficient matrix and DIL vector caused by structural damage, and thus develop a novel sensor placement framework based on the Fisher information matrix. Our approach seeks to determine the contribution of each sensing node to damage detection, and adopts a distance correction coefficient to eliminate the information redundancy among sensors. The proposed damage detection-oriented optimal sensor placement (OSP) method is verified by two examples: (1) a numerically simulated three-span continuous beam, and (2) the Pinghu bridge which has existing real damage conditions. These two examples verify the performance of the distance corrected damage sensitivity of influence line (DSIL) method in significantly higher contribution to damage detection and lower information redundancy, and demonstrate the proposed OSP framework can be potentially employed in BHM practices.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.731-744
• /
• 2023

Vehicle load information is an important role in operating and ensuring the structural health of cable-stayed bridges. In this regard, an efficient and economic method is proposed for vehicle load detection based on the observed cable tension and vehicle position using a graph neural network (GNN). Datasets are first generated using the practical advanced analysis program (PAAP), a robust program for modeling and considering both geometric and material nonlinearities of bridge structures subjected to vehicle load with low computational costs. With the superiority of GNN, the proposed model is demonstrated to precisely capture complex nonlinear correlations between the input features and vehicle load in the output. Four popular machine learning methods including artificial neural network (ANN), decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), and support vector machines (SVM) are refereed in a comparison. A case study of a cable-stayed bridge with the typical truck is considered to evaluate the model's performance. The results demonstrate that the GNN-based model provides high accuracy and efficiency in prediction with satisfactory correlation coefficients, efficient determination values, and very small errors; and is a novel approach for vehicle load detection with the input data of the existing monitoring system.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.221-232
• /
• 1999

This study investigates the applicability and design scheme of fieldbus network in the measurement system used for precise and safe construction as well as efficient maintenance of bridges. In order to maximize the function and performance of bridge monitoring system, this study introduces the CAN(Controller Area Network), one of the fieldbus protocols, in the measurement system of bridges. This study presents the implementation method of CAN on the monitoring system of bridge, and also proposes a bandwidth allocation scheme for the design of network. The validity of the proposed CAN design method is verified through a simulation experiment. It is shown that the CAN can be readily applicable to the measurement system of bridges.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.183-195
• /
• 2014

Scour is one of the leading causes of overwater bridge failures worldwide. While monitoring systems have already been implemented or are still being developed, they suffer from limitations such as high costs, inaccuracies, and low reliability, among others. Also, most sensors only measure scour depth at one location and near the pier. Thus, the objective is to design a simple, low cost, scour hole topography monitoring system that could better characterize the entire depth, shape, and size of bridge scour holes. The design is based on burying a robust, waterproofed, piezoelectric sensor strip in the streambed. When scour erodes sediments to expose the sensor, flowing water excites it to cause the generation of time-varying voltage signals. An algorithm then takes the time-domain data and maps it to the frequency-domain for identifying the sensor's resonant frequency, which is used for calculating the exposed sensor length or scour depth. Here, three different sets of tests were conducted to validate this new technique. First, a single sensor was tested in ambient air, and its exposed length was varied. Upon verifying the sensing concept, a waterproofed prototype was buried in soil and tested in a tank filled with water. Sensor performance was characterized as soil was manually eroded away, which simulated various scour depths. The results confirmed that sensor resonant frequencies decreased with increasing scour depths. Finally, a network of 11 sensors was configured to form a distributed monitoring system in the lab. Their exposed lengths were adjusted to simulate scour hole formation and evolution. Results showed promise that the proposed sensing system could be scaled up and used for bridge scour topography monitoring.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.501-523
• /
• 2016

Electromechanical impedance (EMI) based structural health monitoring is performed by measuring the variation in the impedance due to the structural local damage. The impedance signals are acquired from the piezoelectric patches that are bonded on the structural surface. The impedance variation, which is directly related to the mechanical properties of the structure, indicates the presence of local structural damage. Two traditional EMI-based damage detection methods are based on calculating the difference between the measured impedance signals in the frequency domain from the baseline and the current structures. In this paper, a new structural damage detection approach by analyzing the time domain impedance responses is proposed. The measured time domain responses from the piezoelectric transducers will be used for analysis. With the use of the Time Frequency Autoregressive Moving Average (TFARMA) model, a damage index based on Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is defined to identify the existence of the structural local damage. Experimental studies on a space steel truss bridge model in the laboratory are conducted to verify the proposed approach. Four piezoelectric transducers are attached at different locations and excited by a sweep-frequency signal. The impedance responses at different locations are analyzed with TFARMA model to investigate the effectiveness and performance of the proposed approach. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach is very sensitive and robust in detecting the bolt damage in the gusset plates of steel truss bridges.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.134-144
• /
• 2007

In this study, a smart sensor unit is developed by using the smart sensor technology that is being rapidly developed in recent years for structural health monitoring system, and its performance is evaluated through various experiments, and also, damage detection experiment is performed on a model structure. This paper as the first half of this study contains the development and performance evaluation of the smart sensor. In the latter half of this study, structure damage detection experiment is performed for the application of verified smart sensor unit into structural health monitoring, and it is compared with a wire measurement system. The smart sensor is developed by using high-power wireless modem, MEMS Sensor and AVR microcontroller, and an embedded program is also developed for the control and operation of the sensor unit. To verify the performance of the smart sensor, many experiments are performed for sensitivity and resolution analysis tests, data acquisition by using cantilever beam and shaker, and on-site application using actual bridge. As a result, the smart sensor proves to be satisfactory in its performance.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.359-366
• /
• 2018

Social infrastructure facilities that have been under construction since the country's high-growth period are undergoing rapid aging, and safety assessments of large structures such as bridge tunnels, which can be directly linked to large-scale casualties in the event of an accident, are necessary. Wireless smart sensor networks that improve SHM(Structural Health Monitoring) based on existing wire sensors are difficult to construct economical and efficient system due to short signal reach. The LPWAN, Low Power Wide Area Network, is becoming popular with the Internet of Things and it is possible to construct economical and efficient SHM by applying it to structural health monitoring. This study examines the applicability of LoRa LPWAN to structural health monitoring and proposes a channel usage pre-planning based LoRa network operation method that can efficiently utilize bandwidth while resolving conflicts between channels caused by using license - exempt communication band.