• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.317-334
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• 2016

Structural Health Monitoring System (SHMS) works as an efficient platform for monitoring the health status and performance deterioration of engineering structures during long-term service periods. The objective of its installation is to provide reasonable suggestions for structural maintenance and management, and therefore ensure the structural safety based on the information extracted from the real-time measured data. In this paper, the SHMS implemented on a world-famous kilometer-level cable-stayed bridge, named as Sutong Cable-stayed Bridge (SCB), is introduced in detail. The composition and core functions of the SHMS on SCB are elaborately presented. The system consists of four main subsystems including sensory subsystem, data acquisition and transmission subsystem, data management and control subsystem and structural health evaluation subsystem. All of the four parts are decomposed to separately describe their own constitutions and connected to illustrate the systematic functions. Accordingly, the main techniques and strategies adopted in the SHMS establishment are presented and some extension researches based on structural health monitoring are discussed. The introduction of the SHMS on SCB is expected to provide references for the establishment of SHMSs on long-span bridges with similar features as well as the implementation of potential researches based on structural health monitoring.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.701-718
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• 2015

The joint distribution of wind speed and wind direction at a bridge site is vital to the estimation of the basic wind speed, and hence to the wind-induced vibration analysis of long-span bridges. Instead of the conventional way relying on the weather stations, this study proposed an alternate approach to obtain the original records of wind speed and the corresponding directions based on field measurement supported by the Structural Health Monitoring System (SHMS). Specifically, SHMS of Sutong Cable-stayed Bridge (SCB) is utilized to study the basic wind speed with directional information. Four anemometers are installed in the SHMS of SCB: upstream and downstream of the main deck center, top of the north and south tower respectively. Using the recorded wind data from SHMS, the joint distribution of wind speed and direction is investigated based on statistical methods, and then the basic wind speeds in 10-year and 100-year recurrence intervals at these four key positions are calculated. Analytical results verify the reliability of the recorded wind data from SHMS, and indicate that the joint probability model for the extreme wind speed at SCB site fits well with the Weibull model. It is shown that the calculated basic wind speed is reduced by considering the influence of wind direction. Compared to the design basic wind speed in the Specification of China, basic wind speed considering the influence of direction or not is much smaller, indicating a high safety coefficient in the design of SCB. The results obtained in this study can provide not only references for further wind-resistance research of SCB, but also improve the understanding of the safety coefficient for wind-resistance design of other engineering structures in the similar area.

• 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.

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

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.235-252
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• 2016

A wind velocity power spectrum (WVPS) with high fidelity is extremely important for accurate prediction of structural buffeting response. WVPS heavily depends on the geographical locations, local terrains and topographies. Hence, field measurement of wind characteristics may be the unique way to obtain the accurate WVPS for a specific region. In this paper, a systematic analysis and discussions of existing WVPSs were performed. Six recorded strong wind data from the structural health monitoring systems (SHMS) of Runyang Suspension Bridge (RSB) and Sutong Cable-stayed Bridge (SCB) in Jiangsu Province of China were selected for analysis. The measured and pre-processed wind velocity data was first transformed from time domain to frequency domain to obtain the measured spectrum. The spectrum for each strong wind was then fitted using the nonlinear least square method and compared with both the fitted spectrum from statistical analysis and the recommended spectrum in specifications. The modified Kaimal spectrum was proved to be the "best" choice for the coastal area of East Jiangsu Province. Finally, a suitable WVPS formula fit for the coastal area of East Jiangsu Province was presented based on the modified Kaimal spectrum. Results in this study provide a more accurate and reliable WVPS for wind-resistant design of engineering structures in the coastal area of East Jiangsu Province.