• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.631-641
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• 2018

This paper outlines a computational procedure for the effective merging of diverse sensor measurements, displacement and acceleration signals in particular, in order to successfully monitor and simulate the current health condition of civil structures under dynamic loadings. In particular, it investigates a Kalman Filter implementation for the Heterogeneous Data Fusion of displacement and acceleration response signals of a structural system toward dynamic identification purposes. The procedure is perspectively aimed at enhancing extensive remote displacement measurements (commonly affected by high noise), by possibly integrating them with a few standard acceleration measurements (considered instead as noise-free or corrupted by slight noise only). Within the data fusion analysis, a Kalman Filter algorithm is implemented and its effectiveness in improving noise-corrupted displacement measurements is investigated. The performance of the filter is assessed based on the RMS error between the original (noise-free, numerically-determined) displacement signal and the Kalman Filter displacement estimate, and on the structural modal parameters (natural frequencies) that can be extracted from displacement signals, refined through the combined use of displacement and acceleration recordings, through inverse analysis algorithms for output-only modal dynamics identification, based on displacements.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.375-387
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• 2016

The classical Kalman filter (KF) can provide effective state estimation for structural identification and vibration control, but it is applicable only when external inputs are measured. So far, some studies of Kalman filter with unknown inputs (KF-UI) have been proposed. However, previous KF-UI approaches based solely on acceleration measurements are inherently unstable which leads to poor tracking and fictitious drifts in the identified structural displacements and unknown inputs in the presence of measurement noises. Moreover, it is necessary to have the measurements of acceleration responses at the locations where unknown inputs applied, i.e., with collocated acceleration measurements in these approaches. In this paper, it aims to extend the classical KF approach to circumvent the above limitations for general real time estimation of structural state and unknown inputs without using collocated acceleration measurements. Based on the scheme of the classical KF, an improved Kalman filter with unknown excitations (KF-UI) and without collocated acceleration measurements is derived. Then, data fusion of acceleration and displacement or strain measurements is used to prevent the drifts in the identified structural state and unknown inputs in real time. Such algorithm is not available in the literature. Some numerical examples are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.295-328
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• 2015

In recent years the monitoring of structural behavior through acquisition of vibrational data has become common practice. In addition, recent advances in sensor development have made the collection of diverse dynamic information feasible. Other than the commonly collected acceleration information, Global Position System (GPS) receivers and non-contact, optical techniques have also allowed for the synchronous collection of highly accurate displacement data. The fusion of this heterogeneous information is crucial for the successful monitoring and control of structural systems especially when aiming at real-time estimation. This task is not a straightforward one as measurements are inevitably corrupted with some percentage of noise, often leading to imprecise estimation. Quite commonly, the presence of noise in acceleration signals results in drifting estimates of displacement states, as a result of numerical integration. In this study, a new approach based on a time domain identification method, namely the Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF), is proposed for correcting the "drift effect" in displacement or rotation estimates in an online manner, i.e., on the fly as data is attained. The method relies on the introduction of artificial white noise (WN) observations into the filter equations, which is shown to achieve an online correction of the drift issue, thus yielding highly accurate motion data. The proposed approach is demonstrated for two cases; firstly, the illustrative example of a single degree of freedom linear oscillator is examined, where availability of acceleration measurements is exclusively assumed. Secondly, a field inspired implementation is presented for the torsional identification of a tall tower structure, where acceleration measurements are obtained at a high sampling rate and non-collocated GPS displacement measurements are assumed available at a lower sampling rate. A multi-rate Kalman Filter is incorporated into the analysis in order to successfully fuse data sampled at different rates.

• 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.17 no.4
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• pp.647-667
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• 2016

In this paper, dynamic displacement is estimated with high accuracy by blending high-sampling rate acceleration data with low-sampling rate displacement measurement using a two-stage Kalman estimator. In Stage 1, the two-stage Kalman estimator first approximates dynamic displacement. Then, the estimator in Stage 2 estimates a bias with high accuracy and refines the displacement estimate from Stage 1. In the previous Kalman filter based displacement techniques, the estimation accuracy can deteriorate due to (1) the discontinuities produced when the estimate is adjusted by displacement measurement and (2) slow convergence at the beginning of estimation. To resolve these drawbacks, the previous techniques adopt smoothing techniques, which involve additional future measurements in the estimation. However, the smoothing techniques require more computational time and resources and hamper real-time estimation. The proposed technique addresses the drawbacks of the previous techniques without smoothing. The performance of the proposed technique is verified under various dynamic loading, sampling rate and noise level conditions via a series of numerical simulations and experiments. Its performance is also compared with those of the existing Kalman filter based techniques.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.223-234
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• 2018

In this study, a simplified three-dimensional calculation model is developed for the dynamic analysis of soil-pile group-supertall building systems excited by wind loads using the substructure method. Wind loads acting on a 300-m building in different wind directions and terrain conditions are obtained from synchronous pressure measurements conducted in a wind tunnel. The effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the first natural frequency, wind-induced static displacement, root mean square (RMS) of displacement, and RMS of acceleration at the top of supertall buildings are analyzed. The findings demonstrate that with decreasing soil shear wave velocity, the first natural frequency decreases and the static displacement, RMS of displacement and RMS of acceleration increase. In addition, as soil material damping decreases, the RMS of displacement and the RMS of acceleration increase.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.903-915
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• 2016

The classical Kalman filter (KF) provides a practical and efficient state estimation approach for structural identification and vibration control. However, the classical KF approach is applicable only when external inputs are assumed known. Over the years, some approaches based on Kalman filter with unknown inputs (KF-UI) have been presented. However, these approaches based solely on acceleration measurements are inherently unstable which leads poor tracking and so-called drifts in the estimated unknown inputs and structural displacement in the presence of measurement noises. Either on-line regularization schemes or post signal processing is required to treat the drifts in the identification results, which prohibits the real-time identification of joint structural state and unknown inputs. In this paper, it is aimed to extend the classical KF approach to circumvent the above limitation for real time joint estimation of structural states and the unknown inputs. Based on the scheme of the classical KF, analytical recursive solutions of an improved Kalman filter with unknown excitations (KF-UI) are derived and presented. Moreover, data fusion of partially measured displacement and acceleration responses is used to prevent in real time the so-called drifts in the estimated structural state vector and unknown external inputs. The effectiveness and performance of the proposed approach are demonstrated by some numerical examples.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.249-254
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• 2017

The paper presents a new short-term dynamic displacement estimation method based on an acceleration and a geophone sensor. The proposed method combines acceleration and velocity measurements through a real time data fusion algorithm based on Kalman filter. The proposed method can estimate the displacement of a structure without displacement sensors, which is typically difficult to be applied to earthquake or fire sites due to their requirement of a fixed rigid support. The proposed method double-integrates the acceleration measurement recursively, and corrects an accumulated integration error based on the velocity measurement, The performance of the proposed method was verified by a lab-scale test, in which displacement estimated by the proposed method are compared to a reference displacement measured by laser doppler vibrometer (LDV).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.773-782
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• 2022

Estimation of cable tension through proper measurements is one of the essential tasks in evaluating the safety of cable structures. In this paper, a study on cable tension estimation using the built-in accelerometer and camera in a smartphone was conducted. For the experimental study, visual displacement measurement using a smartphone camera and acceleration measurement using a built-in accelerometer were performed in the cable-stayed bridge model. The estimated natural frequencies and transformed tensions from these measurements were compared with the theoretical values and results from the normal visual displacement method. Through comparison, it can be seen that the error between the method using the smartphone and the normal visual displacement is sufficiently small to be acceptable. It has also been shown that those errors are much smaller than the difference between the values calculated by the theoretical model. These results show that the deviation according to the type of measurement method is not large and it is rather important to use an appropriate mathematical model. In conclusion, in the case of cable tension estimation, it can be said that the visual displacement measurement and acceleration using a smartphone can be a sufficiently applicable method, just like the normal visual displacement method. It is also noteworthy that the smartphone accelerometer has a larger magnitude error and has more limitations such as high-frequency sampling instability compared to the visual displacement method, but shows almost the same performance as the visual displacement method in this cable tension estimation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.599-609
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• 2019

After an earthquake, a quick seismic assessment of a structure can facilitate the recovery of operations, and consequently, improve structural resilience. Especially for facilities that play a key role in rescue or refuge efforts (e.g., hospitals and power facilities), or even economically important facilities (e.g., high-tech factories and financial centers), immediately resuming operations after disruptions resulting from an earthquake is critical. Therefore, this study proposes a prompt post-earthquake seismic evaluation method that uses displacement and acceleration measurements taken from real structural responses that resulted during an earthquake. With a prepared pre-earthquake capacity curve of a structure, the residual seismic capacity can be estimated using the residual roof drift ratio and stiffness. The proposed method was verified using a 6-story steel frame structure on a shaking table. The structure was damaged during a moderate earthquake, after which it collapsed completely during a severe earthquake. According to the experimental results, a reasonable estimation of the residual seismic capacity of structures can be performed using the proposed post-earthquake seismic evaluation method.