• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.387-400
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• 1999

Damage detection in civil engineering structures using the change in dynamic system parameters has gained a lot of scientific interest during the last decade. By repeating a dynamic test on a structure after a certain time of use, the change in modal parameters can be used to quantify and qualify damages. To be able to use the modal parameters confidentially for damage evaluation, the effect of other parameters such as excitation type, ambient conditions,... should be considered. In this paper, the influence of excitation type on the dynamic system parameters of a highway prestressed concrete bridge is investigated. The bridge, B13, lies between the villages Vilvoorde and Melsbroek and crosses the highway E19 between Brussels and Antwerpen in Belgium. A drop weight and ambient vibration are used to excite the bridge and the response at selected points is recorded. A finite element model is constructed to support and verify the dynamic measurements. It is found that the difference between the natural frequencies measured using impact weight and ambient vibration is in general less than 1%.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.171-181
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• 2023

Using the most up-to-date system identification methods in both time and frequency domains, the dynamic monitoring data from the reinforced concrete Egebaekvej Bridge near Holte, Denmark, is examined in this investigation. The bridge was erected in the 1960s and was still standing during test campaign before demolishing. The ARTeMIS Modal was adopted to derive the modal parameters from ambient vibration data. Several Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) approaches were applied, including Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition (EFDD), Curve-fit Frequency Domain Decomposition (CFDD), and Frequency Domain Decomposition (FDD). Afterward, Principal Component (SSI-PC), Unweighted Principal Component (SSI-UPC) Stochastic Subspace Identification methods were utilized. Danish engineering consulting company, COWI with the allowance of the bridge contractor BARSLUND, allow the researcher for this experimental test to demonstrate the impact of OMA applications.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.453-464
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• 1999

Safety monitoring systems of structures generally resort to detecting possible changes of dynamic system parameters. Sensitivity analysis of these dynamic system parameters may implement these techniques. Conventional structural eigenvalue problems are discussed in the scope of those systems with deterministic parameters. Large and flexible structures, such as suspension bridges, actually possess stochastic material properties and these random properties unavoidably affect the dynamic system parameters. The sensitivity matrix of structural modal parameters to basic design variables has been established in this paper. Moreover, second order statistics of natural frequencies due to the randomness of material properties have been discussed. It is concluded from numerical analysis of a modem suspension bridge that although the second order statistics of frequencies are small relatively to the change of basic design variables, such as density of mass and modulus of elasticity, the sensitivities of modal parameters to these variables at different locations change in magnitude.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.4
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• pp.391-405
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• 2019

Compared to the ambient vibration test mainly identifying the structural modal parameters, such as frequency, damping and mode shapes, the impact testing, which benefits from measuring both impacting forces and structural responses, has the merit to identify not only the structural modal parameters but also more detailed structural parameters, in particular flexibility. However, in traditional impact tests, an impacting hammer or artificial excitation device is employed, which restricts the efficiency of tests on various bridge structures. To resolve this problem, we propose a new method whereby a moving vehicle is taken as a continuous exciter and develop a corresponding flexibility identification theory, in which the continuous wheel forces induced by the moving vehicle is considered as structural input and the acceleration response of the bridge as the output, thus a structural flexibility matrix can be identified and then structural deflections of the bridge under arbitrary static loads can be predicted. The proposed method is more convenient, time-saving and cost-effective compared with traditional impact tests. However, because the proposed test produces a spatially continuous force while classical impact forces are spatially discrete, a new flexibility identification theory is required, and a novel structural identification method involving with equivalent load distribution, the enhanced Frequency Response Function (eFRFs) construction and modal scaling factor identification is proposed to make use of the continuous excitation force to identify the basic modal parameters as well as the structural flexibility. Laboratory and numerical examples are given, which validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Furthermore, parametric analysis including road roughness, vehicle speed, vehicle weight, vehicle's stiffness and damping are conducted and the results obtained demonstrate that the developed method has strong robustness except that the relative error increases with the increase of measurement noise.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.187-206
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• 2011

This paper uses dynamic computer simulation techniques to develop and apply a multi-criteria procedure using non-destructive vibration-based parameters for damage assessment in truss bridges. In addition to changes in natural frequencies, this procedure incorporates two parameters, namely the modal flexibility and the modal strain energy. Using the numerically simulated modal data obtained through finite element analysis of the healthy and damaged bridge models, algorithms based on modal flexibility and modal strain energy changes before and after damage are obtained and used as the indices for the assessment of structural health state. The application of the two proposed parameters to truss-type structures is limited in the literature. The proposed multi-criteria based damage assessment procedure is therefore developed and applied to truss bridges. The application of the approach is demonstrated through numerical simulation studies of a single-span simply supported truss bridge with eight damage scenarios corresponding to different types of deck and truss damage. Results show that the proposed multi-criteria method is effective in damage assessment in this type of bridge superstructure.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.533-553
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• 2013

In this paper, system identification of a cable-stayed bridge in Korea, the Hwamyung Bridge, is performed using vibration responses measured by a wireless sensor system. First, an acceleration based-wireless sensor system is employed for the structural health monitoring of the bridge, and wireless sensor nodes are deployed on a deck, a pylon and several selected cables. Second, modal parameters of the bridge are obtained both from measured vibration responses and finite element (FE) analysis. Frequency domain decomposition and stochastic subspace identification methods are used to obtain the modal parameters from the measured vibration responses. The FE model of the bridge is established using commercial FE software package. Third, structural properties of the bridge are updated using a modal sensitivity-based method. The updating work improves the accuracy of the FE model so that structural behaviors of the bridge can be represented better using the updated FE model. Finally, cable forces of the selected cables are also identified and compared with both design and lift-off test values.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.283-294
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• 2020

In this paper, an adaptive MEMD based modal identification technique for linear time-invariant systems is proposed employing multiple vibration measurements. Traditional empirical mode decomposition (EMD) suffers from mode-mixing during sifting operations to identify intrinsic mode functions (IMF). MEMD performs better in this context as it considers multi-channel data and projects them into a n-dimensional hypercube to evaluate the IMFs. Using this technique, modal parameters of the structural system are identified. It is observed that MEMD has superior performance compared to its traditional counterpart. However, it still suffers from mild mode-mixing in higher modes where the energy contents are low. To avoid this problem, an adaptive filtering scheme is proposed to decompose the interfering modes. The Proposed modified scheme is then applied to vibrations of a reinforced concrete road bridge. Results presented in this study show that the proposed MEMD based approach coupled with the filtering technique can effectively identify the parameters of the dominant modes present in the structural response with a significant level of accuracy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.420-423
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• 2003

This paper addresses the results of experimental and analytical study on the effects of dynamic interaction between vehicle and bridge on modal properties of bridge. Based on ambient vibration test and vehicle impact test on a bridge, it is found that the natural frequencies of bridge are varied by vehicle passing. Analytical studies for the effects of vehicle position, speed, damping, mass ratio and frequency ratio on bridge-vehicle interaction are carried out using complex eigenvalue analysis and numerical integration in time domain. The results show that vehicle properties except speed cause significant change of natural frequency as well as damping of bridge.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4A
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• pp.707-717
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• 2006

As an alternative to conventional prestressed concrete (PSC) girders, various types of PSC girders are either under development or have already been applied in bridge structures. Incrementally prestressed concrete girder is one of these newly developed girders. According to the design concept, these new types of PSC girders have the advantages of requiring less self-weight while having the capability of longer spans. However, the dynamic interaction between bridge superstructures and passing trains is one of the critical issues concerning these railway bridges designed with more flexibility. Therefore, it is very important to evaluate modal parameters of newly designed bridges before doing dynamic analyses. In the present paper, a 25 meters long full scale PSC girder was fabricated as a test specimen and modal testing was carried out to evaluate modal parameters including natural frequencies and modal damping ratios at every prestressing stage. During the modal testing, a digitally controlled vibration exciter as well as an impact hammer is applied, in order to obtain precise frequency response functions and the modal parameters are evaluated varying with construction stages. Prestressed force effects on changes of modal parameters are analyzed at every incremental prestressing stage. With the application of reliable properties from modal experiments, estimation of dynamic performances of PSC girder railway bridges can be obtained from various parametric studies on dynamic behavior under the passage of moving train. Dynamic displacements, impact factor, acceleration of the slab, end rotation of the girder, and other important dynamic performance parameters are checked with various speeds of the train.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.77-93
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• 2015

The idea of using measured dynamic characteristics for damage detection is attractive because it allows for a global evaluation of the structural health and condition. However, vibration-based damage detection for complex structures such as long-span cable-supported bridges still remains a challenge. As a suspension or cable-stayed bridge involves in general thousands of structural components, the conventional damage detection methods based on model updating and/or parameter identification might result in ill-conditioning and non-uniqueness in the solution of inverse problems. Alternatively, methods that utilize, to the utmost extent, information from forward problems and avoid direct solution to inverse problems would be more suitable for vibration-based damage detection of long-span cable-supported bridges. The auto-associative neural network (ANN) technique and the probabilistic neural network (PNN) technique, that both eschew inverse problems, have been proposed for identifying and locating damage in suspension and cable-stayed bridges. Without the help of a structural model, ANNs with appropriate configuration can be trained using only the measured modal frequencies from healthy structure under varying environmental conditions, and a new set of modal frequency data acquired from an unknown state of the structure is then fed into the trained ANNs for damage presence identification. With the help of a structural model, PNNs can be configured using the relative changes of modal frequencies before and after damage by assuming damage at different locations, and then the measured modal frequencies from the structure can be presented to locate the damage. However, such formulated ANNs and PNNs may still be incompetent to identify damage occurring at the deck members of a cable-supported bridge because of very low modal sensitivity to the damage. The present study endeavors to enhance the damage identification capability of ANNs and PNNs when being applied for identification of damage incurred at deck members. Effort is first made to construct combined modal parameters which are synthesized from measured modal frequencies and modal shape components to train ANNs for damage alarming. With the purpose of improving identification accuracy, effort is then made to configure PNNs for damage localization by adapting the smoothing parameter in the Bayesian classifier to different values for different pattern classes. The performance of the ANNs with their input being modal frequencies and the combined modal parameters respectively and the PNNs with constant and adaptive smoothing parameters respectively is evaluated through simulation studies of identifying damage inflicted on different deck members of the double-deck suspension Tsing Ma Bridge.