Feasibility investigation for a bridge damage identification method through moving vehicle laboratory experiment

Abstract

This paper investigated the feasibility of the pseudo-static damage identification method derived from a bridge–vehicle interaction system through a moving vehicle laboratory experiment. The element stiffness index, defined as the ratio of flexural rigidity of a damaged member to that of an intact member, serves as the damage indicator. Three vehicle models and two travelling speeds were considered in the experiment to examine the effect of vehicle's dynamic characteristic and travelling speed on identified results. It is demonstrated that locations and severities of damages are detectable using the proposed method in spite of the probable changes of roadway roughness and environmental conditions. In addition, adopting higher vehicle speed as well as the vehicle with frequency close to that of the bridge increased the probability of detecting damages.

Keywords::

• bridge health monitoring (BHM)
• bridge–vehicle interaction
• pseudo-static damage identification
• element stiffness index
• moving vehicle
• laboratory experiments

Acknowledgements

A part of this study is supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant-in-Aid for Exploratory Research under Project No. 19656112 and Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) under Project No. 20560443), and the author Kai-Chun Chang is partly sponsored by the National Science Council, Taiwan (Grant No. NSC 100-2917-I-564-052). Such financial aids are gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected]

^2. Email: [email protected]