Hybrid damage monitoring of steel plate-girder bridge under train-induced excitation by parallel acceleration-impedance approach

A hybrid damage monitoring scheme using parallel acceleration-impedance approaches is proposed to detect girder damage and support damage in steel plate-girder bridges which are under ambient train-induced excitations. The hybrid scheme consists of three phases: global and local damage monitoring in parallel manner, damage occurrence alarming and local damage identification, and detailed damage estimation. In the first phase, damage occurrence in a structure is globally monitored by changes in vibration features and, at the same moment, damage occurrence in local critical members is monitored by changes in impedance features. In the second phase, the occurrence of damage is alarmed and the type of damage is locally identified by recognizing patterns of vibration and impedance features. In the final phase, the location and severity of the locally identified damage are estimated by using modal strain energy-based damage index methods. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is evaluated on a steel plate-girder bridge model which was experimentally tested under model train-induced excitations. Acceleration responses and electro-mechanical impedance signatures were measured for several damage scenarios of girder damage and support damage.