• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.58-66
• /
• 2023

In this study, cable tension was measured using the vibration method, and a vision-based system was applied as a sensor to measure the displacement response of a cable in a non-contact method. In the vision-based system, the camera is installed in a location that considers the target structure and the field of view of the camera. However, it can be difficult to recognize the control points required to measure the displacement response of a structure as the target structure and other structures such as vehicles may be included in the image at the intended installation location. In this study, a distorted image including a vehicle shows inaccurate results in image analysis due to the installation position of the vision-based system. Accordingly, the image including the vehicle was eliminated by calculating the similarity between the two images. To verify the validity of the method of estimating the cable tension of cable-stayed bridges using the proposed method, the vibration method was applied to cable-stayed bridges in service to measure the tension.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2024

The expansion joint is installed to offset the expansion of the superstructure and must ensure sufficient gap during its service life. In detailed guideline of safety inspection and precise safety diagnosis for bridge, damage due to lack or excessive gap is specified, but there are insufficient standards for determining the abnormal behavior of superstructures. In this study, a data-based maintenance was proposed by continuously monitoring the expansion-gap data of the same expansion joint. A total of 2,756 data were collected from 689 expansion joint, taking into account the effects of season. We have developed a method to evaluate changes in the expansion joint-gap that can analyze the thermal movement through four or more data at the same location, and classified the factors that affect the superstructure behavior and analyze the influence of each factor through deep learning and explainable artificial intelligence(AI). Abnormal behavior of the superstructure was classified into narrowing and functional failure through the expansion joint-gap evaluation graph. The influence factor analysis using deep learning and explainable AI is considered to be reliable because the results can be explained by the existing expansion gap calculation formula and bridge design.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.479-499
• /
• 2019

State assessment of an operational tunnel is usually done by performing visual inspection and durability tests by following the detailed guideline for safety inspection (SI) and/ or precision inspection for safety and diagnosis (PISD). In this study, 12 NATM tunnels, which have been operational for more than 10 years, were inspected to figure out the cause of longitudinal cracks for the purpose of modifying the scoring items in the state assessment NATM tunnel related to the longitudinal crack and the thickness of concrete lining. All investigated tunnels were classified into four groups depending on the shape and usage of each tunnel. The causes of longitudinal crack occurrence were analyzed by investigating the correlations between the longitudinal crack and the following four factors: the patterns of ground excavation; construction state of primary support system; characteristics of material properties of the concrete lining; and thickness of lining which was obtained by Ground Penetration Radar (GPR) tests. It was found that influencing factors causing longitudinal cracks in the lining were closely related with the construction condition of the primary support system, i.e. shotcrete, rockbolt, and steel-rib; crack occurrences were not much affected by the excavation patterns. As for the properties of concrete lining materials, occurrence of the longitudinal crack was mostly affected by the following three items: w/c ratio; contents of cement; and strength of lining. When estimating the lining thickness of the concrete lining by GPR tests and taking thickness effect into account in the statement assessment, it was concluded that increase of the index score by an average of 0.03 (ranging from 0.01 up to 0.071) is needed; a more realistic way of state assessment should be proposed in which the increased index score caused by lack of lining thickness should be taken into account.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.212-220
• /
• 2011

These days, many cable-stayed bridges were constructed in accordance with the trend in Korea. At the moment, construction technology of cable-stayed bridges has been remarkably developed but design technology still relies upon foreign technology very much. The cable anchor system that is one of key technologies of cable-stayed bridge brings powerful cable tension to produce local stress concentration and to disturb stress seriously, so for safety must be designed by a local detailed analysis is required. But without a clear design standard or design theory relying on F.E.M, and engineers don't understand theoretical basic mechanism of cable anchor system. As a result, engineers can be lose their judgement. Accordingly, this study examined theoretical design flow of fixing pipe in guide pipe-anchor system and additional considerations, in accordance with design standards at home and abroad to keep them in order and to suggest supplementary design flow.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.93-101
• /
• 2022

RC Slab bridges in Korea account for more than 70% of the total bridges for more than 20 years of service. As the number of aging structures increases, the importance of safety diagnosis and maintenance of structures increases. For highway bridges, cracks are a main cause of deck deterioration, which is very closely related to the decrease in bridge durability and service life. In addition, the damage rate of expansion joints and bearings accounts for approximately 73% higher than that of major members. Therefore, this study defined damage scenarios combined with devices damages and deck deterioration. The stress distribution and maximum stress on the deck were then evaluated using design vehicle load and daily temperature gradient for single and combined damage scenarios. Furthermore, this study performed damage-spread analysis and predicted condition ratings according to a deck deterioration model generated from the inspection and diagnosis history data of cracks. The heterogeneous damages combined with the member damages of expansion joints and bearings increased the rate of crack area and damage spread, which accelerated the time to reach the condition rating of C. Therefore, damage to bridge members requires proper and prompt repair and replacement, and otherwise it can cause the damage to bridge deck and the spread of the damage.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.120-129
• /
• 2023

Hanger cable tension is a major response that can determine the integrity and safety of suspension bridges. In general, the vibration method is used to estimate hanger cable tension on operational suspension bridges. It measures natural frequencies from hanger cables and indirectly estimates tension using the geometry conditions of the hanger cables. This study estimated the hanger cable tension of the Palyeong Bridge using a vision-based system. The vision-based system used digital camcorders and tripods considering the convenience and economic efficiency of measurement. Measuring the natural frequencies for high-order modes required for the vibration method is difficult because the hanger cable response measured using the vision-based system is displacement-based. Therefore, this study proposed a back analysis technique for estimating tension using the natural frequencies of low-order modes. Optimization for the back analysis technique was performed by defining the difference between the natural frequencies of hanger cables measured in the field and those calculated using finite element analysis as the objective function. The direct search method that does not require the partial derivatives of the objective function was applied as the optimization method. The reliability and accuracy of the back analysis technique were verified by comparing the tension calculated using the method with that estimated using the vibration method. Tension was accurately estimated using the natural frequencies of low-order modes by applying the back analysis technique.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.55-63
• /
• 2022

A modular underground arch structure using steel and concrete has been proposed as a structure that has a simple construction process and can effectively resist cross-sectional forces generated during construction and use. Structural behavior of modular underground arch was evaluated about span length less than 15m through 3D structural analysis and test. In general, 2D and 3D structural analysis methods may be applied for structural analysis such as underground arch and tunnels. However, if a 2D or 3D structural analysis method is applied to evaluate the structural safety of a modular underground arch structure, it is difficult to model for structural analysis and it may take an excessively long time to interpret. Therefore, it may not be reasonable as a structural analysis method for considering the structural safety and earth pressure in the design process of a modular underground arch structure. In addition, when a modular underground arch structure is configured for span lengths to which the predetermined cross-section is applicable, it may be reasonable to evaluate only the safety of the structure and cross-section according to the cross-section and load conditions. Therefore, in this study, a structural analysis model using frame elements was proposed for efficient structural safety evaluation. In addition, structural analysis results of the 2D structural analysis model and the simplified analysis model using frame elements were compared, and the structural safety of the modular underground arch structure for a span length of 20m was evaluated with a simplified analysis method.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.25-34
• /
• 2017

Since the 30-year-old facility is expected to surge from 10.5% to 23.9% in 10 years, the new evaluation system is needed to establish efficient maintenance system for securing the safety and extending the life span of existing facilities. In this study, Delphi and AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Process) was conducted to provide a systematic new evaluation system for the NATM tunnel, which is the most frequently constructed structure of the existing tunnel. Since the existing assessment systems are limited in scope of evlauatuon criteria, the survey was conducted in conjunction with closed questionnaires on existing items and open questionnaires for eliciting new items. In results, suitable evaluation factors were derived for the NATM tunnel through the validation of the survey results. Also after calculating weighted value of the derived assessment item using AHP technique, a new evaluation system is proposed to meet the characteristics of the NATM tunnel, so that they can be used as reference materials for revising and supplementing detatiled guidelines in the future.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.74-79
• /
• 2020

Safety inspection of cable-supported bridge has increasingly attention as many cable-supported bridges are currently constructed/operated. Whilst cables as a main component in cable-supported bridge should be inspected regularly, traditional method (visual inspection) has limitation to check the condition of cables properly due to restricted factors. It is evidently necessary to develop cable-inspection robot to overcome this concern. In this respect, the main aim in this study is to manufacture the improved robot compared with the existing robot. The improved functions of the robot in this study were that the robot can be operated in large cable diameter (greater than 200 mm) and climbing ability of the robot increases. In addition, electro-magnetic sensor as a non-destructive method in the robot was added to detect damaged cables and performance of the sensor was evaluated in indoor and field experiments. Consequently, the robot was able to move on the cable with ~0.2m/s and to detect damaged cables using the sensor. It was also confirmed that performance of the robot in field test is similar to that in indoor test.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.98-106
• /
• 2024

Due to advancements in construction technology and analytical tools, an increasing number of cable-stayed bridges have been designed and constructed in recent years. A cable is a structural element that primarily transmits the main load of a cable-stayed bridge and plays the most crucial role in reflecting the overall condition of the entire bridge system. In this study, a vision-based method was applied to estimate the tension of the stay cables located at a long distance. To measure the response of a cable using a vision-based method, it is necessary to install feature points or targets on the cable. However, depending on the location of the point to be measured, there may be no feature points in the cable, and there may also be limitations in installing the target on the cable. Hence, it is necessary to find a way to measure cable response that overcomes the limitations of existing vision-based methods. This study proposes a method for measuring cable responses by utilizing the characteristics of cable shape. The proposed method involved extracting the cable shape from the acquired image and determining the center of the extracted cable shape to measure the cable response. The extracted natural frequencies of the vibration mode were obtained using the measured responses, and the tension was estimated by applying them to the vibration method. To verify the reliability of the vision-based method, cable images were obtained from the Hwatae Bridge in service under ambient vibration conditions. The reliability of the method proposed in this study was confirmed by applying it to the vibration method using a vision-based approach, resulting in estimated tensions with an error of less than 1% compared to tensions estimated using an accelerometer.