• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.345-355
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• 2009

This article describes the development of a fiber optic accelerometer based on Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG). The accelerometer utilizes the stiffness of the optical fiber and a lumped mass in the design. Acceleration is measured by the FBG in response to the vibration of the fiber optic mass system. The wavelength shift of FBG is proportional to the change in acceleration, and the gauge factor pertains to the shift in wavelength as a function of acceleration. Low frequency version of the accelerometer was developed for applications in monitoring bridges. The accelerometer was first evaluated in laboratory settings and then employed in a demonstration project for condition assessment of a bridge. Laboratory experiments involved evaluation of the sensitivity and resolution of measurements under a series of low frequency low amplitude conditions. The main feature of this accelerometer is single channel multiplexing capability rendering the system highly practical for application in condition assessment of bridges. This feature of the accelerometer was evaluated by using the system during ambient vibration tests of a bridge. The Frequency Domain Decomposition method was employed to identify the mode shapes and natural frequencies of the bridge. Results were compared with the data acquired from the conventional accelerometers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.123-139
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• 2005

An automatic modal identification program is developed for continuous extraction of modal parameters of three cable-supported bridges in Hong Kong which are instrumented with a long-term monitoring system. The program employs the Complex Modal Indication Function (CMIF) algorithm for identifying modal properties from continuous ambient vibration measurements in an on-line manner. By using the LabVIEW graphical programming language, the software realizes the algorithm in Virtual Instrument (VI) style. The applicability and implementation issues of the developed software are demonstrated by using one-year measurement data acquired from 67 channels of accelerometers permanently installed on the cable-stayed Ting Kau Bridge. With the continuously identified results, variability in modal vectors due to varying environmental conditions and measurement errors is observed. Such an observation is very helpful for selection of appropriate measured modal vectors for structural health monitoring use.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.15-29
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• 2019

This paper addresses the problem of damage detection in suspension bridge hangers, with an emphasis on the modal flexibility method. It aims at evaluating the capability and the accuracy of the modal flexibility method to detect and locate single and multiple damages in suspension bridge hangers, with different level of severity and various locations. The study is conducted numerically and experimentally on a laboratory suspension bridge mock-up. First, the covariance-driven stochastic subspace identification is used to extract the modal parameters of the bridge from experimental data, using only output measurements data from ambient vibration. Then, the method is demonstrated for several damage scenarios and compared against other classical methods, such as: Coordinate Modal Assurance Criterion (COMAC), Enhanced Coordinate Modal Assurance Criterion (ECOMAC), Mode Shape Curvature (MSC) and Modal Strain Energy (MSE). The paper demonstrates the relative merits and shortcomings of these methods which play a significant role in the damage detection ofsuspension bridges.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.373-388
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• 2010

The updated finite element model of K$\ddot{o}$m$\ddot{u}$rhan Highway Bridge on the Firat River located on the $51^{st}$ km of Elazi$\breve{g}$-Malatya highway is obtained by using analytical and experimental results. The 2D and 3D finite element model of the bridge is created by using SAP2000 structural analyses software, and the dynamic characteristics of the bridge are determined analytically. The experimental measurements are carried out by Operational Modal Analysis Method under traffic induced vibrations and the dynamic characteristics are obtained experimentally. The vibration data are gathered from the both box girder and the deck of the bridge, separately. Due to the expansion joint in the middle of the bridge, special measurement points are selected when experimental test setups constitute. Measurement duration, frequency span and effective mode number are determined by considering similar studies in literature. The Peak Picking method in the frequency domain is used in the modal identification. At the end of the study, analytical and experimental dynamic characteristic are compared with each other and the finite element model of the bridge is updated by changing some uncertain parameters such as material properties and boundary conditions. Maximum differences between the natural frequencies are reduced from 10% to 2%, and a good agreement is found between natural frequencies and mode shapes after model updating.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.363-389
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• 2016

Deficient modes that cannot be always identified from different sets of measurement data may exist in the application of operational modal analysis such as the stochastic subspace identification techniques in large-scale civil structures. Based on a recent work using the long-term ambient vibration measurements from an instrumented cable-stayed bridge under different wind excitation conditions, a benchmark problem is launched by taking the same bridge as a test bed to further intensify the exploration of mode identifiability. For systematically assessing this benchmark problem, a recently developed SSI algorithm based on an alternative stabilization diagram and a hierarchical sifting process is extended and applied in this research to investigate several sets of known and blind monitoring data. The evaluation of delicately selected cases clearly distinguishes the effect of traffic excitation on the identifiability of the targeted deficient mode from the effect of wind excitation. An additional upper limit for the vertical acceleration amplitude at deck, mainly induced by the passing traffic, is subsequently suggested to supplement the previously determined lower limit for the wind speed. Careful inspection on the shape vector of the deficient mode under different excitation conditions leads to the postulation that this mode is actually induced by the motion of the central tower. The analysis incorporating the tower measurements solidly verifies this postulation by yielding the prevailing components at the tower locations in the extended mode shape vector. Moreover, it is also confirmed that this mode can be stably identified under all the circumstances with the addition of tower measurements. An important lesson learned from this discovery is that the problem of mode identifiability usually comes from the lack of proper measurements at the right locations.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.45-57
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• 2020

This paper presents the experimental application of a new method for seismic vulnerability assessment of buildings recently introduced in literature, the SMAV (Seismic Model Ambient Vibration) methodology with reference to their operational limit state. The importance of this kind of evaluation arises from the civil protection necessity that some buildings, considered strategic for seismic emergency management, should retain their functionality also after a destructive earthquake. They do not suffer such damage as to compromise the operation within a framework of assessment of the overall capacity of the urban system. To this end, for the characterization of their operational vulnerability, a Structural Operational Index (IOPS) has been considered. In particular, the dynamic environmental vibrations of the two considered strategic buildings, the fire station and the town hall building of a small town in the South of Italy, have been monitored by positioning accelerometers in well-defined points. These measurements were processed through modern Operational Modal Analysis techniques (OMA) in order to identify natural frequencies and modal shapes. Once these parameters have been determined, the structural operational efficiency index of the buildings has been determined evaluating the seismic vulnerability of the strategic structures analyzed. his study aimed to develop a model to accurately predict the acceleration of structural systems during an earthquake.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2015

Traditionally, it is not easy to carry out tests to identify modal parameters from existing railway bridges because of the testing conditions and complicated nature of civil structures. A six year (2007-2012) research program was conducted to monitor a group of 25 railway bridges. One of the tasks was to devise guidelines for identifying their modal parameters. This paper presents the experience acquired from such identification. The modal analysis of four representative bridges of this group is reported, which include B5, B15, B20 and B58A, crossing the Caraj$\acute{a}$s railway in northern Brazil using three different excitations sources: drop weight, free vibration after train passage, and ambient conditions. To extract the dynamic parameters from the recorded data, Stochastic Subspace Identification and Frequency Domain Decomposition methods were used. Finite-element models were constructed to facilitate the dynamic measurements. The results show good agreement between the measured and computed natural frequencies and mode shapes. The findings provide some guidelines on methods of excitation, record length of time, methods of modal analysis including the use of projected channel and harmonic detection, helping researchers and maintenance teams obtain good dynamic characteristics from measurement data.

• 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.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.665-682
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• 2015

Structural identification or St-Id is 'the parametric correlation of structural response characteristics predicted by a mathematical model with analogous characteristics derived from experimental measurements'. This paper describes a St-Id exercise on Humber Bridge that adopted a novel two-stage approach to first calibrate and then validate a mathematical model. This model was then used to predict effects of wind and temperature loads on global static deformation that would be practically impossible to observe. The first stage of the process was an ambient vibration survey in 2008 that used operational modal analysis to estimate a set of modes classified as vertical, torsional or lateral. In the more recent second stage a finite element model (FEM) was developed with an appropriate level of refinement to provide a corresponding set of modal properties. A series of manual adjustments to modal parameters such as cable tension and bearing stiffness resulted in a FEM that produced excellent correspondence for vertical and torsional modes, along with correspondence for the lower frequency lateral modes. In the third stage traffic, wind and temperature data along with deformation measurements from a sparse structural health monitoring system installed in 2011 were compared with equivalent predictions from the partially validated FEM. The match of static response between FEM and SHM data proved good enough for the FEM to be used to predict the un-measurable global deformed shape of the bridge due to vehicle and temperature effects but the FEM had limited capability to reproduce static effects of wind. In addition the FEM was used to show internal forces due to a heavy vehicle to to estimate the worst-case bearing movements under extreme combinations of wind, traffic and temperature loads. The paper shows that in this case, but with limitations, such a two-stage FEM calibration/validation process can be an effective tool for performance prognosis.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.35-47
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• 2020

This paper proposes the use of transmissibility functions combined with a machine learning algorithm, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), to assess damage in a truss bridge. A new approach method, which makes use of the input parameters calculated from the transmissibility function, is proposed. The network not only can predict the existence of damage, but also can classify the damage types and identity the location of the damage. Sensors are installed in the truss joints in order to measure the bridge vibration responses under train and ambient excitations. A finite element (FE) model is constructed for the bridge and updated using FE software and experimental data. Both single damage and multiple damage cases are simulated in the bridge model with different scenarios. In each scenario, the vibration responses at the considered nodes are recorded and then used to calculate the transmissibility functions. The transmissibility damage indicators are calculated and stored as ANNs inputs. The outputs of the ANNs are the damage type, location and severity. Two machine learning algorithms are used; one for classifying the type and location of damage, whereas the other for finding the severity of damage. The measurements of the Nam O bridge, a truss railway bridge in Vietnam, is used to illustrate the method. The proposed method not only can distinguish the damage type, but also it can accurately identify damage level.