• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.787-797
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• 2015

In this paper, a cochlea-inspired artificial filter bank(CAFB) was developed in order to efficiently acquire dynamic response of structure, and it was also evaluated via dynamic response experiments. To sort out signals containing significant modal information from all the dynamic responses of structure, it was made to adopt a band-pass filter optimizing algorithm(BOA) and a peak-picking algorithm (PPA). Optimally designed on the basis of El-centro and Kobe earthquake signals, it was then embedded into the wireless multi-measurement system(WiMMS). In order to evaluate the performance of the developed CAFB, a vibration test was conducted using the El-centro and Kobe earthquake signals, and structural responses of a two-span bridge were obtained and analyzed simultaneously by both a wired measurement system and a CAFB-based WiMMS. The test results showed that the compressed dynamic responses acquired by the CAFB-based WiMMS matched with those of the wired system, and they included significant modal information of the two-span bridge. Therefore this study showed that the developed CAFB could be used as a new, economic, and efficient measurement device for wireless sensor networks(WSNs) based real time structural health monitoring because it could reconstruct the whole dynamic response using the compressed dynamic response with significant modal information.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.9-16
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• 2008

Ubiquitous technology is proposed which is used wireless sensor network for deflection management at casting and after casting of FCM bridge. Proposed method are analyzed which are sensor experiment and existing FCM bridge using ubiquitous sensor network. Wireless sensor network enables low-cost sensing of environment. As a results, the field application shows that USN is useful method for structural health monitoring system which long distance away.

• 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.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.683-698
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• 2015

Railroad bridges form an integral part of railway infrastructure throughout the world. To accommodate increased axel loads, train speeds, and greater volumes of freight traffic, in the presence of changing structural conditions, the load carrying capacity and serviceability of existing bridges must be assessed. One way is through system identification of in-service railroad bridges. To dates, numerous researchers have reported system identification studies with a large portion of their applications being highway bridges. Moreover, most of those models are calibrated at global level, while only a few studies applications have used globally and locally calibrated model. To reach the global and local calibration, both ambient vibration tests and controlled tests need to be performed. Thus, an approach for system identification of a railroad bridge that can be used to assess the bridge in global and local sense is needed. This study presents system identification of a railroad bridge using free vibration data. Wireless smart sensors are employed and provided a portable way to collect data that is then used to determine bridge frequencies and mode shapes. Subsequently, a calibrated finite element model of the bridge provides global and local information of the bridge. The ability of the model to simulate local responses is validated by comparing predicted and measured strain in one of the diagonal members of the truss. This research demonstrates the potential of using measured field data to perform model calibration in a simple and practical manner that will lead to better understanding the state of railroad bridges.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.39-54
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• 2014

Node layout optimization of structural wireless systems is investigated as a means to prolong the network lifetime without, if possible, compromising information quality of the measurement data. The trade-off between these antagonistic objectives is studied within a multi-objective layout optimization framework. A Genetic Algorithm is adopted to obtain a set of Pareto-optimal solutions from which the end user can select the final layout. The information quality of the measurement data collected from a heterogeneous WSN is quantified from the placement quality indicators of strain and acceleration sensors. The network lifetime or equivalently the network energy consumption is estimated through WSN simulation that provides realistic results by capturing the dynamics of the wireless communication protocols. A layout optimization study of a monitoring system on the Great Belt Bridge is conducted to evaluate the proposed approach. The placement quality of strain gauges and accelerometers is obtained as a ratio of the Modal Clarity Index and Mode Shape Expansion values that are computed from a Finite Element model of the monitored bridge. To estimate the energy consumption of the WSN platform in a realistic scenario, we use a discrete-event simulator with stochastic communication models. Finally, we compare the optimization results with those obtained in a previous work where the network energy consumption is obtained via deterministic communication models.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.772-777
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• 2008

Recent development of fiber optic sensors and wireless sensor technology, made structural health monitoring of railway structures cost effective. In this paper, a micro bending fiber optic rail pad sensors are evaluated for train axle force measurement. In order to assess the usability of FBG fiber optic sensors for short-term bridge measurement, the FBG sensors and conventional strain gauges are installed at the same points and the strain results are compared. Also the impact factors are calculated using the FBG strain responses and the results are compared with the conventional sensor responses. A running KTX train was instrumented with wireless sensor system to measure the vibration characteristics and the results are compared with conventional wire sensor system.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.189-199
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• 2024

To properly extract the strain components under varying operational conditions is very important in bridge health monitoring. The abnormal sensor readings can be correctly identified and the expected operational performance of the bridge can be better understood if each strain components can be accurately quantified. In this study, strain components under varying load conditions, i.e., temperature variation and live-load variation are evaluated based on field strain measurements collected from a real concrete box-girder bridge. Temperature-induced strain is mainly regarded as the trend variation along with the ambient temperature, thus a smoothing technique based on the wavelet packet decomposition method is proposed to estimate the temperature-induced strain. However, how to effectively extract the vehicle-induced strain is always troublesome because conventional threshold setting-based methods cease to function: if the threshold is set too large, the minor response will be ignored, and if too small, noise will be introduced. Therefore, an autoencoder framework is proposed to evaluate the vehicle-induced strain. After the elimination of temperature and vehicle-induced strain, the left of which, defined as the model error, is used to assess the operational performance of the bridge. As empirical techniques fail to detect the degraded state of the structure, a clustering technique based on Gaussian Mixture Model is employed to identify the damage occurrence and the validity is verified in a simulation study.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.247-257
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• 2023

In structural health monitoring of large-scale structures, optimal sensor placement plays an important role because of the high cost of sensors and their supporting instruments, as well as the burden of data transmission and storage. In this study, a vibration sensor placement algorithm based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed, which can effectively solve non-convex, high-dimensional, and discrete combinatorial sensor placement optimization problems. An objective function is constructed to estimate the quality of a specific vibration sensor placement scheme according to the modal assurance criterion (MAC). Using this objective function, a DRL-based algorithm is presented to determine the optimal vibration sensor placement scheme. Subsequently, we transform the sensor optimal placement process into a Markov decision process and employ a DRL-based optimization algorithm to maximize the objective function for optimal sensor placement. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed method, two examples are presented: a 10-story braced frame and a sea-crossing bridge model. A comparison study is also performed with a genetic algorithm and particle swarm algorithm. The proposed DRL-based algorithm can effectively solve the discrete combinatorial optimization problem for vibration sensor placements and can produce superior performance compared with the other two existing methods.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.3_4
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• pp.363-379
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• 2013

Dynamic displacement of structures is an important index for in-service structural condition and behavior assessment, but accurate measurement of structural displacement for large-scale civil structures such as long-span bridges still remains as a challenging task. In this paper, a vision-based dynamic displacement measurement system with the use of digital image processing technology is developed, which is featured by its distinctive characteristics in non-contact, long-distance, and high-precision structural displacement measurement. The hardware of this system is mainly composed of a high-resolution industrial CCD (charge-coupled-device) digital camera and an extended-range zoom lens. Through continuously tracing and identifying a target on the structure, the structural displacement is derived through cross-correlation analysis between the predefined pattern and the captured digital images with the aid of a pattern matching algorithm. To validate the developed system, MTS tests of sinusoidal motions under different vibration frequencies and amplitudes and shaking table tests with different excitations (the El-Centro earthquake wave and a sinusoidal motion) are carried out. Additionally, in-situ verification experiments are performed to measure the mid-span vertical displacement of the suspension Tsing Ma Bridge in the operational condition and the cable-stayed Stonecutters Bridge during loading tests. The obtained results show that the developed system exhibits an excellent capability in real-time measurement of structural displacement and can serve as a good complement to the traditional sensors.