• 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.23 no.5
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• pp.507-520
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• 2019

In the structural health monitoring field, damage detection has been commonly carried out based on the structural model and the engineering features related to the model. However, the extracted features are often subjected to various errors, which makes the pattern recognition for damage detection still challenging. In this study, an automated damage identification method is presented for hanger cables in a tied-arch bridge using a convolutional neural network (CNN). Raw measurement data for Fourier amplitude spectra (FAS) of acceleration responses are used without a complex data pre-processing for modal identification. A CNN is a kind of deep neural network that typically consists of convolution, pooling, and fully-connected layers. A numerical simulation study was performed for multiple damage detection in the hangers using ambient wind vibration data on the bridge deck. The results show that the current CNN using FAS data performs better under various damage states than the CNN using time-history data and the traditional neural network using FAS. Robustness of the present CNN has been proven under various observational noise levels and wind speeds.