• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.139-150
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• 2017

The structural strain plays a significant role in structural condition assessment of in-service bridges in terms of structural bearing capacity, structural reliability level and entire safety redundancy. Therefore, it has been one of the most important parameters concerned by researchers and engineers engaged in structural health monitoring (SHM) practices. In this paper, an SHM system instrumented on the Jiubao Bridge located in Hangzhou, China is firstly introduced. This system involves nine subsystems and has been continuously operated for five years since 2012. As part of the SHM system, a total of 166 fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensors are installed on the bridge to measure the dynamic strain responses of key structural components. Based on the strain monitoring data acquired in recent two years, the strain-based structural condition assessment of the Jiubao Bridge is carried out. The wavelet multi-resolution algorithm is applied to separate the temperature effect from the raw strain data. The obtained strain data under the normal traffic and wind condition and under the typhoon condition are examined for structural safety evaluation. The structural condition rating of the bridge in accordance with the AASHTO specification for condition evaluation and load and resistance factor rating of highway bridges is performed by use of the processed strain data in combination with finite element analysis. The analysis framework presented in this study can be used as a reference for facilitating the assessment, inspection and maintenance activities of in-service bridges instrumented with long-term SHM system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.199-219
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• 2015

This paper presents the non-destructive evaluation of a high-speed railway bridge using train-induced strain responses. Based on the train-track-bridge interaction analysis, the strain responses of a high-speed railway bridge under moving trains with different operation status could be calculated. The train induced strain responses could be divided into two parts: the force vibration stage and the free vibration stage. The strain-displacement relationship is analysed and used for deriving critical displacements from theoretical stain measurements at a forced vibration stage. The derived displacements would be suitable for the condition assessment of the bridge through design specifications defined indexes and would show certain limits to the practical application. Thus, the damage identification of high-speed railways, such as the stiffness degradation location, needs to be done by comparing the measured strain response under moving trains in different states because the vehicle types of high-speed railway are relatively clear and definite. The monitored strain responses at the free vibration stage, after trains pass through the bridge, would be used for identifying the strain modes. The relationship between and the degradation degree and the strain mode shapes shows certain rules for the widely used simply supported beam bridges. The numerical simulation proves simple and effective for the proposed method to locate and quantify the stiffness degradation.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.995-1015
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• 2016

In the design and condition assessment of bridges, it is usually necessary to take into consideration the extreme conditions which are not expected to occur within a short time period and thus require an extrapolation from observations of limited duration. Long-term structural health monitoring (SHM) provides a rich database to evaluate the extreme conditions. This paper focuses on the extrapolation of extreme traffic load effects on bridges using long-term monitoring data of structural strain. The suspension Tsing Ma Bridge (TMB), which carries both highway and railway traffic and is instrumented with a long-term SHM system, is taken as a testbed for the present study. Two popular extreme value extrapolation methods: the block maxima approach and the peaks-over-threshold approach, are employed to extrapolate the extreme stresses induced by highway traffic and railway traffic, respectively. Characteristic values of the extreme stresses with a return period of 120 years (the design life of the bridge) obtained by the two methods are compared. It is found that the extrapolated extreme stresses are robust to the extrapolation technique. It may owe to the richness and good quality of the long-term strain data acquired. These characteristic extremes are also compared with the design values and found to be much smaller than the design values, indicating conservative design values of traffic loading and a safe traffic-loading condition of the bridge. The results of this study can be used as a reference for the design and condition assessment of similar bridges carrying heavy traffic, analogous to the TMB.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.312-320
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• 2017

This paper deals with the development of structural test facility for the strength assessment of marine leisure boat built from carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) materials. The structural test facility consists of test jig, load application and control system, and data acquisition system. Test jig, and load application and control system are designed to accommodate various size and short span to depth ratios of single skin, top-hat stiffened and sandwich constructions in plated structural format such as square and rectangular shapes. A lateral pressure load, typical and important applied load condition to the plates of the hull structure for marine leisure boat, is simulated by employing a number of hydraulic cylinders operated automatically and manually. To examine and operate the structural test facility, five carbon/epoxy based FRP square plates having the test section area of $1m^2$, which are part of CFRP marine leisure boat hull, are prepared and they are subjected to monotonically increasing lateral pressure loads. In the test preparation, considering the symmetry of the plates geometry, various strain gauges and linear variable displacement transformer are used in conjunction with data acquisition system utilizing LabVIEW. From the test observation, the responses of the CFRP hull structure of marine leisure boat are understood by obtaining load to deflection and strain to load curves.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.667-680
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• 2020

This study aims at reporting a systematic procedure for evaluating the static and dynamic structural performance of steel bridges based on a short-period structural health monitoring measurement. Sungsu bridge located in Korea is considered as a case study presenting the most recent tests carried out to examine the bridge condition. Short-period measurements of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system were used during the bridge testing phase. A novel symmetry index is introduced using statistical analyses of deflection and strain measurements. Frequency Domain Decomposition (FDD) is implemented to the strain measurements to estimate the bridge mode shapes and damping ratios. Furthermore, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is also implemented to examine the reliability of bridge performance while ambient design trucks are in static or moving at different speeds. Strain, displacement and acceleration were measured at selected locations on the bridge. The results show that the symmetry index can be an efficient and useful measure in assessing the steel bridge performance. The results from the used method reveal that the performance of the Sungsu bridge is safe under operational conditions.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.319-344
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• 2020

Inverse analysis of non-linear reinforced concrete bridge pier using recursive Gaussian filtering for in-situ condition assessment is the main theme of this work. For this purpose, minimum variance unbiased estimation using unscented sigma points is adopted here. The uniqueness of this inverse analysis lies in its approach for strain based updating of engineering demand parameters, where appropriate bound and constrained conditions are introduced to ensure numerical stability and convergence. In this analysis, seismic input is also identified, which is an added advantage for the structures having no dedicated sensors for earthquake measurement. First, the proposed strategy is tested with a simulated example whose hysteretic properties are obtained from the slow-cyclic test of a frame to investigate its efficiency and accuracy. Finally, the experimental test data of a full-scale bridge pier is used to study its in-situ condition in terms of Park & Ang damage index. Overall the study shows the ability of the augmented minimum variance unbiased estimation based recursive time-marching algorithm for non-linear system identification with the aim to estimate the engineering damage parameters that are the fundamental information necessary for any future decision making for retrofitting/rehabilitation.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.617-630
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• 2019

Currently most of the vision-based structural identification research focus either on structural input (vehicle location) estimation or on structural output (structural displacement and strain responses) estimation. The structural condition assessment at global level just with the vision-based structural output cannot give a normalized response irrespective of the type and/or load configurations of the vehicles. Combining the vision-based structural input and the structural output from non-contact sensors overcomes the disadvantage given above, while reducing cost, time, labor force including cable wiring work. In conventional traffic monitoring, sometimes traffic closure is essential for bridge structures, which may cause other severe problems such as traffic jams and accidents. In this study, a completely non-contact structural identification system is proposed, and the system mainly targets the identification of bridge unit influence line (UIL) under operational traffic. Both the structural input (vehicle location information) and output (displacement responses) are obtained by only using cameras and computer vision techniques. Multiple cameras are synchronized by audio signal pattern recognition. The proposed system is verified with a laboratory experiment on a scaled bridge model under a small moving truck load and a field application on a footbridge on campus under a moving golf cart load. The UILs are successfully identified in both bridge cases. The pedestrian loads are also estimated with the extracted UIL and the predicted weights of pedestrians are observed to be in acceptable ranges.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.385-396
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• 2017

The recent advancements in sensing technologies allow us to record measurements from target structures at multiple locations and with relatively high spatial resolution. Such measurements can be used to develop data-driven methodologies for condition assessment, control, and health monitoring of target structures. One of the state-of-the-art technologies, Fiber Optic Strain Sensors (FOSS), is developed at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, and is based on Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors. These strain sensors are accurate, lightweight, and can provide almost continuous strain-field measurements along the length of the fiber. The strain measurements can then be used for real-time shape-sensing and operational load-estimation of complex structural systems. While several works have demonstrated the successful implementation of FOSS on large-scale real-life aerospace structures (i.e., airplane wings), there is paucity of studies in the literature that have investigated the potential of extending the application of FOSS into civil structures (e.g., tall buildings, bridges, etc.). This work assesses the feasibility of using FOSS to predict operational loads (e.g., wind loads) on chain-like structures. A thorough investigation is performed using analytical, computational, and experimental models of a 4-story steel building test specimen, developed at the University of Southern California. This study provides guidelines on the implementation of the FOSS technology on building-like structures, addresses the associated technical challenges, and suggests potential modifications to a load-estimation algorithm, to achieve a robust methodology for predicting operational loads using strain-field measurements.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.281-286
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• 2012

Single frame structures with notches were fractured by applying drop impact loadings at room temperature and low temperature. Johnson-Cook shear failure model has been employed to simulate the fractured single frame structures. Through several numerical analyses, material constants for Johnson-Cook shear failure model have been found producing the cracks resulted from experiments. Fracture strain-stress triaxiality curves at both room temperature and low temperature are presented based on the extracted material constants. It is expected that the fracture strain-stress triaxiality curves can offer objective fracture criteria for the assessment of structural fractures of polar class vessel structures fabricated from DH36 steels. The fracture experiments of single frame structures revealed that the structure on low temperature condition fractures at much lower strain than that on room temperature condition despite the same stress states at both temperatures. In conclusion, the material properties on low temperature condition are essential to estimate the fracture characteristics of steel structures operated in the Northern Sea Route.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.561-576
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• 2022

Heritage timber structures represent the history and culture of a nation. These structures have been inherited from previous generations; however, they inevitably exhibit deterioration over time, potentially leading to structural deficiencies. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) offers the potential to assess operational anomalies, deterioration, and damage through processing and analysis of data collected from transducers and sensors mounted on the structure. This paper reports on the design and implementation of a long-term SHM system on the Feiyun Wooden Pavilion in China, a three-story timber building built more than 500 years ago. The principles and features of the design and implementation of SHM systems for heritage timber buildings are systematically discussed. In total, 104 sensors of 6 different types are deployed on the structure to monitor the environmental effects and structural responses, including air temperature and humidity, wind speed and direction, structural temperatures, strain, inclination, and acceleration. In addition, integrated data acquisition and transmission subsystem using a newly developed software platform are implemented. Selected preliminary statistical and correlation analysis using one year of monitoring data are presented to demonstrate the condition assessment capability of the system based on the monitoring data.