• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.319-332
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• 2019

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is of great importance to super high-rise buildings. The Shanghai Tower is currently the tallest building in China, and a complete SHM system was simultaneously constructed at the beginning of the construction of the tower. Due to the variety of sensor types and the large number of measurement points in the SHM system, an online automatic structural health assessment method with few computations and no manual intervention is needed. This paper introduces a structural health assessment method for the Shanghai Tower that uses the coefficients of an autoregressive (AR) time series model as structural state indicators. An analysis of collected data indicates that the coefficients of the AR model are affected by environmental factors, and the principal component analysis method is used to remove the influence of environmental factors. Finally, the control chart method is used to track the changes in structural state indicators, and a plan for online automatic structure health state evaluation is proposed. This method is applied to long-term acceleration and inclination data from the Shanghai Tower and successfully identifies the changes in the structural state. Overall, the structural state indicators of the Shanghai Tower are stable, and the structure is in a healthy state.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.135-146
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• 2010

This paper presents the perspective of the Structural Mechanics program of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) on the damage assessment of structures for the period 2006-2009 when the author was serving as Program Manager at AFOSR. It is found that damage assessment of structures plays a very important role in assuring the safety and operational readiness of US Air Force fleet. The current fleet has many aging aircraft, which poses a considerable challenge for the operators and maintainers. The nondestructive evaluation technology is rather mature and able to detect damage with considerable reliability during the periodic maintenance inspections. The emerging structural health monitoring methodology has great potential, because it will use on-board damage detection sensors and systems, will be able to offer on-demand structural health bulletins. Considerable fundamental and applied research is still needed to enable the development, implementation, and dissemination of structural health monitoring technology.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.51-69
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• 2016

Monitoring the performance and estimating the remaining useful life of aging civil infrastructure in the United States has been identified as a major objective in the civil engineering community. Structural health monitoring has emerged as a central tool to fulfill this objective. This paper presents a review of the major structural monitoring programs that have been recently implemented in the United States, focusing on the integrity and performance assessment of large-scale structural systems. Applications where response data from a monitoring program have been used to detect and correct structural deficiencies are highlighted. These applications include (but are not limited to): i) Post-earthquake damage assessment of buildings and bridges; ii) Monitoring of cables vibration in cable-stayed bridges; iii) Evaluation of the effectiveness of technologies for retrofit and seismic protection, such as base isolation systems; and iv) Structural damage assessment of bridges after impact loads resulting from ship collisions. These and many other applications show that a structural health monitoring program is a powerful tool for structural damage and condition assessment, that can be used as part of a comprehensive decision-making process about possible actions that can be undertaken in a large-scale civil infrastructure system after potentially damaging events.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제5권4호
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• pp.381-395
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• 2009

The paper presents a case study in which the structural condition assessment of the East Bay bridge in Gibsonton, Florida is evaluated with the help of remote health monitoring techniques. The bridge is a four-span, continuous, deck-type reinforced concrete structure supported on prestressed pile bents, and is instrumented with smart Fiber Optic Sensors. The sensors used for remote health monitoring are the newly emerged Fabry-Perot (FP), and are both surface-mounted and embedded in the deck. The sensing system can be accessed remotely through fast Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL), which permits the evaluation of the bridge behavior under live traffic loads. The bridge was open to traffic since March 2005, and the collected structural data have been continuously analyzed since. The data revealed an increase in strain readings, which suggests a progression in damage. Recent visual observations also indicated the presence of longitudinal cracks along the bridge length. After the formation of these cracks, the sensors readings were analyzed and used to extrapolate the values of the maximum stresses at the crack location. The data obtained were also compared to initial design values of the bridge under factored gravity and live loads. The study showed that the proposed structural health monitoring technique proved to provide an efficient mean for condition assessment of bridge structures providing it is implemented and analyzed with care.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제10권4호
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• pp.339-360
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• 2023

In this paper, to assess the performance of a multi-span simply supported RC bridge, the dynamic characteristics of the bridge were measured and determined by structural health monitoring and resilient assessment via operational modal analysis as well as FE modeling. Supporting finite element (FE) models were created and analyzed according to the design drawings. This study used 2D plane monitoring of locations of hole in the infill wall and used 3D health monitoring and resilient assessment. From the results of 3Dsymmetric frame, if the frame is unsymmetrical, the used model can lead to the reduction in the internal forces. The recommendations from this study is from some discrepancies observed between 2D and 3D models, if possible 3D model should be used in analyzing the real frames.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.67-78
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• 2018

The stability of cutting slope influences the safety of railway operation, and how to identify the stability of the slope quickly and determine the rational monitoring plan is a pressing problem at present. In this study, the attribute recognition model of risk assessment for high cutting slope stability in the heavy haul railway is established based on attribute mathematics theory, followed by the consequent monitoring scheme design. Firstly, based on comprehensive analysis on the risk factors of heavy haul railway loess slope, collapsibility, tectonic feature, slope shape, rainfall, vegetation conditions, train speed are selected as the indexes of the risk assessment, and the grading criteria of each index is established. Meanwhile, the weights of the assessment indexes are determined by AHP judgment matrix. Secondly, The attribute measurement functions are given to compute attribute measurement of single index and synthetic attribute, and the attribute recognition model was used to assess the risk of a typical heavy haul railway loess slope, Finally, according to the risk assessment results, the monitoring content and method of this loess slope were determined to avoid geological disasters and ensure the security of the railway infrastructure. This attribute identification- risk assessment- monitoring design mode could provide an effective way for the risk assessment and control of heavy haul railway in the loess plateau.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.173-191
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• 2009

Civil infrastructures are always subjected to various types of hazard and deterioration. These conditions require systematic efforts to assess the exposure and vulnerability of infrastructure, as well as producing strategic countermeasures to reduce the risks. This paper describes the needs for and concept of advanced sensor technologies for risk assessment of civil infrastructure in Japan. Backgrounds of the infrastructure problems such as natural disasters, difficult environment, limited resource for maintenance, and increasing requirement for safety are discussed. The paper presents a concept of risk assessment, which is defined as a combination of hazard and structural vulnerability assessment. An overview of current practices and research activities toward implementing the concept is presented. This includes implementation of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems for environment and natural disaster prevention, improvement of stock management, and prevention of structural failure.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제5권3호
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• pp.223-240
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• 2009

As in any engineering application, the problem of structural assessment should face the different uncertainties present in real world. The main source of uncertainty in Health Monitoring System (HMS) applications are those related to the sensor accuracy, the theoretical models and the variability in structural parameters and applied loads. In present work, two methodologies have been developed to deal with these uncertainties in order to adopt reliable decisions related to the presence of damage. A simple example, a steel beam analysis, is considered in order to establish a liable comparison between them. Also, such methodologies are used with a developed structural assessment algorithm that consists in a direct and consistent comparison between sensor data and numerical model results, both affected by uncertainty. Such algorithm is applied to a simple concrete laboratory beam, tested till rupture, to show it feasibility and operational process. From these applications several conclusions are derived with a high value, regarding the final objective of the work, which is the implementation of this algorithm within a HMS, developed and applied into a prototype structure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제41권4호
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• pp.539-558
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• 2012

The diagnosis of bridge serviceability is carried out by a combination of in-situ visual inspection, static and dynamic loading tests and analyses. Structural health monitoring (SHM) using information technology and sensors is increasingly being used for providing a better estimate of structural performance characteristics rather than above traditional methods. Because the mechanical behavior of bridges with various kinds of damage can not be made clear, it is very difficult to estimate both the damage mode and degree of damage of existing bridges. In this paper, the sensitivity of both static and dynamic behaviors of bridges are studied as a measure of damage assessment through experiments on model bridges induced with some specified artificial damages. And, a method of damage assessment of bridges based on those behaviors is discussed in detail. Finally, based on the results, a possible application for structural health monitoring systems for existing bridges is also discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제34권3호
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• pp.351-366
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• 2010

A novel system identification and structural health assessment procedure of steel framed structures with semi-rigid connections is presented in this paper. It is capable of detecting damages at the local element level under normal operating conditions; i.e., serviceability limit state. The procedure is a linear time-domain system identification technique in which the structure responses are required, whereas the dynamic excitation force is not required to identify the structural parameters. The procedure tracks changes in the stiffness properties of all the elements in a structure. It can identify damage-free and damaged structural elements very accurately when excited by different types of dynamic loadings. The method is elaborated with the help of several numerical examples. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm identified the structures correctly and detected the pre-imposed damages in the frames when excited by earthquake, impact, and harmonic loadings. The algorithm can potentially be used for structural health assessment and monitoring of existing structures with minimum disruption of operations. Since the procedure requires only a few time points of response information, it is expected to be economic and efficient.