Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Publication
    Allowing for a rocking datum in the analysis of drive-by bridge inspections
    'Drive-By' damage detection is the concept of using sensors on a passing vehicle to detect damage in a bridge. At highway speeds, the vehicle spends a short amount of time on the bridge: it may not even go through a full cycle of vibration, resulting in only a partial signal of the bridge motion being detected. Given that the spectral resolution of standard signal processing techniques depends on the length of data in the signal, they cannot be used to identify the bridge frequency accurately. In addition, the nonlinear and non-stationary nature of the vehicle-bridge interaction system poses challenges. The aim of this study is to model a 'drive-by' bridge inspection approach using a beam in free vibration. An optimisation approach is proposed in numerical simulations as an alternative to standard signal processing techniques to overcome the challenges of short signals and the nonlinear nature of the drive-by system.
      186
  • Publication
    Drive-by damage detection with a TSD and time-shifted curvature
    ‘Drive-by’ damage detection is the concept of using sensors on a passing vehicle to detect damage in a bridge. The newly developed traffic speed deflectometer (TSD) is a device used for pavement velocity/deflection measurements and is investigated here in numerical simulations as a means of bridge damage detection. A TSD vehicle model containing five displacement sensors is simulated crossing a simply supported finite element beam containing damage simulated as a loss in stiffness of one of the elements. Time-shifted curvature is derived from the displacements and is proposed as a novel damage indicator, which removes the influence of the road profile and all vehicle motions except for pitch. Results show that the time-shifted curvature can be reliably used as a damage indicator in the presence of noise and changes in transverse position of the vehicle on the bridge.
    Scopus© Citations 15  580
  • Publication
    Using Instrumented Vehicles to Detect Damage in Bridges
    This paper describes a drive-by method of bridge inspection using an instrumented vehicle. Accelerometers on the vehicle are proposed as a means of detecting damage on the bridge in the time it takes for the vehicle to cross the bridge at full highway speed. For a perfectly smooth road profile, the method is shown to be feasible. Changes in bridge damping, which is an indicator of damage, are clearly visible in the acceleration signal of a quarter-car vehicle on a smooth road surface modelled using MatLab. When road profile is considered, the influence of changes in bridge damping on the vehicle acceleration signal is much less clear. However, when a half-car model is used on a road with a rough profile, it is again possible to detect changes in bridge damping, provided the vehicle has two identical axles.
      261
  • Publication
    The use of a dynamic truck-trailer drive-by system to monitor bridge damping
    Bridge structures are continuously subject to degradation due to the environment, ageing and excess loading. Periodic monitoring of bridges is therefore a key part of any maintenance strategy as it can give early warning if a bridge becomes unsafe. This article investigates an alternative method for the monitoring of bridge dynamic behaviour: a truck–trailer vehicle system, with accelerometers fitted to the axles of the trailer. The method aims to detect changes in the damping of a bridge, which may indicate the existence of damage. A simplified vehicle–bridge interaction model is used in theoretical simulations to assess the effectiveness of the method in detecting those changes. The influence of road profile roughness on the vehicle vibration is overcome by recording accelerations from both axles of a trailer and then analysing the spectra of the difference in the accelerations between the two axles. The effectiveness of the approach in detecting damage simulated as a loss in stiffness is also investigated. In addition, the sensitivity of the approach to the vehicle speed, road roughness class, bridge span length, changes in the equal axle properties and noise is investigated.
    Scopus© Citations 157  976
  • Publication
    Drive-by damage detection in bridges using the apparent profile
    The concept of using sensors on a passing vehicle, rather than on the bridge, is known as 'Drive-by' damage detection. The newly developed traffic speed deflectometer (TSD) is a device used for pavement deflection measurements and is investigated here in numerical simulations as a means of bridge damage detection. A TSD vehicle model containing two displacement sensors is simulated crossing a simply supported finite element beam containing damage simulated as a loss in stiffness of one of the elements. An adapted Cross Entropy optimisation algorithm procedure is proposed to determine the apparent profile, where the displacements recorded by the sensors are used as the inputs. The time-shifted difference in the apparent profile is used as the damage indicator. Results show that this can be reliably used as a damage indicator in the presence of noise and changes in the transverse position of the vehicle on the bridge.
    Scopus© Citations 76  710
  • Publication
    Using instrumented vehicles to detect damage in bridges
    (Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 2012-07-22) ; ; ;
    Bridge structures are subject to continuous degradation due to the environment, ageing and excess loading. Monitoring of bridges is a key part of any maintenance strategy as it can give early warning if a bridge is becoming unsafe. This paper will theoretically assess the ability of a vehicle fitted with accelerometers on its axles to detect changes in damping of bridges, which may be the result of damage. Two vehicle models are used in this investigation. The first is a two degree-of-freedom quarter-car and the second is a four degree-of-freedom halfcar. The bridge is modelled as a simply supported beam and the interaction between the vehicle and the bridge is a coupled dynamic interaction algorithm. Both smooth and rough road profiles are used in the simulation and results indicate that changes in bridge damping can be detected by the vehicle models for a range of vehicle velocities and bridge spans.
      765
  • Publication
    The analysis of short signal segments and its application to Drive-by bridge inspection
    (Seventh Sense Research Group, 2015-05) ;
    ‘Drive-By’ damage detection is the concept of using sensors on a passing vehicle to detect damage in a bridge. At highway speeds, the vehicle spends a short amount of time on the bridge: it may not even go through a full oscillation, resulting in only a partial signal of the bridge motion being detected. Given that the spectral resolution of standard signal processing techniques depends on the length of data in the signal, they cannot be used to identify the bridge frequency accurately. In addition, the nonlinear and non-stationary nature of the vehicle-bridge interaction system poses challenges. An optimisation approach is proposed here as an alternative to standard signal processing techniques to overcome the challenges of short signals and the nonlinear nature of the drive-by system. Signal pollution due to the road profile is overcome using time-shifted bridge curvatures, a novel damage indicator.
      106
  • Publication
    Using Instrumented Quarter-Cars for 'Drive By' Bridge Inspection
    This paper investigates the concept of ‘drive by’ bridge inspection, a low cost alternative to Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), involving no sensors on the bridge. The concept may be of particular value after an extreme event, such as an earthquake or a flood, where a rapid indication of bridge condition is needed. Vehicle/bridge dynamic interaction is modelled to test the effectiveness of the approach. Damage is simulated here as a change in the bridge damping ratio. Two quarter cars are simulated crossing the bridge with accelerometers on board. A frequency domain analysis then illustrates changes in the Power Spectral Density of the accelerations as the bridge becomes damaged. The time-lagged difference in the accelerations is found to be effective in detecting damage. Results are compared to those with sensors on the bridge and found to be similar.
      323