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González, Arturo
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González, Arturo
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González, Arturo
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Now showing 1 - 10 of 64
- PublicationDynamic Axle Force and Road Profile Identification Using a Moving Vehicle(2012-10-24)
; ; ; The axle forces applied by a vehicle through its wheels are a critical part of the interaction between vehicles, pavements and bridges. Therefore, the minimisation of these forces is important in order to promote long pavement life spans and ensure that bridge loads are small. Moreover, as the road surface roughness affects the vehicle dynamic forces, the monitoring of pavements for highways and bridges is an important task. This paper presents a novel algorithm to identify these dynamic interaction forces which involves direct instrumentation of a vehicle with accelerometers. The ability of this approach to predict the pavement roughness is also presented. Moving force identification theory is applied to a vehicle model in theoretical simulations in order to obtain the interaction forces and pavement roughness from the measured accelerations. The method is tested for a range of bridge spans in simulations and the influence of road roughness level on the accuracy of the results is investigated. Finally, the challenge for the real-world problem is addressed in a laboratory experiment.238 - PublicationCOST 345 – Procedures Required for Assessing Highway Structures, Work packages 4 and 5 report(European Co-operation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research, 2004-09)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; This document treats the following aspects of the assessment of existing highway structures: • Levels of assessment: Five levels of assessment are recommended varying from simple but conservative to complex but accurate. • Uncertainty modelling: An integrated approach to traffic loading, structure condition and structural response is described. • Load modelling: There can be considerable unused capacity in highway structures that are not subjected to the full design levels of traffic loading. This can be calculated from traffic weight statistics obtained from a weigh-in-motion system. • Modelling materials for assessment: The processes are reviewed by which material properties in existing structures can be estimated. • Structural response modelling: The types of analysis appropriate to the five recommended levels of assessment are proposed. • Target reliability levels: The levels of reliability considered appropriate for highway structure assessment are discussed. • Reliability analysis: The available procedures for full reliability analysis of highway structures are reviewed. All of these topics are covered in detail in the following chapters. It is not possible in a report of this nature to provide sufficient details for an engineer to use all of the methods by reading this report alone. The report aims to provide sufficient information for engineers and network managers and authorities to choose the appropriate methodology for assessing their structures. It also aims to inform Engineers charged with assessment about some of the procedures available. It is sincerely hoped that this report will contribute to the continued safety and serviceability of the land transport fixed assets in Europe and elsewhere.131 - PublicationUsing 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.767 - PublicationEU FP6 - ARCHES Deliverable D08: Recommendations on the use of results of monitoring on bridge safety assessment and maintenance(6th EU FP, 2009-08-31)
; ; ; ; ; ; The ARCHES, which is the Specific Targeted Research Project, was planned in response to the European Commission’s call for proposals 3B, addressing Topic 2.6 ‘Design and manufacture of new construction concepts’ of objective ‘Sustainable Surface Transport’ under the Thematic priority 1.6 ‘Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems’ of the GROWTH part of the Sixth Framework Programme. The contract was signed by the Commission on the 25th of October 2006. Project commencement date was the 1st of September 2006 and the duration of the project is 36 months.184 - PublicationA Regularised Solution to the Bridge Weigh in Motion EquationsThe traditional approach to Bridge Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) developed by Moses, gives good accuracy for estimating gross vehicle weights but is less accurate for individual axle weights. In this paper, Tikhonov regularisation is applied to the original Moses’ equations to reduce some of the inaccuracies inherent within the algorithm. The optimal regularisation parameter is calculated using the L-curve criterion. The new regularised solution is numerically tested using simulations of moving vehicles on a bridge. Results show that the regularised solution performs significantly better than the original approach of Moses and is insensitive to road surface roughness.
1250 - PublicationMonitoring Bridge Dynamic Behaviour Using an Instrumented Two Axle VehicleHighway structures such as bridges are subject to continuous degradation primarily due to ageing, loading and environmental factors. A rational transport policy must monitor and provide adequate maintenance to this infrastructure to guarantee the required levels of transport service and safety. Increasingly in recent years, bridges are being instrumented and monitored on an ongoing basis due to the implementation of Bridge Management Systems. This is very effective and provides a high level of protection to the public and early warning if the bridge becomes unsafe. However, the process can be expensive and time consuming, requiring the installation of sensors and data acquisition electronics on the bridge. This paper investigates the use of an instrumented 2-axle vehicle fitted with accelerometers to monitor the dynamic behaviour of a bridge network in a simple and cost-effective manner. A simplified half car-beam interaction model is used to simulate the passage of a vehicle over a bridge. This investigation involves the frequency domain analysis of the axle accelerations as the vehicle crosses the bridge. The spectrum of the acceleration record contains noise, vehicle, bridge and road frequency components. Therefore, the bridge dynamic behaviour is monitored in simulations for both smooth and rough road surfaces. The vehicle mass and axle spacing are varied in simulations along with bridge structural damping in order to analyse the sensitivity of the vehicle accelerations to a change in bridge properties. These vehicle accelerations can be obtained for different periods of time and serve as a useful tool to monitor the variation of bridge frequency and damping with time.
267 - PublicationTRUSS Training in Reducing Uncertainty in Structural Safety: D2.5 Final Report: WP2 - Dissemination and Outreach(European Commission, 2019-02-28)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; This report describes the outputs of work package WP2 (Dissemination and Outreach) from 1 st January 2015 to 31st December 2018. Dissemination by TRUSS is keenly aware of the importance of not only producing and presenting research outputs for the scientific community and key stakeholders (i.e., via conferences, workshops, publications and reports), but also engaging the general public in line with the Innovation Union objectives. TRUSS mainly deals with the challenges faced at the design, assessment and management stages of large scale structures. Outreach activities, blogs and social media and other communications by TRUSS, bring awareness to the public on the importance of this research on infrastructure to support a community, region or country, and also motivate School and University students to pursue a research career. These activities make citizens aware of: • Infrastructure aging and failing, with funding that has been insufficient to repair and replace it; • The important role of the Marie Skłodowksa-Curie Actions in forming 21st century engineers that will have the skills to face the formidable challenge of modernizing the fundamental infrastructure that support civilization.361 - PublicationHighway Bridge Assessment for Dynamic Interaction with Critical Vehicles(CRC Press (Taylor & Francis), 2009-09)
; ; ; Dynamic vehicle-bridge interaction is often considered for the most common classes of vehicle such as the 5-axle articulated truck. However, the dynamic response of bridges to this type of trucks is quite different to the response to the vehicles more likely to feature in maximum-in-lifetime traffic loading events. This paper focuses on large (>100 tonne) cranes and crane-type vehicles that have been recorded at Weigh-in-Motion sites in Europe. This paper analyses the total bending moment due to these vehicles on short to medium span bridges and compare them to 5- axle articulated trucks. To account for the variability in vehicle characteristics, more than 40,000 vehicle-bridge interaction events are computed using Monte Carlo simulation.197 - PublicationIdentification of Road Irregularities via Vehicle Accelerations(2010)
; ; A periodic monitoring of the pavement condition facilitates a cost-effective distribution of the resources available for maintenance of the road infrastructure network. The task can be accurately carried out using profilometers, but such an approach is generally expensive. This paper presents a method to collect information on the road profile via accelerometers mounted in a fleet of non-specialist vehicles, such as police cars, that are in use for other purposes. It proposes an optimisation algorithm, based on Cross Entropy theory, to predict road irregularities. The Cross Entropy algorithm estimates the height of the road irregularities from vehicle accelerations at each point in time. To test the algorithm, the crossing of a half-car roll model is simulated over a range of road profiles to obtain accelerations of the vehicle sprung and unsprung masses. Then, the simulated vehicle accelerations are used as input in an iterative procedure that searches for the best solution to the inverse problem of finding road irregularities. In each iteration, a sample of road profiles is generated and an objective function defined as the sum of squares of differences between the ‘measured’ and predicted accelerations is minimized until convergence is reached. The reconstructed profile is classified according to ISO and IRI recommendations and compared to its original class. Results demonstrate that the approach is feasible and that a good estimate of the short-wavelength features of the road profile can be detected, despite the variability between the vehicles used to collect the data.576 - PublicationCharacteristic dynamic traffic load effects in bridges(Elsevier, 2009-07)
; ; ; ; When formulating an approach to assess bridge traffic loading with allowance for Vehicle-Bridge Interaction (VBI), a trade-off is necessary between the limited accuracy and computational demands of numerical models and the limited time periods for which experimental data is available. Numerical modelling can simulate sufficient numbers of loading scenarios to determine characteristic total load effects, including an allowance for VBI. However, simulating VBI for years of traffic is computationally expensive, often excessively so. Furthermore, there are a great many uncertainties associated with numerical models such as the road surface profile and the model parameter values (e.g., spring stiffnesses) for the heavy vehicle fleet. On site measurement of total load effect, including the influence of VBI, overcomes many of these uncertainties as measurements are the result of actual loading scenarios as they occur on the bridge. However, it is often impractical to monitor bridges for extended periods of time which raises questions about the accuracy of calculated characteristic load effects. Soft Load Testing, as opposed to Proof Load or Diagnostic Load Testing, is the direct measurement of load effects on bridges subject to random traffic. This paper considers the influence of measurement periods on the accuracy of soft load testing predictions of characteristic load effects, including VBI, for bridges with two lanes of opposing traffic. It concludes that, even for relatively short time periods, the estimates are reasonably accurate and tend to be conservative. Provided the data is representative, Soft Load Testing is shown to be a useful tool for calculating characteristic total load effect.1310Scopus© Citations 56