TITLE:
Vehicle-Bridge Interaction Simulation and Damage Identification of a Bridge Using Responses Measured in a Passing Vehicle by Empirical Mode Decomposition Method
AUTHORS:
Shohel Rana, Md. Rifat Zaman, Md. Ibrahim Islam Ifty, Seyedali Mirmotalebi, Tahsin Tareque
KEYWORDS:
Structural Health Monitoring, Vibration-Based Damage Identification, Vehicle-Bridge Interaction, Finite Element Model, Empirical Mode Decomposition
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Civil Engineering,
Vol.13 No.4,
December
28,
2023
ABSTRACT: To prevent early
bridge failures, effective Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is vital.
Vibration-based damage assessment is a powerful tool in this regard, as it
relies on changes in a structure’s dynamic characteristics as it degrades. By
measuring the vibration response of a bridge due to passing vehicles, this
approach can identify potential structural damage. This dissertation introduces
a novel technique grounded in Vehicle-Bridge Interaction (VBI) to evaluate bridge
health. It aims to detect damage by analyzing the response of passing vehicles,
taking into account VBI. The theoretical foundation of this method begins with
representing the bridge’s superstructure using a Finite Element Model and
employing a half-car dynamic model to simulate the vehicle with suspension. Two
sets of motion equations, one for the bridge and one for the vehicle are
generated using the Finite Element Method, mode superposition, and D’Alembert’s
principle. The combined dynamics are solved using the Newmark-beta method,
accounting for road surface roughness. A new approach for damage identification
based on the response of passing vehicles is proposed. The response is
theoretically composed of vehicle frequency, bridge natural frequency, and a
pseudo-frequency component related to vehicle speed. The Empirical Mode
Decomposition (EMD) method is applied to decompose the signal into its
constituent parts, and damage detection relies on the Intrinsic Mode Functions
(IMFs) corresponding to the vehicle speed component. This technique effectively
identifies various damage scenarios considered in the study.