FEATURE

Dynamic Testing of Civil Engineering Structures Series

CABLE TENSIONING CONTROL AND MODAL

IDENTIFICATION OF A CIRCULAR CABLE-STAYED
FOOTBRIDGE
by C. Rebelo, E. Julio,

H. Varum and A. Costa

he dynamic loads developed by pedestrians

crossing a footbridge are characterized by the
superposition of only few harmonics, multiples,
and submultiples of the pace rate.1 Although the
simultaneous effect of several pedestrians depends on their
synchronization, in normal circumstances it tends to be a
problem of resonance in a vibration mode with significant
vertical or horizontal displacements. When the vibration of
the deck is perceptible for the pedestrians, synchronization
of the human movements and the deck vibration is likely to
occur.2,3

Recently a number of footbridges were built in Portugal

within the scope of the urban renovation plans of several
cities. This article deals with the modal identification and
vibration measurements and finite element (FE) modelling
of one of these structures located in Aveiro, Portugal.
The circular plan view of the bridge allows the link among the
three points located on the banks of the T-shaped junction of
two canals (Figs. 1 and 2).
The vibration measurements are part of the on-site structural
characterization of the bridge that also included load tests,
terrestrial photogrammetric survey, and long-term strain
measurements using Brag sensors located on the cables and
on the mast.

BRIDGE DESCRIPTION
The footbridge is composed of a circular deck supported at
three points and suspended from eight cables connecting it
to the extremity of a steel mast anchored to a concrete bulk
situated on the riverside (Figs. 2 and 3).
The circular deck with 13-m radius is made of a 2-m wide
wooden floor supported by a steel structure composed of 55
modules. Each module is a 1.5-m long steel girder made
of HEB200 longitudinal profiles and HEB100 radial and
diagonal profiles. The whole deck is very stiff in its own plane
Editors Note: This article is part of the ongoing Feature Series on Dynamic Testing
of Civil Engineering Structures. This series covers a wide range of technologies
appropriate to civil engineering structures from both practical/technical and
analytical perspectives. Series editor: Paul Reynolds, The University of Sheffield.
C. Rebelo (SEM member; crebelo@dec.uc.pt) and E. Julio
are assistant professors
with ISISE, and assistant professors at the Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Coimbra, Portugal, H. Varum is an assitant professor and A. Costa a
full professor of the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Aveiro, Aveiro,
Portugal

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EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES July/August 2010

and horizontal movements are hindered at the supports, so

that no modification of the circumferential form is expected
during serviceability loading from pedestrians.
The bow-shaped mast is a tube with a quadrangular tapered
steel-welded cross-section. The section width varies from
0.60 m, near the fixed supports, to 0.43 m, at the top. The
section height is constant and equal to 0.43 m.
The mast is stabilized by two steel strips anchored on a bulk
at the riverside (Fig. 3). The stay-cables are connected to
the top of the mast (Fig. 4). Each steel strip has a 500
15-mm2 rectangular cross-section, and the cables are made
of 36-mm diameter steel bars with lengths given in Table 1
and Fig. 5a.

TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS

The measurement system used consisted of eight accelerometers with the characteristics given in Table 2, one PC with
LAN interface, PULSE software, and IDA-based data acqui
sition front-end hardware (PULSE Type 3560/D from Bruel
& Kjr, Nrum, Denmark).
The vibration measurements on the bridge were planned
aiming: (1) to ensure the correct installation of axial forces
in the cables; (2) to characterize the dynamic behavior of
the bridge; and (3) to obtain the response acceleration when
groups of synchronized pedestrians cross the bridge.
Before performing the vibration measurements for the modal
identification, it was necessary to control the introduction of
the correct forces in the stay-cables to ensure the structural
behavior of the bridge assumed in design. Therefore, dynamic
measurements were performed simultaneously in all cables
during the tensioning operation to obtain in real time the
natural frequency of the cables which is directly related to
the tension force installed.
The next step and main objective was the characterization
of the dynamic parameters through output-only modal
identification techniques to calibrate an FE model. A total
of 14 measurement points were established along the
bridge deck. The data acquisition was performed using five
roving and three reference accelerometers, including one
reference vertical accelerometer at the top of the mast. The
modal extraction was conducted using ARTeMIS software
(Structural Vibration Solutions A/S, Aalborg, Denmark).4
After this stage, groups of pedestrians crossed the bridge
at different speeds to obtain acceleration response histories
doi: 10.1111/j.1747-1567.2009.00539.x
2009, Society for Experimental Mechanics

CABLE TENSIONING CONTROL AND MODAL

IDENTIFICATION

Fig. 4: Top of the mast

Fig. 1: Localization of the bridge

the natural frequencies of cables. The force could be easily

changed by means of a screw system installed in the
cables.
The natural frequency (fn ) corresponding to the nth mode of
vibration of a tensioned cable can be obtained in Hz from a
simple equation (Eq. 1) relating it to: the axial force (T), the
mode of vibration (n), the mass per unit length (m), and the
cable length (L).
fn2 =
Fig. 2: Circular footbridge

Tn2
4 mL2

(1)

Actually, the precision of this expression, based on the theory

of vibrating strings, depends on the mode of vibration that
is being evaluated.5 For the first mode, the frequency is
obtained with a precision usually lower than for the higher
modes.
The parameter 2 , given by:
2 = (9.8 mL)2

Fig. 3: Side view of mast, stay-strips and stay-cables

and estimates for maximum response accelerations that can

occur during bridge lifetime.

Stay-cable Forces
The planned structural behavior of the bridge deck depends
on the correct tension forces installed in the cables. To
ensure that these forces correspond to those predicted by
the designer, a simple procedure to control the cable forces
can be carried out if the natural frequencies of the cables are
monitored during prestressing. This was done by measuring
the accelerations simultaneously on all cables using eight
measurement channels and a frequency analyzer to estimate

EA
T3

(2)

is a measure of the geometric characteristics and of the

deformability of this type of cable. Values of 2 < 1 usually
indicate that the error in Eq. 1 is very low. The higher the
stress in the cable, the higher the accuracy of this expression.
For the cables used in the bridge (Table 1 and Fig. 5a),
the values vary from approximately 0.5, for cables 1 and
8, to 1.4, for cables 2 and 7. All the other cables present
values < 1.
In the present case, the use of the first natural frequency of
the cables in Eq. 1 gives results with acceptable precision,
and therefore it was used to estimate the corresponding
tension force in the cables. The reason why the first natural
frequency was adopted instead of a higher frequency is that
some construction works were still being performed at the
same time, hindering accurate estimates of higher natural
frequencies of the cables.
After several iterations concerning the force introduced in
each cable, the results given in Table 1 were obtained. A
sufficiently good approximation between measured values
and those predicted by the designer was observed.
July/August 2010 EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES

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CABLE TENSIONING CONTROL AND MODAL

IDENTIFICATION

Table 1Stay-cables length and respective axial forces for dead loads
CABLE NUMBER

Cable length (mm)

1st frequency (Hz)
Estimated force (kN)

6139
2.75
44.31

6743
2.24
34.66

7617
2.20
41.77

8607
2.24
54.07

8625
2.28
56.07

7670
2.25
43.97

6828
2.24
35.07

6210
2.81
46.75

44.50

32.00

44.00

57.50

57.50

44.00

32.00

44.50

Design force (kN)

Fig. 5: Cable numbers (a) and measurement points on the bridge deck (b)

Table 2Characteristics of the

accelerometers
QUANTITY

TYPE

4
4

B&K4378 + 2646
PCB 393B12

SENSITIVITY

FREQUENCY

(MV/G)

RANGE (HZ)

316
1000

0.22800
0.151000

Modal Identification
The modal identification was based on the techniques
of modal extraction in the frequency and time domain
implemented in ARTeMIS software,4 namely the enhanced
frequency domain decomposition and the stochastic subspace

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EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES July/August 2010

iteration methods. These techniques, implemented in the

referred software, allow the estimation of modal damping,
natural frequencies, and mode shapes of the deck6,7 using
measured acceleration responses of the bridge at several
locations. Because these techniques assume broad band
white noise excitation, the measurements need not be
performed simultaneously, given that some of the sensors
remain at the same position for all measurement setups.
The vertical acceleration induced by the ambient excitation
mainly because of wind was measured on the bridge deck
and on the top of the mast. To ensure an accurate definition
of the mode shapes, 14 measurement points were considered
(Fig. 5b), three of them with reference accelerometers (points
1, 6, and 7) and the remaining 11 with roving accelerometers.

CABLE TENSIONING CONTROL AND MODAL

IDENTIFICATION

Bridge deck

Steel strips
Acceleration[Db]

Stay cables

Frequency [Hz]

Fig. 6: Average of the normalized singular values of

spectral density matrices of all test setups and labelled
first natural frequencies of structural elements

Based on previous experience, setups with duration of

about 1000 times the expected highest natural period allow
good quality modal estimations. In this case, the highest
expected natural period should be about 0.6 s corresponding
to FE modelling-based frequency estimation of 1.7 Hz.
Therefore, a total of three setups with 10-min duration
each were used to obtain the ambient vibration response
at each measurement point necessary to identify the modal
parameters.
The results of the experimental modal analysis are
summarized in Fig. 6 and in Table 3. The natural frequencies
of the steel strips behind the mast appear very clearly in the
range 1.71.85 Hz. Because Eq. 1 is a good approximation
also for the natural frequencies of these strips, it was possible
to calculate the corresponding installed tension forces using
these frequencies and to verify that these correspond to
the values predicted by the designer. It should be noted
that the values are not exactly the same for both strips
because the structure is not perfectly symmetrical in plane
view.
The peaks corresponding to the first natural frequencies
of the cables can be seen in Fig. 6 in the frequency range

Fig. 7: Mode shapes of the deckexperimental

versus numerical results

from 2.2 to 2.8 Hz. The peaks in the higher frequencies

correspond to the natural frequencies of the deck and to the
second natural frequencies of the strips and cables. The four
frequency peaks at 3.17, 3.25, 3.96, and 4.05 Hz correspond to
approximately symmetrical or antisymmetrical mode shapes
of the deck represented in the left-hand side of Fig. 7.
Based on the initial design model, an FE model was
developed with the software Robot Millennium8 (Robobat,
Paris, France) using steel be m elements. In order to
match the natural frequencies of the deck given in Table 3,

Table 3Experimental natural frequencies and damping, numerical frequencies, and mode
shapes
FREQUENCY (Hz)
MEAN

DAMPING (%)

SD

MEAN

SD

FREQUENCY IN FE MODEL (HZ)

MODE SHAPE

1.70
1.85

0.033
0.001

1.9
0.2

0.21
0.03

3.17
3.25
3.40
3.96

0.003
0.020
0.100
0.002

0.6
0.5
0.7
0.8

0.08
0.33
0.45
0.05

3.13
3.15

3.98

Mode 1 of the deck

Mode 2 of the deck
Second mode of strip
Mode 3 of the deck

4.05

0.020

0.3

0.18

4.09

Mode 4 of the deck

Steel strip supporting the mast

Steel strip supporting the mast

July/August 2010 EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES

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CABLE TENSIONING CONTROL AND MODAL

IDENTIFICATION

the support stiffness on the river banks were considered

variable parameters. The respective mode shapes were
shown in the right-hand side of Fig. 7. Although all these
modes involve flexural and torsional movements of the deck,
the first two modes are mainly flexural modes and the
others present higher contribution of torsion. It should be
noted that because of the measurement setup used, the
graphical representations of the experimental mode shapes
in Fig. 7 include both bending and torsion movements of the
deck.

Human-induced Dynamic Response

The bridge is located in a newly rehabilitated part, near the
city center, surrounded by large green spaces and walkways,
where it is expected to have groups of people walking or
jogging during holidays and weekends.
To simulate the expected loading situations, a large group of
university students were invited to collaborate in the tests to
be performed on the bridge involving pedestrian loading. The
vertical accelerations at points 18 (Fig. 5) were recorded
when the group of 65 people (about 46 kN) circulated on
the bridge in synchronized walking and running. Taking
into account that no lock-in effect because of horizontal
movements of the deck were expected and that the major
concern was the vertical vibration of the deck and steel
strips, the number of people on the deck was maintained
constant during the forced vibration tests. Actually, control
measurements with smaller groups were also performed and
accelerations were always lower.
The pace rate was initially chosen to be simultaneously in
the range of the normal/slow walking and of the steel strips
first natural frequency, to assess the sensitivity of the bridge
and particularly the steel strips to the vibration induced by
day-to-day normal usage of the bridge. Therefore, the value
of 1.8 Hz was chosen.
In order to excite the natural frequencies involving vertical
movement of the deck, further experiments with people
running at pace rates of 3.0 and 3.5 Hz were carried
out. Although these frequencies did not match the natural
frequencies of the deck, which were identified a posteriori
as being exactly 3.17 and 3.25 Hz, they could provide
representative load spectra in the range of interest. It should
be highlighted here that, despite the external sound beat used
to synchronize runners, such pace rates corresponding to
normal to rapid running were not expected to provide single
sharp spectral load peaks. Instead, the input energy was
spread around those beat frequencies as expected (Fig. 8).
Moreover, after the initial seconds, runners distributed more
or less along the deck because the bridge is circular and
people did not leave the bridge during the test. Therefore,
unavoidable phase differences among runners did not allow
the resonant in-phase excitation of the first and second
modes. Nevertheless, these were considered representative
extreme dynamic load situations for the excitation of the
bridge deck.
The maximum values for acceleration and displacement
obtained from the records after band-pass filtering between

66

EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES July/August 2010

0.5 and 25 Hz are summarized in Table 4. The time histories

had durations varying between 8 min, for the lower pace
rate, and 1 min for the highest one.
The Eurocode EN19909 gives the indicative maximum
acceleration value of 0.7 m/s2 for vertical movements of
the deck during normal use. Other guides and codes10,11
give values of up to 1 m/s2 . Considering that the first
loading case in Table 4 fulfils the requirement of normal
usage, the measured maximum values of acceleration are
borderline. However, if higher pace rates are considered, for
instance, 3.0 Hz corresponding to normal running or 3.5 Hz
corresponding to rapid running, it can be concluded that
the structure is prone to suffer much higher accelerations
(Table 4), which are beyond minimum acceptable comfort
levels proposed in recent design guides.11
Although not measured, the vibrations in the stay-cables also
increase significantly for those pace rates. As a consequence,
fatigue problems may arise in the connections between cables
or steel strips and the mast or deck. This becomes clear when
analyzing Fig. 6, where several peaks, corresponding to the
natural frequencies of stay-cables, match the pace rates
that are expected to occur during the service life of such a
structure, that is, between 1.8 and 2.2 Hz. Furthermore, it
is not to exclude that a situation of parametric excitation
of the steel bands may occur for pace rates of about
3.4 Hz.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Vibration measurements and modal identification of footbridges as part of commissioning tests are very important
tools to define and prepare necessary surveillance and eventual maintenance and repair works during their service
life.
The structure analyzed in this study presents an unusual
form: a deck with circular plan view supported by staycables and a mast anchored by two steel strips. The complex
dynamic response of such a bridge to pedestrian dynamic
loadings is difficult to foresee during design, mainly because
of the interaction between the stay-cables and the deck
itself.
The measurements carried out on this bridge were important
in several ways. First, they allowed the introduction of the
right forces in the cables, so that the structural response
could be the one estimated during design. Then, the modal
identification of the bridge allowed an accurate interpretation
of the dynamic response to the pedestrian loads. This
also enabled to predict whether problems of excessive
vibrations can occur or not. Finally, indicative maximum
accelerations could be obtained for loading situations which
the authors think can resemble, on one side, common dayto-day situations during the service life and, on the other
side, extreme but still probable dynamic excitation induced
by groups of people running.
Although the results concerning probable maximum response
accelerations of the deck for normal walking are borderline
and for rapid walking and running are somewhat excessive,

CABLE TENSIONING CONTROL AND MODAL

IDENTIFICATION

Acceleration [m/s2]

2.0
1.8
1.2
0.8
0.4
0.0
0

a)

3
4
Frequency [Hz]

3.0

Acceleration [m/s2]

2.0
1.0
0.0
-1.0
-2.0
-3.0
0

b)

10
Time [sec]

12

14

Fig. 8: Acceleration Fourier spectrum (a) and acceleration time history (b) at location 2 for running

Table 4Maximum accelerations (Accel.) and displacements (Disp.) obtained from the time
histories after band-pass filtering between 0.5 and 25 Hz
SENSOR

Walking 1.8 Hz; duration: 8 min

Accel. (m/s2 )
Disp. (mm)

0.87
1.2

1.18
1.3

0.73
2.0

0.81
1.7

0.19
0.5

0.46
1.1

0.77
1.3

Running 3.0 Hz; duration: 3 min

Accel. (m/s2 )
Disp. (mm)
Accel. (m/s2 )
Disp. (mm)

3.02
4.4
3.25

3.10
4.8
3.24
7.0

3.22
7.2
3.65
9.1

3.25
6.3
3.18
8.0

1.12
2.7
1.69
6.6

3.05
8.3
2.83
7.4

3.10
4.8
3.24
7.0

Running 3.5 Hz; duration: 1 min

Maximum values are given in bold

they should not be interpreted as being impeditive of

a normal usage of the bridge. However, the bridge
owner should be aware that in some situations there
can be a live response of the structure, which may
frighten the users. Furthermore, attention must be paid
to fatigue problems that can occur near the joints. Periodic
inspections of strips and cables connections are strongly
recommended.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the design team, Eng.
Domingos Moreira and Arq. Lus Viegas, for the structural
design information.

References
1. Bachmann, H., and Amman, W., Vibrations in Struc
turesInduced by Man and Machines, IABSE, Zurich,
Switzerland
(1987).
2. Brincker, R., Andersen, P., and Jacobsen, N.-J., Automated
Frequency Domain Decomposition for Operational Modal Analysis,
Proceedings of IMAC XXV, Orlando, FL; February 1922, (2007).
3. Zivanovic, S., Pavic, A., and Reynolds, P., Vibration
Serviceability of Footbridges Under Human-induced Excitation:
a Literature Review, Journal of Sound and Vibration 279:174
(2005).
4. SVS, ARTeMIS Extractor Pro, Release 4.1, Structural
Vibration Solutions, Aalborg, Denmark (2007).
5. Irvine, H.M., Cables Structures, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
(1981).

July/August 2010 EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES

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CABLE TENSIONING CONTROL AND MODAL

IDENTIFICATION

6. Dallard, P., Fitzpatrick, A.J., Flint, A., et al, London

Millennium Bridge: pedestrian-induced Lateral Vibration, Journal
of Bridge Engineering ASCE 6(6):412417 (2001).
7. Brinker, R., Zhang, L., and Andersen, P., Modal Identification from Ambient Response Using Frequency Domain Decomposition, Proceedings of IMAC XVIII, San Antonio, TX; February 710,
(2000).
8. ROBOT Millennium Users Manual, version 20.0, Robobat,
Paris, France.

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EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES July/August 2010

9. CEN, EN1990-Annex2Eurocode Basis of Design (2001).

10. International Standard Association, ISO 10137: Bases
for Design of StructuresServiceability of Buildings and Walkways Against Vibrations, 2nd Edition, Geneva, Switzerland
(2007).

11. SETRA
/ AFCG, FootbridgesAssessment of Vibrational
Behaviour of Footbridges Under Pedestrian LoadingPractical
Guidelines, Association Francaise de Genie Civil, Paris, France
(2006).