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(Received: 8 December 2010; Received revised form: 27 June 2011; Accepted: 14 July 2011)
Key words: vehicle-bridge identification system, indirect frequency estimation, bridge frequency estimation, bridge
assessment.
The concept of indirect estimation is attractive vehicle, named Vehicle Intelligent Monitoring System
especially for assessment of short and medium span (VIMS), has been developed recently in the authors’
bridges, where permanent instrumentation and routine research group (Fujino 2005; Asakawa et al. 2008). The
visual inspection are considered too costly. In this concept, current system is limited only to the assessment of road
we do not need to place sensors on bridges; instead, we pavement and expansion joint, and is expected to include
deploy an inspection vehicle and perform periodic assessment of bridge condition via frequency estimation.
measurement by recoding the vehicle vibration when The study consists of two parts. The first part describes
passing the bridge. In the structural health monitoring, we theoretically the characteristics of dynamic response from
understand that fundamental frequency of a structure a passing vehicle and determines the main factors that
represents the actual structural condition. Therefore, influence the response. The second part describes
significant change in structural condition may cause experiment verification, as a proof-of-concept of the
change in the fundamental frequency (Salawu 1997) that method, conducted on a 59 m simply-supported bridge.
can be detected from vibration response. With this
premise, the indirect frequency estimation is expected to 2. THEORY: EQUATION OF MOTION OF
provide a quick assessment of bridge condition. When VEHICLE-BRIDGE SYSTEM
change in the fundamental frequency is detected, detail Consider a two-dimensional vehicle-bridge system shown
inspections can be conducted further to investigate the in Figure 1. The vehicle, with mass Mv supported by two
possible damage on the bridge. wheels with mass mi, stiffness ki and dashpot ci (i = 1, 2)
The main objective of this study is to investigate the moves with velocity ν. The bridge is modeled as a simply-
feasibility of indirect frequency estimation using dynamic supported Bernoulli-Euler beam system that has the mass
response of passing vehicle as a tool for quick assessment (Mb), stiffness (Kb) and damping (Cb). Following the
of bridge condition. We emphasize on the use of typical Hamilton principle (Lin and Trethewey 1990), one can
light commercial vehicle as the inspection vehicle in derive the equation of motion of the two-axle vehicle
contrast to other study (Lin and Yang 2005) that utilized system and represent it in the matrix form as follows
special vehicle such as truck or trailer. Such inspection (details on the symbols are provided in appendix):
2
2 2 2 C + 2 ∑ mi N iT N i′v 0 0
M b + ∑ mi N i N i ∑ ∑ Ni fθ i J &&
T b
N iT f zi M v T
i =1
i =1 i =1 i =1 q(t ) 2 2 2 q& (t )
&& i +1
0 Mv 0 z (t ) + − ∑ ci N i ∑ ci ∑ ci (−1) bi z&(t )
0 0 J θ&&(t ) i =1 i =1 i =1 θ&(t )
2 2 2
∑ ci (−1)i +1 bi N i ∑ ci (−1)i +1 bi ∑ ci bi2
i =1 i =1 i =1
2
K b + 2∑ mi N i ( N i′′v + N i′ v&)
T 2
0 0
i =1
q(t )
2 2 2 2
i +1
− ∑ ki N i + ∑ ci N i′v ∑ ki ∑ ki (−1) bi z(t ) (1)
i =1 i =1 i =1 i =1 θ (t )
2
k (−1)i b N + c (−1)i b N ′v
2 2 2
∑ i i i ∑ i i i ∑ ki (−1)i +1 bi ∑ i i
k b 2
i =1 i =1 i =1 i =1
2 2
∑ mi N i v ∑ mi NiT v&
T 2
0 2 2
i =1 i =1 − M v g∑ fzi N i − ∑ mi gN i
2 2 r ′′( x ) i =1 i =1
= − ∑ ci v r ′( x ) +
0 ∑ i k
0
i =1 i =1
r(x) 0
2 2
0 ∑ ci (−−1)i bi v ∑ ki (−1)i bi
i =1 i =1
V constant
b1 b2 Sprung Mass
c.g
θ
Mv, J
Z (t ) Bridge vertical axis
k1 C1 k2 C2 Bridge (L, Mb, El )
w (x) y (x)
x1 = v.t
r (x)
Unsprung Mass
(m1, m2)
Assuming that vehicle moves with constant velocity compared to vehicle mass, the equation of motion can
and that mass of the wheels are negligibly small be simplified to:
2 2
[ M b ] ∑ N iT fzi M v ∑ N iT fθ i J [Cb ] 0 0
i =1 i =1 q&&(t ) 2 2 2 q& (t )
0 &&
z (t ) + − ∑ ci N i i +1
Mv 0
∑ ci ∑ ci (−1) bi z&(t )
0 0 J θ&&(t ) i =1 i =1 i =1
θ&(t )
2 2 2
∑ ci (−1) bi N i ∑ ci (−1)i +1 bi ∑ ci bi2
i +1
i =1 i =1 i =1
[ Kb ] 0 0
q(t )
2 2 2 2
i +1
− ∑ i i ∑ ci N i′v
k N + ∑ ki ∑ ki (−−1) bi z (t ) (2)
i =1 i =1 i =1 i =1 θ (t )
2
k (−1)i b N + c (−1)i b N ′v
2 2 2
∑
i =1 i i i ∑ i i i ∑ ki (−1)i +1 bi ∑ ki bi
2
i =1 i =1 i =1
2
0 0 v ∑ fzi N i
− M g
i =1
2 2
r ′( x )
= − ∑ ci v
∑ ki r ( x ) + 0
i =1 i =1
0
2 2
∑ ci (−1) bi v ∑ ki (−1)i bi
i
i =1 i =1
Eqn 2 is the general equation of motion of the to limit the identification problem so that it relates only
system. In order to obtain a simplified analytical to the stiffness of the bridge an undamped system with
solution in modal space, the Hermitian shape function smooth pavement condition is considered. With these
is replaced by mode shapes of the bridge. Furthermore, additional assumptions, Eqn 2 becomes:
2 2
2
[ M b ] ∑ T
Φ i fzi Mv ∑ T
Φ i fθ i J q&&(t ) [ K b ] 0 0
q(t ) v − M g ∑ fzi Φ i
i =1 i =1
2 2
2
i =1
0 &&z (t ) + − ∑ ki Φ i ∑ ki ∑ −
i +1
=
(3)
Mv 0 k i ( 1 ) bi z ( t ) 0
&& i =1 i =1 i =1
0 0 J θ (t ) 2 θ (t ) 0
∑ k (−1)i b Φ ∑ k (−1)i +1 b 2
2 2
ki bi
i =1 i i i ∑
i i
i =1 i =1
2.1. Analytical Closed-Form Solution in Modal and substitute the result to the second row of Eqn 3 to
Space produce:
The closed-form solution is sought using only the first
π vt 2
mode (i.e. Φ = sin
L
). Dividing the first row of
2 2 ∑ ki (−1)i +1 bi
Eqn 3 by Mb yields: z ∑ ki sin (ηt ) q + ∑ ki z + i =1
M v &&−
2
∑ ki bi
i =1 i =1 2
2
π vti
2
π vt (8)
∑ sin L fθi M θ&&(t )
Mv J
q&&(t ) + ∑ sin zi
f &&
z ( t ) + i =1
i =1
L M b i =1 b
(4) 2 2
− Jθ&& − ∑ ki (−1) bi z − ∑ ki (−1) bi sin (ηt ) q = 0
i +1 i
M g 2 π vt
+ω b2 q(t ) = − v ∑ fzi sin
M b i =1 L i =1 i =1
2 2
× − Jθ&& − ∑ ki (−1)i +1 bi z − ∑ ki (−1)i bi sin (ηt ) q Next, we substitute the quantity of q from Eqn 6 into
i =1 i =1 Eqn 11 to obtain
2
−γ 2 where:
&&
z+ ∑ ω vi z =
2
∑ ω vi2 sin (ηt )
(ω b2 − η 2 ) i =1
i =1
(12) γσχ 4η 2 χ
C1 = − (17a)
2
η 2
2(ω b2 − η 2 ) χ 2 − 4η 2
× ∑ fzi sin (ηt ) − ∑ fzi sin (ω b t )
i =1 ω b i =1
m
−2
properties were used: Mv = 2000 kg, J = 2500 kg.m2,
k1 = k2 = 5 × 105 N/m, b1 = b2 = 1 m. The bridge span was −3
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
30 m (L = 30 m) with cross-section A = 2 m2 and the area Time (sec)
of moment inertia I = 0.1667 m4. The bridge was made
of reinforced concrete with the mass density 2400 kg/m3 × 10−4
Vertical velocity of vehicle
4
and the Young’s modulus 2.75 × 1012 N/m2. It was
2
modeled as a linear Bernoulli-Euler beam, simply
m/s
0
supported at both ends and discretized into 30 elements.
−2
Stiffness and mass matrix of the bridge were derived
−4
using the consistent element method and the Hermitian 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
shape function. Time (sec)
In simulation, the following conditions were assumed: (1)
Vertical acceleration of vehicle
Surface of the bridge pavement was very smooth (r(x) = 0). 0.01
(2) Structural Damping of vehicle was negligible c1 = c2 = 0. 0.005
(3) Damping of the bridge was distributed proportionally
m/s2
0
to the stiffness. (4) Vehicle response was measured on its −0.005
center of gravity. (5) Smooth entrance and exit on the −0.01
approaching span implying no bouncing effect on 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
the vehicle response induced by expansion joint. These Time (sec)
assumptions were taken in order to keep the problem and Figure 2. Vertical response of the vehicle resulted from finite
solution traceable. The vehicle and bridge response were element simulation when passing the bridge with velocity 10 m/s:
calculated using the coupled nonlinear equation of motion (a) displacement; (b) velocity; and (c) acceleration
as shown in Eqn 2. A program was coded in Matlab® to
compute the nonlinear response using the Newmark-beta
method with time step of 0.005 second and by assuming Fourier Spectrum of vehicle Acceleration
analytical solution can reasonably represent the response this purpose, natural frequencies of the bridge and
of vehicle-bridge system. Discrepancies between the vehicle velocity were kept constant (ν = 10 m/s) while
identified and the theoretical values are very small and the vehicle frequency were varied by changing the
within an acceptable range (i.e. 3%). vehicle mass (Mv) so that the equivalent unsprung
frequency ω i = ki / M v varied gradually between 40
3.1. Parametric Studies on the Effect of Vehicle and 100 Hz. Figure 5 shows the influence of the vehicle
Velocity, Vehicle Frequency and Bridge frequency on the spectrum of vehicle acceleration
Frequency on Vehicle Acceleration response. One can see that the significant change
Response appears only on the third peak that corresponds to the
In the following section, we shall describe parametric vehicle frequency. The vehicle frequency increases
studies conducted to examine the influence of driving with the increase in equivalent unsprung frequency.
velocity, vehicle frequency and natural frequency of the Meanwhile frequencies of the other peaks remain
bridge on the vehicle response. In simulations, the three unaffected even though amplitudes of the peaks
factors were investigated independently in that when the change. As evident in the figure, the peaks that
influence of one factor was examined the other two correspond to the bridge first natural frequency remain
factors were kept constant. the largest peak and the most dominant one. This
The first parametric study was aimed at investigating suggests that one can extract fundamental natural
the influence of driving velocity on the vehicle response. frequency of a bridge using acceleration response of
To this end, we used various driving velocity (i.e. v = 2, different type of vehicle with different dynamic
4, 5, 8, 10, 16 and 20 m/s) while the natural frequency of properties. Simulation using different vehicle
vehicle and bridge were kept constant. The highest frequency is important since the change in vehicle
velocity 20 m/s was selected since testing a bridge with properties is inevitable in practice. Vehicle mass may
higher velocity was not only difficult in practice but also vary in different testing conditions; and condition of
resulted in a very short duration of vehicle response. spring and dashpot may differ from time to time. In
Figure 4 shows the comparison of frequency peaks in fact, when using portable sensors or accelerometers one
Fourier spectrum of vehicle vertical acceleration for must accept the possibility of using different types of
different driving velocity. It is clear from the figure that car with different dynamic properties.
except for the one near 11 Hz all other peaks are affected In the third parametric study, we examined the
by the change in vehicle velocity. The most significant effects of bridge dynamic properties on vehicle
effect of driving velocity can be seen on the first peak that responses. For this purpose, the bridge stiffness was
corresponds to the driving frequency 2η = 2πv/L. The modified by changing the Young modulus (E) and
second and the third peaks that correspond to the bridge moment inertia (I) of the bridge so that the EI value
first natural frequency are also affected by the increase in decreased gradually and uniformly along the bridge
driving velocity. Note that the second and the third peaks girder, while the vehicle dynamic properties and
near 5.4 Hz are very closely spaced when the driving driving velocity were kept constant (ν = 10 m/s).
velocity is smaller than 10 m/s, and gradually become Figure 6 shows the simulation results, where the y-axis
clearly separated as the driving velocity increases. denotes the remaining stiffness as the fraction of EI in
Likewise, the fifth and sixth peaks that correspond to the such that the value of one means no reduction of EI.
second bridge frequency are also affected by the velocity. The reduction of EI is evaluated between 0.1 EI and
In the second parametric study, the effect of vehicle 0.9 EI.
frequency to the vehicle response was examined. For The third parametric study gives the following
results. First, the first and the third peaks that
correspond to the driving frequency and the vehicle
Vehicle velocity (m/s)
20
18 1st peak
16 2nd peak
frequency respectively remain constant in frequency.
14 3rd peak Second, frequency of the second peak that corresponds
12 4th peak
10 5th peak to the bridge first natural frequency decreases as EI
8 6th peak
6 decreases, the same trend can be seen for the fourth peak
4
2 in the spectrum that corresponds to the bridge second
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
natural frequency. Third, as the bridge stiffness
Frequency (Hz)
decreases the influence of the bridge first natural
Figure 4. Results of parametric studies: comparison of peaks in frequency as the dominating frequency is gradually
Fourier spectrum of vehicle vertical acceleration under various replaced by the second mode as indicated by the change
driving velocity with constant vehicle mass and bridge stiffness in amplitude of the first and second peaks. Note that
1
Normalized fourier amplitude
0.8
0
100
90
Eq
uiv
80
ale
nt
70
un
sp
ru
60
n
g
fre
50
qu
35
30
en
25
cy
40 20
(H
15
z
)
ncy (Hz
)
10
30 5 Freque
0
Figure 5. Results of parametric studies: comparison of peaks in Fourier spectrum of vehicle vertical acceleration using various vehicle
frequencies, with constant driving velocity and bridge stiffness
Normalized fourier amplitude
1 2nd peak
varying in 3rd peak
0.8 1st peak 4th peak
frequency constant in
constant in varying in
0.6 frequency
frequency frequency
0.4
0.2
0
1
0.9
Re
0.8
ma
in
0.7
ing
bri
0.6
dg
0.5
es
tiff
0.4
ne
35
ss
0.3 30
(E
25
20
I
0.2
) in
15
10 y (Hz)
requenc
%
0.1 5 F
0
Figure 6. Results of parametric studies: comparison of peaks in Fourier spectrum of vehicle vertical acceleration using various values of
bridge stiffness, with constant vehicle frequency and driving velocity
when EI reduction is 0.7, the bridge second frequency Simulation results indicate that the decreases in
coincides with the vehicle frequency that results in frequencies as the outcome of reduction in bridge
resonance. stiffness can be detected from vehicle response. This
justifies the premise that a change in bridge condition length-to-width ratio of about 15, we can expect the
that alters frequency of the bridge can be detected by bridge to behave as a simply-supported beam in that
analyzing the dynamic response of the passing vehicle. the vertical bending modes dominate the vibration
response. The bridge crosses over an outlet of a dam
4. EXPERIMENTAL STUDY: FULL-SCALE lake in a southeastern part of Tokyo. The traffic
MEASUREMENT USING INSTRUMENTED volume on the bridge is very limited due to its remote
VEHICLE location, so that although not newly built, it is still
4.1. Description of the Bridge structurally sound with smooth pavement condition.
In this section, we shall describe a full-scale This makes the bridge an ideal test-bed for verification
experiment as a proof-of-concept of the method. The of the proposed frequency estimation system.
tested bridge is a simply-supported steel-box girder
bridge with the length of 59 m and the width of 4 m. 4.2. Dynamic Characteristics of the Bridge
The bridge deck is made of reinforced-concrete slab Prior to the bridge test using inspection vehicle, we
cast over the steel box girder (Figure 7). With the conducted ambient vibration and impact test in order to
Sandbag drop for impact-force vibration testing of the bridge Accelerometers inside steel-box grider
0.345 m
2.58 m
59.0 m
2.58 m
@ 7.35 m
Vibration sensors inside bridge girder
measure bridge response and to estimate its modal impact force was at the quarter of the bridge length,
parameters. Vertical bridge accelerations were amplitudes of the second and third frequencies were
recorded at eight locations along the girder by placing higher than the first one. We could identify the first
uniaxial accelerometers inside the steel box girder frequency of the bridge at 2.17 Hz with damping ratio
(Figure 7). Initially ambient vibration test was of 2.28%. Table 1 provides the complete results of
conducted for several minutes, however, soon it was bridge frequencies and damping ratios identified by the
realized that the ambient excitation was insufficient to impact tests.
excite the fundamental vibration modes of the bridge
since hardly any sources of ambient excitation present
at the site. Note that the traffic around the bridge was Table 1. Bridge modal properties estimated from
completely stopped during the test. Therefore, we impact test
conducted an impact vibration test later on by dropping
Frequency Damping ratio
sandbag from a crane onto girder at several positions. Mode (Hz) (%)
The sandbag impact test could excite only the first few
vibration modes as shown in Figure 8. However, these 1st Symmetric bending 2.17 2.28
1st Asymmetric bending 5.44 1.01
results were adequate since we were only interested in 2nd Symmetric bending 11.94 0.51
the fundamental modes. Note that since the location of
140 140 14 14
11.9 5.4 5.4 Node 4
Node 1 11.9 Node 2 Node 3
120 120 12 12
Fourier amplitude (m/s)
100 100 10 10
80 80 8 8
11.9
60 60 6 6
11.9
2.17
2.17
40 40 4 4
2.17 2.17
20 20 2 2
0 0 0 0
0 10 20 0 10 20 0 10 20 0 10 20
Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz)
14 14 25 30
5.44 Node 5 5.44 Node 8
11.9 11.9
Node 6 Node 7
12 12
25
20
Fourier amplitude (m/s)
10 10
20
11.9 11.9 15
8 8
5.44 15 5.44
6 6
10
2.17 2.17 10
4 4
5
5
2 2
0 0 0 0
0 10 20 0 10 20 0 10 20 0 10 20
Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz)
0.1 0.4
Node 7 Node 2
0.05 0.2
0 0
−0.05 −0.2
−0.1 −0.4
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
0.1 0.1
Node 3 Node 5
0.05 0.05
0 0
Acceleration (m/s 2)
−0.05 −0.05
∧
−0.1 −0.1
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
0.1 0.1
Node 4 Node 6
0.05 0.05
0 0
−0.05 −0.05
−0.1 −0.1
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
0.4 0.1
Node 1 Node 8
0.2 0.05
0 0
−0.2 −0.05
−0.4 −0.1
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
Vehicle enters the bridge Vehicle leaves the bridge Vehicle enters the bridge Vehicle leaves the bridge
Time (second)
the bridge accelerations recorded when vehicle run smaller than the first frequency during impact test (i.e.
with velocity 20 km/h. From the spike in 2.17 Hz), but still within acceptable margin of error.
accelerations recorded by sensor node seven and node The similarities between the frequencies identified
eight located near the end of the bridge, we can from moving vehicle and impact test suggest that
estimate the time when vehicle entered and left the although the vehicle added extra mass to the whole
bridge. This was later confirmed by computing the system when passing the bridge, the vehicle-to-bridge
vehicle travelling time under constant driving mass ratio (i.e. Mv /Mb) was too small to produce
velocity. significant change to the system’s ratio of stiffness
In analysis, only sections of response and overall mass. These results validate the
corresponding to the instance when the vehicle was on assumption of the vehicle-to-bridge mass ratio
the bridge were selected, and their Fourier spectra are expressed in Eqn 5.
depicted in Figure 12. The spectra clearly show the
bridge first natural frequency dominates the total 4.5. Response of Vehicle when Passing the
bridge responses under moving vehicle. Table 2 lists Bridge
the identified bridge frequencies for several driving Figures 13(a) to 13(d) provide examples of vehicle
velocities. The results clearly show that bridge vertical acceleration for each driving velocity. As can be
frequencies identified from the response under seen, vehicle response during the first few seconds after
moving vehicle are very similar with those identified entering the bridge is highly contaminated by spikes
during impact test (Table 1). One frequency that resulted from the wheels impact on expansion joint. The
differs slightly is the first bending mode identified at vehicle bouncing and pitching modes are expected to
the range of 2.15–2.16 Hz. This value is slightly dominate this portion of the response, and therefore
Fourier Amp
Fourier Amp
Fourier Amp
150 150
15 15
11.9 11.9
100 100
10 10
50 50 11.9 11.9
5 5
0 0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz)
Fourier Amp
Fourier Amp
Fourier Amp
15 15
15 15
2.15 2.15
10 10
10 10
11.9 11.9 5 5
5 5
0 0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz)
Figure 12. Frequency spectra of accelerations of the tested bridge under moving vehicle (v = 20 km/h)
Table 2. Bridge frequency (in Hz) estimated from the first three velocities in Figures 14(a) to 14(c) show a
bridge acceleration subjected to moving vehicle similar characteristic in that the response is dominated by
two large peaks at low frequency range below 3 Hz. In
Vehicle velocity (km/h)
addition, there is one small peak below 1 Hz in each
Mode 10 20 30 40 driving velocity whose value increases slightly as the
1st Symmetric bending 2.16 2.15 2.15 2.15
velocity increases. This peak seems to be the driving
1st Asymmetric bending 5.42 5.43 5.42 5.45 frequency. The first large peak appears consistently in
2nd Symmetric bending 11.95 11.94 11.94 11.90 the frequency range between 1.45 Hz to 1.52 Hz. This
frequency is very close to the result of the vehicle
jumping test (i.e. 1.48 Hz), and thus considered as the
should be excluded from analysis. Figures 13(e) to 13(h) vehicle natural frequency. The second large peak appears
show examples of vehicle accelerations after excluding in the frequency range of 2.3–2.4 Hz for each driving
the effect of wheels impact in the beginning and the end velocity. This value is slightly higher than the first bridge
of the responses. Large vehicle damping and the frequency identified previously from the impact test.
relatively smooth pavement condition apparently However, as explained in Section 3, we cannot identify
suppressed the amplitude of acceleration to the maximum the exact value of bridge frequency from vehicle
of 0.05 cm/s2 and 0.1 cm/s2 for velocity 10–30 km/h and response directly. Instead, it would be deviated slightly
40 km/h respectively. by the frequency of driving velocity. To avoid confusion
Figure 14 shows the power spectra densities of vehicle we shall name the identified peak as estimated bridge
accelerations for the four driving velocities. Spectra of frequency to distinguish it from the bridge real
Acc (cm/s2)
Acc (cm/s2)
0.1
0 0
−0.1
−0.1
−0.2
0 5 10 15 20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time (sec) Time (sec)
Acc (cm/s2)
0.1 0.05
0 0
−0.1 −0.05
−0.2 −0.1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time (sec) Time (sec)
Acc (cm/s2)
0.2 0.1
0 0
−0.2 −0.1
−0.4 −0.2
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (sec) Time (sec)
Acc (cm/s2)
0.2
0 0
−0.2
−0.2
−0.4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Time (sec) Time (sec)
Figure 13. Vehicle accelerations while passing the bridge for velocity: (a) 10 km/h; (b) 20 km/h; (c) 30 km/h; (d) 40 km/h. Selected vehicle
acceleration after excluding the initial impact responses for velocity: (e) 10 km/h; (f) 20 km/h; (g) 30 km/h; (h) 40 km/h
frequency. We note that the estimated bridge frequency peaks in the frequency range of 5.2–5.5 Hz that is the
and the frequency of vehicle on the spectra can be clearly range of the bridge second frequency, but they do not
observed during the velocity 10 km/h and 20 km/h. For appear consistently, and their amplitudes are small.
higher velocity (i.e. 30 km/h), however, the vehicle From the results of six trials for each driving velocity
frequency cannot be clearly identified in several trials (Table 3), one can notice that the values of estimated
because their amplitudes were small and masked by the bridge frequency are relatively consistent, indicating
driving frequency peaks. Furthermore, the bridge good repeatability of the identification result. Variations
frequency cannot be identified clearly at velocity of the estimated bridge frequency are within acceptable
40 km/h [Figure 14(d)]. At this velocity, the vehicle range with the maximum coefficient of variation is 4%.
bouncing frequency (1.47 Hz) appears to dominate the
response and seems to mask the bridge frequency as 4.6. Accuracy of Estimation Results and
indicated by small peak around 2.4 Hz. It is cleear from Practical Considerations
the spectrum that the vehicle bouncing mode has large Analytical solution of the vehicle response indicates the
damping as indicated by wide band under the peak presence of two frequency peaks associated with bridge
associated with the vehicle bouncing frequency. frequency: ωb ± η = ωb ± πv/L (Eqn 15). However,
In all cases, we can only identify the first frequency considering that η = πv/L was very small (i.e. 0.02 Hz,
of the bridge from the vehicle response. There are small 0.05 Hz and 0.07 Hz for driving velocity 10 km/h,
0.05 2.38
PSD of acceleration
1.44
0.04
0.1
0.03
1.52
0.02
0.05
0.01
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)
PSD of acceleration
1
0.8
0.1
0.6 Bridge
frequency
0.4
0.05 1.47
0.2
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)
Figure 14. Power spectra density of the vehicle accelerations while passing over the bridge with velocity: (a) 10 km/h; (b) 20 km/h;
(c) 30 km/h; (d) 40 km/h
Table 3. Estimated bridge frequencies (in Hz) obtained from vehicle acceleration when passing the bridge
*) Bridge estimated frequency: value of frequency peak that associated with bridge frequency
**) Bridge discrepancy: disc = festimated − factual/factual × 100% where the factual = 2.17 Hz obtained from impact test
20 km/h and 30 km/h, respectively) both frequency of estimated bridge frequency and the analytical value,
peaks were very closely spaced and as a result, they one can observe that the estimated bridge frequency is in
appeared as one frequency peak. Comparing the value fact ωb + η = ωb + πv/L. Using this relationship, we can
estimate the bridge first frequency by subtracting η from instrumented passing vehicle. It has been shown
the estimated bridge frequency. As a result, the first analytically using a model of two-axle vehicle-bridge
estimated bridge frequency based on Figure 14 becomes system that response of a vehicle when passing a bridge
2.41 Hz, 2.27 Hz and 2.37 Hz, for the velocity 10 km/h, is influenced by frequency components that are
20 km/h, and 30 km/h, respectively. Assuming that the functions of vehicle velocity, vehicle frequency, and
actual first frequency of the bridge is 2.17 Hz, as bridge frequency. By setting the driving velocity
suggested by the impact test, the margin of error of the constant and employing the prior knowledge of vehicle
identification can be computed. In this case, the error is frequency, the fundamental frequency of the bridge can
defined as e = festimated − factual/factual. Table 3 shows be estimated reasonably from vehicle response.
the identification error is in the range of ± 2.6 ∼ 11.4%. A full-scale experimental verification has been
This is the level of accuracy suggested by experiments conducted to investigate the feasibility of identification
and should be accepted as limitation of the identification system. The experiment verification was conducted on
method. This implies that when judging whether the a short-span simply-supported bridge using a light
bridge has suffered from a significant damage that commercial vehicle Toyota Land Cruiser and the VIMS
changes its frequency, only the frequency changes data acquisition system. Experiment has shown
larger than the identification margin of error can be promising results in that the first frequency of the
considered statistically significant. bridge can be identified with reasonable accuracy under
The experiment results also show that the bridge moderate driving velocity below 30 km/h with the
frequency can be estimated when vehicle velocity does maximum estimation error being 11.4%. Repeatability
not exceed 30 km/h. When the vehicle moves with of the identification results has also been confirmed.
velocity larger than 30 km/h, the vehicle bouncing mode
dominates the response and as a result, the bridge ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
frequency cannot be identified. Higher velocity also The authors gratefully acknowledge invaluable
creates technical and practical difficulties such as: assistance from Dr. Tomonori Nagayama and Dr. Hung
(1) increasing the wheel bouncing impact on expansion Minh Dinh during experiments and for helpful
joint at the entrance of the bridge, (2) resulting in shorter discussion throughout the study. This work is part of
response and thus poor resolution of frequency response research supported by Japanese Grant-in-Aid for
spectrum. Scientific Research (PI: Yozo Fujino) whose financial
For practical consideration, knowledge of vehicle assistance is gratefully acknowledged.
frequency is important to distinguish the vehicle natural
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