Estimation of Tension Force in Short Hangers Using Added Mass Method

Abstract

For short hangers, the influence of flexural rigidities and boundary conditions on tension measuring cannot be neglected. But there has no effective method to precisely calculate hanger tension considering the two parameters. This paper proposes the Added Mass Method (AMM) to simultaneously identify the tension, flexural rigidity and boundary condition of short hangers. In this method, the effect of mass distribution of structure on natural frequencies has been studied to add extra calculation conditions for establishing the eigenvalue equation set. The method of Genetic Algorithm (GA) with adaptive crossover and mutation rate is used to solve the equation set quickly. The results provides that the AMM is a high-accurate field testing technology in tension measurement for short hanger of arch bridge.