SEISMIC MONITORING OF A BRIDGE: ASSESSING DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS FROM BOTH WEAK AND STRONG GROUND EXCITATIONS

Abstract

An array of 24 strong-motion accelerometers produced records for the New-Lian River Bridge, a five-span continuous bridge, during 25 February 1995 earthquake (weak motion) and 25 June 1995 earthquake (strong motion). This paper describes the application of linear discrete-time system identification methodology to the array of strong-motion measurements, in order to assess seismic response characteristics of the bridge. The structural system identification will concentrate not only on the global identification but also on the local structural system identification. Results of this application show that: (1) weak and strong ground excitation will induce significant differences on the dynamic response of the bridge; (2) linear models provide an excellent fit to the measured motions of the bridge from the records of these two seismic events; (3) the rigid-body rocking of the bridge pier during strong shaking is significant and cannot be ignored during identification; (4) the transverse motion at mid-span of the bridge is controlled by the quasi-static response from the boundary system and this phenomenon is quite significant during strong ground excitation. Also, systematic estimates of modal damping ratio and equivalent assessments of pier stiffness developed in the bridge during earthquake are discussed. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.