Structural Response Measurements Research Articles

Pavement Deterioration and Maintenance Model for Low Volume Roads

Development of an intelligent flexible pavement deterioration and maintenance management model is the need of implementing organizations to prioritize pavement maintenance and rehabilitation works, as this involves cost economics. Pavement deterioration model, is an equation that relates to some extrinsic 'time factor' (age or number of load applications) to a combination of intrinsic factors (structural responses, etc.) and performance indicators which simulate the deterioration process of pavement condition and provide forecasting of pavement condition over a period of time. These pavement deterioration or performance models play a pivotal role in pavement management systems. To develop these models structural and functional response measurement of 18 sections of low volume pavements were carried out for continuous two years in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh states of India. Statistical analysis tools and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) are used to develop the models. Statistical performance indicators and logical relationships between input parameters and output parameters are used to select the best fit model. Polynomial relationship best relates to the input parameters such as pavement age, CBR of subgrade, traffic, pavement thickness and also to the output parameters i.e. pavement condition indicators such as deflection, riding quality, surface roughness. Paired t-test is also carried out for the validation purpose of chosen best fit models. Maintenance Priority Index (MPI) is developed using three parameters named as deflection, riding quality and traffic to decide the priority.

Wind effects on a long-span beam string roof structure: Wind tunnel test, field measurement and numerical analysis

The Guangzhou International Convention & Exhibition Center (GICEC) with roof dimensions of 210 m wide and 457 m long is the largest exhibition center in Asia and the 2nd largest of this kind in the world. This paper presents results from a combined study of wind tunnel test, full-scale measurement, and numerical analysis of wind effects on the long-span beam string roof structure. In the wind tunnel test, wind-induced pressures including mean and fluctuating components were measured from the roof of a 1:300 scale GICEC model under suburban boundary layer wind flow configuration. The Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) method and the quasi-steady approach as well as probability analysis were adopted to estimate the characteristics of the fluctuating wind pressures on the roof. On the other hand, full-scale measurements of wind actions and wind-induced structural responses of the roof were conducted during the passage of Typhoon Nuri. The field data such as wind speed, wind direction, and acceleration responses, etc., were continuously and simultaneously monitored from a wind and structural response monitoring system installed on the roof structure during the typhoon. Detailed analysis of the field data was performed to investigate the characteristics of the typhoon-generated wind and the wind-induced vibration of the long-span roof structure under typhoon condition. The dynamic characteristics of the roof were determined from the field measurements and comparisons with those calculated from the finite element model (FEM) of the structure were made. The damping ratios of the roof structure were estimated by means of the random decrement method and the amplitude-dependent damping characteristics were presented and discussed. Finally, the full-scale measurements were compared with the model test results to examine the accuracy of the wind tunnel test results and to identify possible modelling errors in the numerical study. The results presented in this paper are expected to be of considerable interest and of use to researchers and professionals involved in designing long-span roof structures.

3D digital image correlation methods for full-field vibration measurement

In the area of modal test/analysis/correlation, significant effort has been expended over the past twenty years in order to make reduced models and to expand test data for correlation and eventual updating of the finite element models. This has been restricted by vibration measurements which are traditionally limited to the location of relatively few applied sensors. Advances in computers and digital imaging technology have allowed 3D digital image correlation (DIC) methods to measure the shape and deformation of a vibrating structure. This technique allows for full-field measurement of structural response, thus providing a wealth of simultaneous test data. This paper presents some preliminary results for the test/analysis/correlation of data measured using the DIC approach along with traditional accelerometers and a scanning laser vibrometer for comparison to a finite element model. The results indicate that all three approaches correlated well with the finite element model and provide validation for the DIC approach for full-field vibration measurement. Some of the advantages and limitations of the technique are presented and discussed.

Identification of Interaction Pressure Between Structure and Explosive with Inverse Approach

An inverse approach for the identification of the time-dependent localized interaction pressure between a structure and an explosive has been proposed and developed. In this approach, surface measurements of structural response (displacement and velocity) are integrated with numerical simulations to identify the spatial and time-dependent interaction pressure (i.e. the normal traction) on a structure surface. For verification and validation purposes, numerical simulations are used to (a) generate the time-dependent displacement and velocity fields on the free surface of the specimen at specified time intervals, (b) form a blast wave and compute the resulting interaction traction field between the structure and blast wave on the interaction interface for comparison to inverse predictions. In particular, validation of the proposed approach was performed using numerical simulation results for an underwater explosion, with excellent agreement between the identified interaction traction and the simulation generated interaction traction up to and including the maximum traction condition. To demonstrate the potential of the method, the proposed inverse procedure was employed to estimate the interaction traction field on a thin aluminum specimen subjected to transient pressure loading through detonation of explosive buried in sand.

Modeling of environmental influence in structural health assessment for reinforced concrete buildings

One branch of structural health monitoring (SHM) utilizes dynamic response measurements to assess the structural integrity of civil infrastructures. In particular, modal frequency is a widely adopted indicator for structural damage since its square is proportional to structural stiffness. However, it has been demonstrated in various SHM projects that this indicator is substantially affected by fluctuating environmental conditions. In order to provide reliable and consistent information on the health status of the monitored structures, it is necessary to develop a method to filter this interference. This study attempts to model and quantify the environmental infl uence on the modal frequencies of reinforced concrete buildings. Daily structural response measurements of a twenty-two story reinforced concrete building were collected and analyzed over a one-year period. The Bayesian spectral density approach was utilized to identify the modal frequencies of this building and it was clearly seen that the temperature and humidity fluctuation induced notable variations. A mathematical model was developed to quantify the environmental effects and model complexity was taken into consideration. Based on a Timoshenko beam model, the full model class was constructed and other reduced-order model class candidates were obtained. Then, the Bayesian modal class selection approach was employed to select the one with the most suitable complexity. The proposed model successfully characterizes the environmental influence on the modal frequencies. Furthermore, the estimated uncertainty of the model parameters allows for assessment of the reliability of the prediction. This study not only improves the understanding about the monitored structure, but also establishes a systematic approach for reliable health assessment of reinforced concrete buildings.

An inverse approach for pressure load identification

An inverse approach for the identification of pressure loading on a structure has been proposed and developed. In this approach, surface measurements of structural response (e.g. strain, displacement and velocity field measurements, such as can be measured with 3D digital image correlation) are utilized as input data and are combined with numerical simulations to identify the pressure load on a structure. The inverse approach has been verified by numerical benchmarks involving pressure identification under quasi-static as well as dynamic impulse loading conditions, and also been validated by an experiment involving a quasi-static pressure load. The results indicate that the proposed inverse method can identify not only the magnitude of the quasi-static pressure but also the impulsive pressure loading history. The developed inverse approach offers an opportunity to apply inverse analysis techniques to identify interactive pressure loads (such as those resulting from a blast wave) on structures in explosive events.

Application of structural health monitoring in civil infrastructure

The emerging sensor-based structural health monitoring (SHM) technology has a potential for cost-effective maintenance of aging civil infrastructure systems. The author proposes to integrate continuous and global monitoring using on-structure sensors with targeted local non-destructive evaluation (NDE). Significant technical challenges arise, however, from the lack of cost-effective sensors for monitoring spatially large structures, as well as reliable methods for interpreting sensor data into structural health conditions. This paper reviews recent efforts and advances made in addressing these challenges, with example sensor hardware and health monitoring software developed in the author's research center. The hardware includes a novel fiber optic accelerometer, a vision-based displacement sensor, a distributed strain sensor, and a microwave imaging NDE device. The health monitoring software includes a number of system identification methods such as the neural networks, extended Kalman filter, and nonlinear damping identificaiton based on structural dynamic response measurement. These methods have been experimentally validated through seismic shaking table tests of a realistic bridge model and tested in a number of instrumented bridges and buildings.

Tension and Combined Tension-Extension Structural Response and Tolerance Properties of the Human Male Ligamentous Cervical Spine

Tensile loading of the human cervical spine results from noncontact inertial loading of the head as well as mandibular and craniofacial impacts. Current vehicle safety standards include a neck injury criterion based on beam theory that uses a linear combination of the normalized upper cervical axial force and sagittal plane moment. This study examines this criterion by imposing combined axial tension and bending to postmortem human subject (PMHS) ligamentous cervical spines. Tests were conducted on 20 unembalmed PMHSs. Nondestructive whole cervical spine tensile tests with varying cranial end condition and anteroposterior loading location were used to generate response corridors for computational model development and validation. The cervical spines were sectioned into three functional spinal segments (Occiput-C2, C4-C5, and C6-C7) for measurement of tensile structural response and failure testing. The upper cervical spine (Occiput-C2) was found to be significantly less stiff, absorb less strain energy, and fail at higher loads than the lower cervical spine (C4-C5 and C6-C7). Increasing the moment arm of the applied tensile load resulted in larger head rotations, larger moments, and significantly higher tensile ultimate strengths in the upper cervical spine. The strength of the upper cervical spine when loaded through the head center of gravity (2417+/-215 N) was greater than when loaded over the occipital condyles (2032+/-250 N), which is not predicted by beam theory. Beam theory predicts that increased tensile loading eccentricity results in decreased axial failure loads. Analyses of the force-deflection histories suggest that ligament loading in the upper cervical spine depends on the amount of head rotation orientation, which may explain why the neck is stronger in combined tension and extension.

Safety and serviceability assessment for high-rise tower crane to turbulent winds

Tower cranes are commonly used facilities for the construction of high-rise structures. To ensure their workability, it is very important to analyze their response and evaluate their condition under extreme conditions. This paper proposes a general scheme for safety and serviceability assessment of high-rise tower crane to turbulent winds based on time domain buffeting response analysis. Spatially correlated wind velocity field at the location of the tower crane was first simulated using an algorithm for generating the time domain samples of a stationary, multivariate stochastic process according to some prescribed spectral density matrix. The buffeting forces applied to the structure were computed according to the above-simulated wind velocity fluctuations and the lift, drag, and moment coefficients obtained from a CFD computation. Those spatially correlated loads were then fed into a well calibrated finite element model and the nonlinear time history analysis was conducted to compute structural buffeting response. Compared with structural onsite response measurement, the computed response using the proposed method has good precision. The proposed method is then adopted for analyzing the buffeting response of an in-use tower crane under the design wind speed and the maximum operational wind speed for safety and serviceability assessment.

Design of a Robust, High-rate Wireless Sensor Network for Static and Dynamic Structural Monitoring

Over recent years, there has been much interest in the use of low-cost wireless transceivers for communication of sensor data to alleviate the expense of widely distributed cable-based sensors in structural monitoring systems. However, while the number of unique wireless sensor platforms has continued to expand rapidly, the lack of success in replicating the number of deployed sensors and sampling rates utilized in previous cable-based systems has led to disillusionment over their use for this application. This article presents a wireless sensing system designed for concurrent measurement of both static and dynamic structural response through strain transducers, accelerometers, and temperature sensors. The network protocol developed supports real-time, high-rate data acquisition from large wireless sensor arrays with essentially no data loss. The current network software enables high-rate acquisition of up to 40 channels across 20 wireless units on a single peer-to-peer network with system expansion enabled through additional networks operating simultaneously on adjacent communication channels. Elements of the system design have been specifically tailored towards addressing condition assessment of highway bridges through strain-based load ratings as well as vibration-based dynamic analysis. However, the flexible system architecture enables the system to serve essentially as an off-the-shelf solution for a wide array of wireless sensing tasks. The wireless sensing units and network performance have been validated through laboratory tests as well as dense large-scale field deployments on an in-service highway bridge.

Sequential non-linear least-square estimation for damage identification of structures with unknown inputs and unknown outputs

The detection of structural damages real-time on-line, based on vibration data measured from sensors, is an important but challenging research topic, and it has received considerable attentions recently. Due to practical limitations, it is highly desirable to install as few sensors as possible in the structural health monitoring system, leading to incomplete measurements of structural responses and excitations. The traditional time-domain analysis techniques, such as the least-square estimation (LSE) method and the extended Kalman filter (EKF) approach, require that all the external excitations (inputs) be available, which may not be the case for most structural health monitoring systems. Recently, the adaptive sequential non-linear least-square estimate (SNLSE) method has been proposed for the on-line identification of structural damages. In this paper, we extend the SNLSE method to cover the general case with unknown (unmeasured) excitations (inputs) and unknown (unmeasured) acceleration responses (outputs) in order to reduce the number of sensors required in the structural health monitoring system, referred to as the SNLSE-UI-UO. Analytic recursive solutions for the new approach are derived and presented. The accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed approach have been demonstrated using the Phase I ASCE structural health monitoring benchmark building, a 5-degree-of-freedom non-linear hysteretic building model, and a 3-story steel frame finite-element model. Simulation results indicate that the proposed approach is capable of tracking the changes of structural parameters leading to the identification of damages.

REAL-TIME RISK ANALYSIS FOR HYBRID EARTHQUAKE EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS

Earthquake Early Warning Systems (EEWS), based on real-time prediction of ground motion or structural response measures, may play a role in reducing vulnerability and/or exposition of buildings and lifelines. In fact, recently seismologists developed efficient methods for rapid estimation of event features by means of limited information of the P-waves. Then, when an event is occurring, probabilistic distributions of magnitude and source-to-site distance are available and the prediction of the ground motion at the site, conditioned to the seismic network measures, may be performed in analogy with the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA). Consequently the structural performance may be obtained by the Probabilistic Seismic Demand Analysis (PSDA), and used for real-time risk management purposes. However, such prediction is performed in very uncertain conditions which have to be taken into proper account to limit false and missed alarms. In the present study, real-time risk analysis for early warning purposes is discussed. The magnitude estimation is performed via the Bayesian approach, while the earthquake localization is based on the Voronoi cells. To test the procedure it was applied, by simulation, to the EEWS under development in the Campanian region (southern Italy). The results lead to the conclusion that the PSHA, conditioned to the EEWS, correctly predicts the hazard at the site and that the false/missed alarm probabilities may be controlled by set up of an appropriate decisional rule and alarm threshold.

Building structural acoustic response to aircraft sonic booms

As part of the NASA Low Boom/No Boom flight test project, a series of low‐amplitude sonic‐boom tests was completed over a 3‐week period in June of 2006. This series of flight tests was designed to evaluate indoor/outdoor human subjective response, structural acoustic building response, and the effects of atmospheric turbulence for low‐amplitude sonic booms characterized by overpressures in the nominal range of 0.1 to 0.6 pounds per square foot (psf). Low‐amplitude sonic booms were generated by F‐18 aircraft using dive trajectories to produce a range of overpressures at the Edwards Air Force Base housing area. In addition, straight and level supersonic flights were used to generate normal level (nominally 1.4 psf) sonic‐boom overpressures at the housing area. This report will describe the structural acoustic building response measurements obtained during this flight test project. A single‐family ranch‐style home was instrumented with nearly 300 microphone and accelerometer sensors to determine the incident pressure and the building’s structural acoustic response. Data were acquired for over 100 sonic‐boom events. The test setup will be described and analysis of the measurements will be presented.

Full-scale structural monitoring using an integrated GPS and accelerometer system

Accurate in situ measurement of the full-scale structural responses, especially tall buildings, under severe loading conditions is an important requirement for validating their design, evaluating their construction as well as facilitating their maintenance. Traditionally such response has been measured using accelerometers. However, it is impossible to measure the static and quasi-static components of motion with acceleration sensors. An integrated system comprising of RTK-GPS and accelerometers has been developed with the objective of assessing full-scale structural responses by exploiting the complementary characteristics of GPS and accelerometer sensors. The data used in this paper were obtained from GPS and accelerometer sensors installed on a 108-m-high steel tower in Tokyo, together with other sensors such as anemometer and strain gauge. The seismic and wind-induced responses of the tower were analyzed using the Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) and compared to results from finite element modeling (FEM). In order to study the system reliability, the correlated signals were extracted by applying a digital filtering technique. Then the filtered data sets were converted to displacement (in the case of accelerometer data) and acceleration (in the case of GPS data) through double integration and double differentiation, respectively, for the purpose of direct comparison and to further fuse data from the two different sensors. The results agree with each other very well, although the static and quasi-static components are missing from the accelerometer-derived results. The redundancy of the monitoring system therefore has been achieved.

Vibration Control of Wind-Excited Tall Buildings Using Sliding Mode Fuzzy Control

A sliding mode fuzzy control (SMFC) is proposed to design a controller for the third-generation benchmark problem on wind-excited buildings. A distinctive feature in vibration control of large civil infrastructure is the existence of large disturbances, such as wind, earthquake, and sea wave forces. Those disturbances govern the behavior of the structure; however, they cannot be precisely measured, especially for the case of wind excitations. Since the structural accelerations are measured only at a limited number of locations without the measurement of the wind forces, the structure of the conventional control may have the feedback loop only. The general structure of the SMFC, proposed herein, is composed of a compensation part and a convergent part. The compensation part prevents the system from diverging, and the convergent part directs the system to the sliding surface. The compensation part uses not only the structural response measurement but also the disturbance measurement, so the SMFC has a feedb...

Field measurements of wind and structural responses of a 70-storey tall building under typhoon conditions

Field measurements of wind and structural responses of a 70-storey tall building under typhoon conditions

Damage detection with spatial wavelets

This paper discusses a structural damage detection technique based on wavelet analysis of spatially distributed structural response measurements. The premise of the technique is that damage (e.g. cracks) in a structure will cause structural response perturbations at damage sites. Such local perturbations, although they may not be apparent from the measured total response data, are often discernible from component wavelets. The viability of this new technique is demonstrated with two examples: one based on numerically simulated deflection responses of a uniform beam containing a short transverse crack under both static and dynamic loading conditions, and the other based on smooth analytical crack-tip displacement fields. In each of these examples, the deflection or displacement response is analyzed with the wavelet transform, and the presence of the crack is detected by a sudden change in the spatial variation of the transformed response. This damage detection technique may serve the purpose of structural health monitoring in situations where spatially distributed measurements of structural response in regions of critical concern can be made with, for example, networks of distributed sensors, optical fibers, computer vision and area scanning techniques. It appears that this new technique does not require any analysis of the complete structure in question, nor any knowledge of the material properties and prior stress states of the structure.

Broadband 3-D high spatial density structural response measurements of a pair of framed air-loaded cylinders of differing internal complexity

The presence of internal structure can greatly alter the acoustic behavior of elastic structures. The effect of a large number of internal oscillators on the vibrational response of an air-loaded framed cylindrical shell has been examined experimentally. This examination included the construction of two shells of the same design, one of which has 880 attached oscillators. Spatially dense (200 axial points by 80 azimuthal =16 000 points) 3-D laser Doppler vibrometer measurements have been collected for both of these structures for the case of broadband radial point excitation. Comparisons made between these two visually identical structures reveal dramatic differences. These include a modification of the participation factors between the three displacement polarizations and strong spatial confinement of the vibration response due to complexity. These results are presented together with a discussion of mechanisms which may account for these observations. [Work sponsored by ONR.]

Intermediate scale measurement system: A state of the art facility for Naval structural acoustics research; system overview and measurement results

The intermediate scale measurement system (ISMS) is a state-of-the-art measurement range for Navy structural acoustics research. The range is located in Lake Pend Oreille at the Acoustic Research Detachment (ARD) of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Bayview, Idaho. The system is designed to accommodate ‘‘high fidelity’’ 1:10 to 1:4 scale models of submarines. The ISMS has several unique measurement modes, including: (1) generation of plane-wave ensonification using a phased planar array of 36 projectors; (2) radiated signature measurement using a full 360-deg azimuth, 158 hydrophone, near-field receive array; and (3) acquisition of data from up to 1000 model-mounted sensors. Through use of high precision acoustic location measurement, the ISMS has an integral capability to project near-field bistatic target strength and radiated noise signatures to the far field. Based on these measurement modes, the ISMS can make very accurate, precise and repeatable target strength, radiated noise, and structural response measurements. The receive array is also used for the spatial imaging of the radiated pressure fields. Selected analysis products from a 1:4 scale model test series will be presented. [Work supported by ONR.]

Optimal cross-section and configuration design of cyclic loaded elastic-plastic structures

This paper describes a continuum variational formulation for design optimization of nonlinear structures in the elastic-plastic domain, where unloading and reloading of the structures are allowed to occur. The Total Lagrangian procedure is used for the description of the structural deformation. The direct differentiation approach is used to derive the sensitivities of the various structural response measures with respect to the design parameters. Since the material goes into the inelastic range and unloading and reloading of the structure are allowed to occur, the structural response is path dependent and an additional step is needed to integrate the constitutive equations. It can be shown, consequently, that design sensitivity analysis is also path-dependent. The theory has been discretized by the finite element technique and implemented in a structural analysis code. Mathematical programming approach is used for the optimization process. Numerical applications on trusses are performed, where cross-sectional areas and nodal point coordinates are treated as design variables. Optimal designs have been obtained and compared by using two different strategies: a two level strategy where the levels are defined accordingly the type of design variables, cross sectional areas or node coordinates, and optimizing simultaneously with respect to both types of design variables.