Real Time Assessment of Dynamic Loads on Bridges

2013PDFTech ReportOTCREOS11.1-54-FDTRT06-G-0016Highway bridgesDynamic loadsReal time informationStructural health monitoringSensorsMathematical modelsResearch HubOklahomaUnited StatesOklahoma Transportation CenterRunolfsson, ThordurMadhavaram, AsishUniversity of Oklahoma. School of Electrical and Computer EngineeringUnited States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionHighway bridges are an important class of civil structures that are subject to continuously acting and varying dynamic loads due to traffic. A large number of highway bridges in the US (bridges on interstate highways or state highways which have high speed limits) were built about 50 years ago and are approaching critical age in terms of deterioration and may be in need of maintenance and/or replacement. Consequently, the need for advanced methods of highway bridge health monitoring, damage detection and estimation of load patterns has reached a critical stage. With recent advances in sensor and network technologies, it has become possible to instrument structures with embedded sensors that continuously measure the dynamic response of the structure, which is the combined response of the bridge and vehicle loads. In this project, we developed a technique for data driven real time estimation of the dynamic loads generated by vehicles passing on bridge structures. The approach is based on robust optimal feedback control ideas and uses a simplified gray box model for the bridge that has been identified using multiple sets of sensor data. Robustness of the developed approach against modeling uncertainties is demonstrated