Bayesian structural identification of a long suspension bridge considering temperature and traffic load effects

Jesus, Andre; Brommer, Peter; Westgate, Robert; Koo, Ki; Brownjohn, James; Laory, Irwanda

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2018. This article presents a probabilistic structural identification of the Tamar bridge using a detailed finite element model. Parameters of the bridge cables initial strain and bearings friction were identified. Effects of temperature and traffic were jointly considered as a driving excitation of the bridge’s displacement and natural frequency response. Structural identification is performed with a modular Bayesian framework, which uses multiple response Gaussian processes to emulate the model response surface and its inadequacy, that is, model discrepancy. In addition, the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm was used as an expansion for multiple parameter identification. The novelty of the approach stems from its ability to obtain unbiased parameter identifications and model discrepancy trends and correlations. Results demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method for complex civil infrastructure. A close agreement between identified parameters and test data was observed. Estimated discrepancy functions indicate that the model predicted the bridge mid-span displacements more accurately than its natural frequencies and that the adopted traffic model was less able to simulate the bridge behaviour during traffic congestion periods.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 7, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Sep 3, 2018
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Aug 21, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 22, 2019
• Journal: Structural Health Monitoring
• Print ISSN: 1475-9217
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-3168
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 1310-1323
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1475921718794299
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/2127132
• Contract Date: Aug 22, 2019