Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a term increasingly used in the last decade to describe a range of systems implemented on full-scale civil infrastructures and whose purposes are to assist and inform operators about continued 'fitness for purpose' of structures under gradual or sudden changes to their state, to learn about either or both of the load and response mechanisms. Arguably, various forms of SHM have been employed in civil infrastructure for at least half a century, but it is only in the last decade or two that computer-based systems are being designed for the purpose of assisting owners/operators of ageing infrastructure with timely information for their continued safe and economic operation. This paper describes the motivations for and recent history of SHM applications to various forms of civil infrastructure and provides case studies on specific types of structure. It ends with a discussion of the present state-of-the-art and future developments in terms of instrumentation, data acquisition, communication systems and data mining and presentation procedures for diagnosis of infrastructural 'health'.

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Structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure

The sensitivity method in finite element model updating: A tutorial

The sensitivity method in finite element model updating: A tutorial (vol 25, pg 2275, 2010)

Extracting bridge frequencies from the dynamic response of a passing vehicle

Use of a passing vehicle to scan the fundamental bridge frequencies: An experimental verification

The dynamic amplification factor (DAF) is an important parameter in the design of highway bridges and yet no worldwide consensus has been reached so far as to its value. Some disagreement exists be...

Bridge dynamics and dynamic amplification factors — a review of analytical and experimental findings

Dynamic bridge testing techniques used at the University of Sherbrooke on a series of highway bridges in the province of Quebec, Canada, are presented. These procedures were developed to obtain a reliable evaluation of the dynamic amplification factor for existing bridges, as part of an ongoing rehabilitation program of the province's road network. Vertical acceleration responses are obtained under normal or controlled traffic using different test vehicles and loading patterns. The vibration frequencies and mode shapes are calculated from a frequency analysis of the measured data, and used to calibrate finite-element models for each structure. The experimental methods and data-processing techniques are described. The need to establish standard testing procedures is discussed and some recommendations are presented. Examples of test results and comparisons with finite-element eigenvalue analyses are given for three different bridges.

Dynamic Testing Procedures for Highway Bridges Using Traffic Loads

Consistent regularization of nonlinear model updating for damage identification

The need for full-scale dynamic tests, which are recognized as the most reliable method to evaluate a structure's vibration properties, is increasing as new analysis techniques are developed that take into account the complex interaction phenomenons that occur in dam–reservoir–foundation systems. They are extremely useful to obtain reliable data for the calibration of newly developed numerical methods.

The Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics Research Center (CRGP) at the University of Sherbrooke has been developing and applying dynamic testing methods for large structures in the past 10 years. This paper presents the experimental evaluation of the effects of the varying water level on the dynamic response of the 180 m Emosson arch dam in Switzerland. Repeated forced-vibration tests were carried out on the dam during four different periods of the reservoir's filling cycle during a one-year span. Acceleration and hydrodynamic pressure frequency responses were obtained at several locations while the dam was subjected to horizontal harmonic loading. The variation of the resonant frequencies as a function of the reservoir level is investigated. A summary of the ongoing numerical correlation phase with a three-dimensional finite element model for the dam–reservoir–foundation system is also presented. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An experimental investigation of water level effects on the dynamic behaviour of a large arch dam

This paper presents the experimental programme and results of a continuous ambient vibrations recording programme carried out on the 250 m arch dam of Mauvoisin. This project follows a series of previous measurements completed for seven different water levels. An automated system was set up on the dam and the ambient vibrations were recorded twice daily for a period of 6 months. Frequency shifts were tracked throughout the testing period and the effects of the varying water level were identified. The results confirmed the behaviour observed in previous ambient- and forced-vibration tests. The added-mass effects are overcome by the stiffening of the dam due to increasing hydrostatic pressure for lower reservoir levels. This trend is then reversed for higher water levels. Any temperature-related effects were not identified. The experimental techniques are briefly described and the frequency identification process and its limitations are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Jean Proulx

Papers

Bridge dynamics and dynamic amplification factors — a review of analytical and experimental findings

Dynamic Testing Procedures for Highway Bridges Using Traffic Loads

Consistent regularization of nonlinear model updating for damage identification

An experimental investigation of water level effects on the dynamic behaviour of a large arch dam

Continuous ambient‐vibration monitoring of the arch dam of Mauvoisin