Structural Health Monitoring of a Brazilian Concrete Bridge for Estimating Specific Dynamic Responses

Abstract

A 3D coupled model to simulate vehicle–bridge interactions (VBI) to estimate its structural responses and impact factors (IMs) was developed in this study. By structural health monitoring (SHM) of a real concrete bridge, several data were collected to calibrate the bridge model by the finite element method (FEM). These models provide the bridge response in terms of vertical dis-placements and accelerations. VBI models provide reliable outputs without significantly altering the dynamic properties of the bridge. Modified recent analytical equations, which account for the effects of the asymmetric two-axle vehicles, were developed numerically. These equations, plus some proposed solutions, also quantified the vehicle response in terms of accelerations to estimate a more conservative driving comfort. The goal consisted in fitting the SHM with numerical and analytical models to find a more appropriate response for safety purposes and maintenance. From the codes and the literature, it was shown that a unique IM factor was not found. Moreover, most approaches underestimate the phenomena; in fact, results show that a monitored IM factor is 2.5 greater than IM from codes. Proposed equations for vehicle accelerations provided more conservative values up to about three times the standard comfort value. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.