Assessment of Data from Dynamic Bridge Monitoring

The focus of the thesis is to process measurements acquired from a continuous monitoring system at a railway bridge. Temperature, strain and ambient vibration records are analysed and two main directions of investigation are pursued. The first and the most demanding task is to develop processing routines able to extract modal parameters from ambient vibration measurements. For this purpose, reliable experimental models are achieved on the basis of a stochastic system identification(SSI) procedure. A fully automated algorithm based on a three-stage clustering is implemented to perform a modal parameter estimation for every single measurement. After selecting a baseline of modal parameters, the evolution of eigenfrequencies is studied and correlated to environmental and operational factors. The second aspect deals with the structural response to passing trains. Corresponding triggered records of strain and temperature are processed and their assessment is accomplished using the average strains induced by each train as the reference parameter. Three influences due to speed, temperature and loads are distinguished and treated individually. An attempt to estimate the maximum response variation due to each factor is also carried out.