16th Biennial International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments
Determination of Natural Frequencies of a Steel Railroad Bridge Using Onboard Sensors
Publication: Earth and Space 2018: Engineering for Extreme Environments
ABSTRACT
This paper presents an analytical methodology and experimental validation of determining the natural frequencies of a railroad truss bridge from the sensors mounted on a train passing over the bridge. This approach is first verified analytically using a spring mass system moving over an Euler Bernoulli beam, where the natural frequency of the beam was obtained from the vibration acceleration of the moving sprung-mass system. Field experiment was performed on a 109-year-old Devon steel open deck through truss railroad bridge over Housatonic River between Stratford and Milford, in Connecticut, USA. Accelerometers were placed on several selected locations on the bridge as well as a couple of locations in a coach of the train. Acceleration of the train-bridge coupled system were collected using accelerometers placed on-board train when it was moving at different speeds over the bridge. The accelerometer record was then processed using fast Fourier transform (FFT) to identify a first few fundamental frequencies of the bridge. These frequency results have been verified with those obtained from the field test acceleration data collected using the accelerometers directly attached to the bridge as well as those from the finite element (FE) modelling of the bridge. This information will facilitate the bridge damage and deterioration detection using shift in natural frequencies over time.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors acknowledge the financial support received for this study from the U.S. Dept., of Transportation (US DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) under the Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Programs managed/administered by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicines (Rail Safety Project-25). The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors. The findings, conclusions or recommendations either inferred or specifically expressed herein do not necessarily indicate acceptance by the Academies or by US DOT FRA. The authors also gratefully acknowledge supports received from the Bentley Systems Inc., Connecticut Dept., of Transportation (CT DOT), MTA Metro-North Railroad, STRAAM group, Trans-Tek Inc., and the Univ., of Connecticut.
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Published In
Earth and Space 2018: Engineering for Extreme Environments
Pages: 1034 - 1046
Editors: Ramesh B. Malla, Ph.D., University of Connecticut, Robert K. Goldberg, Ph.D., NASA Glenn Research Center, and Alaina Dickason Roberts
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8189-9
Copyright
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Nov 15, 2018
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