Assessment of structural health of an existing prestressed concrete bridge by finite element analysis

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the feasibility of an alternative structural health monitoring (SHM) technique for an existing, post-tensioned, prestressed concrete bridge in Niigata, Japan. Currently, a static SHM system is in place to detect the progress of damages within the bridge. However, the existing system cannot properly monitor the structural health of the bridge including the periodic vibration, which is one of the damage-sensitive features of interest. Therefore, to effectively detect the real-time performances of the bridge, a three-dimensional (3D) Finite Element (FE) model was developed as a reference and verified using on-site load-deflection test results. After validating the reference FE model, different damage scenarios, such as degradation of concrete, corrosion & rupture of steel tendons and missing tendons, were incorporated in the FE models. Based on non-linear structural and Eigenvalue analyses, natural frequencies and mode shapes of the bridge remain constant even after careful consideration of all types of damages in the FE model. However, vertical displacements are observed to increase for the damage scenarios. Although the effect of tendon rupture and corrosion showed negligible influences on the vertical displacement, the deterioration of the concrete largely influenced the vertical displacement. Additionally, crack widths were found to vary with damage types. Brifely, this study recommends some effective indicators to monitor the structural conditions of the bridge using FE analysis (FEA).

KEYWORDS:

• Structural health
• bridge structure
• natural frequency
• mode shape
• vertical displacement
• crack width

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), “Infrastructure Maintenance, Renovation and Management” (funding agency: Japan Science and Technology Agency and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization). Additionally, the authors gratefully acknowledge the sincere support from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Hokuriku Regional Development Bureau, Takada Office of Rivers and National Highways.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Japan Science and Technology (JST) Agency.

Notes on contributors

Niamul Islam

Niamul Islam is a PhD student at the Nagaoka University of Technology. His research interests are finite element analysis and retrofitting steel and concrete structures with CFRP materials.

Takeshi Miyashita

Takeshi Miyashita is an Associate Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Nagaoka University of Technology. His research interest includes Structural Health Monitoring, structural analysis, and retrofitting and maintenance of steel structures.

Sukanta Kumer Shill

Dr Sukanta Kumer Shill is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra. He achieved a PhD in structural engineering in 2020 from UNSW Sydney. His research focuses on the durability of geopolymer, and concrete structures subjected to harsh conditions, steel-concrete composite structures, the performance of various cementitious composites, FRP reinforced concrete, airbase rigid pavements and FE analyses of structures.

Kenta Takeda

Kenta Takeda is an Assistant Professor at Nagoya Institute of Technology. He received a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral Degree from the Nagaoka University of Technology. His research interests are material composition rule, performance evaluation, adhesion, corrosion, salt damage, maintenance of concrete structures and structural analysis.

Saiji Fukada

Saiji Fukada received a doctorate in 1999 from the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University. Currently, he has been working as a professor at the Faculty of Geosciences and Civil Engineering, Institute of Science and Engineering, Kanazawa University. He works on bridge vibration and the maintenance of structures. He has published many technical articles in various journals.

Atsuhiro Takasu

Atsuhiro Takasu is a Professor at the Digital Content and Media Sciences Research Division of the National Institute of Informatics, Japan. His main research interests are Data Engineering, Machine Learning, Data Mining, Text Mining, Data and Information Integration, Information Retrieval, and Digital Library.

Safat Al-Deen

Dr Safat Al-Deen is a senior lecturer in the School of Engineering and IT at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Australia. His research interest includes structures under extreme loads, durability and serviceability of structures, use of new sustainable materials in construction, and advanced analysis of structures under various loads.

Mahbube Subhani

Dr Mahbube Subhani is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering at Deakin University Australia. He has expertise in the development of experimental programs using statistical methods, material characterization, determination of mechanical and fracture properties, evaluation of interface of two dissimilar materials, optimization of manufacturing parameters for the development of hybrid structural elements, structural design, constitutive modelling, guided wave propagation and advanced signal processing.