Stiffness Assessment of Bridge Decks Repaired by Steel Plates Using an Advanced System Identification Method

Abstract

This work examines the identification of stiffness reduction in damaged reinforced concrete bridges under moving loads, and carries out the stiffness assessment after repairing using steel plates. In particular, the change of stiffness in each element before and after repairing, based on an advanced system identification (SI) method, is described and discussed by using a modified bivariate Gaussian distribution function. The proposed method in the study is more feasible than the conventional element-based method from computation efficiency point of view. The validity of the technique is numerically verified using a set of dynamic data obtained from a simulation of the actual bridge modeled with a three-dimensional solid element. The numerical examples show that the proposed technique is a feasible and practical method which can inspect the complex distribution of deteriorated stiffness although there is a difference between actual bridge and numerical model as well as uncertain noise occurred in the measured data.