ABSTRACT
Bridges are not built to last forever, and the cost to replace them is very high. To extend their service life and ensures that they continue their normal function without abrupt failure, preventive maintenance is required. Current practice of uniformly inspecting all bridges in inventory is ineffective and inefficient. For decades, estimating natural frequency and other modal parameters from vehicle vibration has been investigated. These parameters require information about the intact bridge, which is challenging to obtain. This study proposes a method to estimate system parameters of both vehicle and bridge systems, from vehicle acceleration and position data. In this study, the vehicle is modeled as a 3-D rigid body connected by springs and dashpot and the bridge system as a Kirchhoff-Love plate. Vehicle system (body mass, suspension stiffness and damping, unsprung masses and unsprung stiffness) parameters and bridge system (Rayleigh damping coefficients, and flexural rigidity) parameters are estimated.
