Vehicle-Bridge Interaction and Structural Health Monitoring for Bridge Asset Management

Structural Health Monitoring of railway bridges is a widely researched topic, yet limited practical applications are found. This is partly due to the complexity of the problem. The dynamic response of the bridge is influence by various operational and environmental conditions. Vehicle-Bridge Interaction is another widely researched field, yet merely focusses on the dynamic effects itself and less on the applicability for Structural Health Monitoring systems. This paper provides a brief overview of the two topics Vehicle-Bridge Interaction and Structural Health Monitoring and shows how to link them. It is shown by an example of field experiments and modelling on the Boyne viaduct in Ireland that Vehicle-Bridge Interaction is an essential element of Structural Health Monitoring. It is also shown how the dynamic response can be converted into relevant features, the instantaneous resonance frequency and bridge free resonance frequency. The features are used in a pattern recognition step for the final judgement regarding the likelihood of damage.