Determining minimum analysis conditions of scale ratio change to evaluate modal damping ratio in long-span bridge

Abstract

Damping ratio and frequency have influence on dynamic serviceability or instability such as vortex-induced vibration and displacement amplification due to earthquake and critical flutter velocity, and it is thus important to make determination of damping ratio and frequency accurate. As bridges are getting longer, small scale model test considering similitude law must be conducted to evaluate damping ratio and frequency. Analysis conditions modified by similitude law are applied to experimental test considering different scale ratios. Generally, Nyquist frequency condition based on natural frequency modified by similitude law has been used to determine sampling rate for different scale ratios, and total time length has been determined by users arbitrarily or by considering similitude law with respect to time for different scale ratios. However, Nyquist frequency condition is not suitable for multimode system with noisy signals. In addition, there is no specified criteria for determination of total time length. Those analysis conditions severely affect accuracy of damping ratio. The focus of this study is made on the determination of minimum analysis conditions for different scale ratios. Influence of signal to noise ratio is studied according to the level of noise level. Free initial value problem is proposed to resolve the condition that is difficult to know original initial value for free vibration. Ambient and free vibration tests were used to analyze the dynamic properties of a system using data collected from tests with a two degree-of-freedom section model and performed on full bridge 3D models of cable stayed bridges. The free decay is estimated with the stochastic subspace identification method that uses displacement data to measure damping ratios under noisy conditions, and the iterative least squares method that adopts low pass filtering and fourth order central differencing. Reasonable results were yielded in numerical and experimental tests.