Dynamic characteristics of a cable-stayed bridge measured from traffic-induced vibrations

This paper studies the dynamic characteristics of the Kao-Ping-Hsi cable-stayed bridge under daily traffic conditions. Experimental data were measured from a structural monitoring system, and system-identification techniques, such as the random decrement (RD) technique and Ibrahim time-domain (ITD) method, were adopted. The first five modes of the bridge were identified for their natural frequencies and damping ratios under different traffic loading conditions, in terms of root-mean-square (RMS) deck velocities. The magnitude of the torsion mode of the Kao-Ping-Hsi cable-stayed bridge is found to be one order-of-magnitude less than the transfer mode, and two orders-of-magnitude less than the vertical modes. Out results indicated that vibrations induced by traffic flow can be used as an indicator to monitor the health of the bridge due to their insensitivity to the natural frequencies of the cable-stayed bridge. Furthermore, the damping ratios may be used as a more sensitive indicator to describe the condition of the bridge.