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Experimental study of bridge structure dynamic characteristics using periodic

excitation

Conference Paper · September 2002

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Experimental study of bridge structure
dynamic characteristics using periodic excitation

Bien J.1, Krzyzanowski J.2, Poprawski W. 2, Skoczynski W. 2, Szymkowski J. 2

1
Institute of Civil Engineering, 2Institute of Production Engineering and Automation
Wroclaw University of Technology (WUT)
Wyb. Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
e-mail: krzyzano@itma.pwr.wroc.pl

Abstract
Recently the necessity of dynamical testing of bridge structures has been rising. Those needs are connected
with changes in the road and rail-track traffic as well as with the development of testing equipment and signal
analysis techniques, which gives a possibility of new application of dynamical characteristics. An important
issue in dynamical testing is a way of exciting the vibrations. Currently the most frequent method of exciting the
vibrations is a movement of large vehicles. This type of vibration exciting has inconvenience and disadvantages.
The paper presents application of the inertial vibration exciter, designed and built in the Institute of Production
Engineering and Automation, Wroclaw University of Technology. It showed its usefulness during testing of eight
various bridge structures.

1 Introduction
During the operating time the bridges are exposed to
variable loading with considerable amplitudes. In such
case the evaluation of dynamical characteristics is
important.
The most important fields of application are as fol-
lows:
· the acceptance of the bridge,
· the structure state evaluation,
· numerical models verification of bridge dy-
namics,
· state monitoring during operation time.
The achievement of above aims requires fulfilling
some conditions:
· the rules of the carrying on the tests as clear
instructions and guidelines,
· working out the methods of the characteris-
tics evaluation and examination of the forms
of resonance vibrations, able to assure
repeatability and uniqueness of measurement
results,
· easy in transport set-up for exciting and meas-
uring the vibrations,
· working out the rules of the results interpre-
tation, based on the relations between re-
corded changes in the characteristics and the
changes in the state of the structure.
It is crucial, from the execution of dynamical test-
ing point of view, to possess appropriate set for excit-
ing the vibrations.
Commonly used, and recommended in standards,
exciting of bridge vibrations by a pass of the heavy
vehicle through the bridge shows a lot of disadvan-
tages:
· it is hard to obtain a repeatable excitation con-
dition, specially during testing carried out in
long time periods,
· the mass of the vehicle is summarising with
the vibrating mass of the bridge, which is
making more difficult to get repeatable results,
· the excitation source and vibrating mass is
moving along the bridge in continuous way,
which makes difficult to measure the vibra-
tion form,
· the time-course of vibrations depends on the
vehicle velocity, which also makes the
repeatability more difficult to obtain.
The obtaining of the force with controllable ampli-
tude and the time-course, with specified point, and the
direction requires an application of the vibration ex-
citer. During the testing of bridge structures the best
results are brought using the inertial vibration exciters.

555
556
2 Problems occurring during
bridge testing
The bridges, as vibrating structures, are characterized
by:
· large masses,
· low natural frequencies (the lowest is often
below than 1Hz) [3,4],
· big number of natural frequencies in the nar-
row band [2],
· complexity of the mode shapes of natural fre-
quencies [1,2],
· coupling between oscillations.
Above features of bridge structures are the main
reason for problems occurring during evaluation of dy-
namical characteristics of bridges.
Large scales – big masses of the structures are
causing a necessity of exciting forces with large am-
plitudes, which is difficult to achieve, specially with
low frequencies.
Low natural frequencies are causing lots of prob-
lems with exciting the vibrations and with measure-
ment, which means application of special sensors. The
accelerometers are commonly used for dynamical test-
ing. In the band of low frequencies they are giving low
signals when comparing to the noises of higher fre-
quencies. The time required for exciting the vibrations
of certain frequency and recording the output signal
from the sensors takes a long time (minutes), which is
causing a danger of random noises, especially when
the testing is carried out in field-conditions.
The complexity of bridge structures means, that
in very narrow band there are few natural frequen-
cies. It is a reason, why some of natural frequencies
are not identified during measurement due to some
difficulties in measurement technique. The sensors are
located on the bridge deck and some of the mode
shapes are connected with the deck suspension sys-
tems in suspension bridges or supporting systems in
other types of the bridges.
The favourable bridge testing conditions are ensured
when vibration exciters are applied. In this conditions
it is possible to control frequency changes, which ena-
bles sweeping through the whole band, to check ap-
pearance of the resonance frequencies, as well as ac-
curate measurement of the resonance frequencies and
the amplitudes of steady-state conditions. It is also pos-
sible to change the frequency in both, ascending and
decreasing directions. Thanks to that it is also poten-
tially possible to state the appearance of the non-
P ROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2002 - VOLUME II
linearities.
From the bridge structure testing point of view, an
application of the inertial vibration exciter brings the
best effects. The alternating force is obtained by con-
trollable unbalance of spinning masses. The usage of
rotation control units enables continuous changes of
the exciting force frequency, wobbulation, step
changes of the frequency or exciting with the con-
stant frequencies. The changes of the unbalance en-
able achieving the target exciting force amplitude.
In the Institute of Production Engineering and Au-
tomation, Wroclaw University of Technology the in-
ertial vibration exciter has been developed. Its param-
eters qualify it for bridge testing applications. This
exciter has been applied during testing of eight bridges
of different structures.
3 Design of the inertial vibration
exciter
The principle of operation of the vibration exciter
bases on the appearance of the centrifugal forces by
rotation of unbalanced masses. A value of the cen-
trifugal force is described by:
3 = PUw  (1)
where:
P – centrifugal force [N];
m – unbalanced mass [kg];
r – rotation radius of unbalanced masses [m];
ù – angular velocity [rad/s].
This formula represents a rapid growth of the force
with increasing the angular velocity. To ensure rela-
tively constant centrifugal force, the structure of the
exciter allows for changes of the rotation radius of
unbalanced masses. The two meshed gears with un-
balanced masses placed in corresponding way to each
other, ensures that the direction of the exciting force is
always constant, and it could be for example vertical.
The changes of relative setting of the masses allows
the achievement of any direction.
Figure 1: A view of the vibration exciter
DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF CIVIL STRUCTURES
The above-mentioned construction developed in the
IPEA, WUT achieves an exciting force of a value of
16N at a frequency of 1Hz, while at the frequency of
15Hz the exciting force is about 3000N, which
approximatelly equals the weight of the exciter. Be-
side the executed exciter, the exciting force genera-
tion system requires a motor with a variable speed
and control unit, which enables programmable changes
of the rotation speed. The drive of the exciter should
ensure stable rotation speed. The constant frequency
of the exciting force has very important role during
testing of the near-resonance vibrations, which are the
testing of free vibrations and damping measurement
in the system.
Figure 2: Exciting force as a function of frequency
Figure 4: Dimensions of C041 bridge[1]
557
4 Application of the vibration exci-
ter in bridge structure testing
4.1 Description of tested structures
The vibration tests with an application of the exciter
took place on the bridge C041 which is located on the
A4 motorway, on 256+761.57km. It is a bridge over a
local road and a water-course. It consists of three
bridge spans with the following lengths: 16.00m +
21.00m + 16.00m. The span is built from B50 con-
crete as a monolith structure, and is made up of three
Figure 3: A view of the C041 bridge [1]
558
girders, 1.20m high each, and reinforced concrete slabs.
The span is 16.59m wide. The girders are braced with
the cross-bars 1.17m high and 1.20m width in the sup-
porting cross-section. The surface of the bridge is bi-
tuminous. Each support consists three posts, which are
standing on a concrete continuous footing. The Figure
3 shows the view of the bridge and Figure 4 shows the
bridge structure and main dimensions.
Figure 5: The cable-stayed footbridge [1]
Figure 6: Dimensions of C047 footbridge [1]
P ROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2002 - VOLUME II
The structure of the second bridge was different to
the above one. It is a C047 footbridge over A4 motor-
way. It is light cable-stayed footbridge. The view of it
is presented in the photography (Figure 5)
It is very light and flexible structure. The pylon is
made of steel sheets. The legs are closed structures,
and the top of the pylon has plate girder cross-section.
The thickness of the metal sheets used in the pylon is
from 14mm till 30mm, from the 18G2 steel. The py-
lon is 21.611m high. Three pairs of cables in HDPE
(High Density Poly-Ethylene) shields are anchored in
concrete block, which is used as a bridge-head and a
support of pylon’s legs. The bridge deck is a monolyth
B45 concrete structure. The width is 4.44m. The deck
is supported by the two girders, which are above the
deck surface. In the supporting and suspending cross-
sections, the deck is braced with the cross-bars. The
whole deck is 63.80m long. Along both sides of the
span, the continuous balustrades made of steel are in-
stalled. The deck is supported on neopren bearings,
which give necessary degrees of freedom. Figure 6
shows the structure and general dimensions of the
bridge.
DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF CIVIL STRUCTURES 559

4.2 Description of used set-up

The testing set up consists of the Bruel&Kjær vibra-

tion analyser, the vibration exciter, and two velocity
sensors. Figure 7 shows the used set-up. The vibra-
tion exciter was placed on the surface of the bridge.
The frequency of force was adjusted using motor revo-
lutions control unit. One of the vibration sensors was
placed near the exciter. The second one was moved
from place to place. Then the amplitude and phase
between those two sensors was measured. The re-
sults are presented as mode shapes, but they are show-
ing velocity amplitudes, which correspond with the
mode shape of displacement.
Figure 9: Results of measurement: second mode
shape 8.62Hz
The second structure, the C047 footbridge was
tested using the vibration exciter too. According to
numerical computations, the resonance frequencies of
first mode shape appeared at the frequency lower than
1Hz (at 0.971Hz). The vibration exciter is giving very
low value of force in the lowest frequencies. The
other problem was to measure the vibration using the
velocity sensors. This type of sensors gives very low
value of signal in the lowest frequencies. It is very
hard to measure this signal and record it and to carry
on FFT analysis. This is a reason, why the mode shapes
from 9 till 12 were measured (see Figures 10-13). The
other difficulty was, that some of mode shapes have
very similar frequency.

Figure 7: Set-up used for bridge testing

4.3 Results of the measurement

The field testing has been performed on the 25th May

2001. The vibrations have been excited using the iner-
tial exciter. The vibration exciter was placed on the
deck of the bridge on the points of the highest ampli-
tudes of vibrations, taken from the numerical analysis.
Then, the frequency of exciting force has been swept
through the band to check up the possible resonance Figure 10: Results of measurement:
frequencies. Then the near-resonance frequencies 9th mode shape 7.7Hz
have been examined in more accurate way, to obtain
amplitudes and direction of the velocity. The results
are presented on the figures 8 and 9. They are show-
ing first and second mode shapes.

Figure 8: Results of measurement:

Figure 11: Results of measurement:
first mode shape, 6.75Hz
10th mode shape 8.4Hz
560 P ROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2002 - VOLUME II

The numerical modal analysis has been carried out

to determine the mode shapes and free vibrations fre-
quencies [1].
Figures 14 and 15 show the two lowest mode
shapes obtained using numerical analysis.
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  ±  ±

  ± ± ±

  ± ± ±

Figure 12: Results of measurement:   ± ± ±

  ± ± ±
11th mode shape 9Hz   ± ± ±


Table 1: Frequencies of mode shapes of the C041
bridge [1]

Figure 13: Results of measurement: Figure 14: Results of numerical computations:

12th mode shape 10.7Hz first mode shape [1]
4.4 Results of numerical computations

The results of the numerical computations, which

has been carried out in the Institute of Civil Engineer-
ing, Wroclaw University of Technology are presented.
All analysis has been performed using an integrated
software for static and dynamic analysis of structures,
RobotV6 and its newer version Robot Millennium v14,
which operates in MS Windows operating systems.
The span geometry has been imaged using one-
dimensional beam elements and two-dimensional shell
elements located in two-dimensional space (geometry Figure 15: Results of numerical computation:
model with e1+2p2 class). The whole concrete cross- second mode shape [1]
section except energy-consuming barriers, has been
considered in the geometrical model. 1040 shell ele- The second structure, the C047 footbridge has been
ments and 2336 beam elements have been created. modelled in the same way as the first structure, using
The material properties of the bridge have been equal the same software for FEM analysis. The deck and
to B50 concrete (Young Modulus Eb=39000Mpa, spe- pylon geometry has been modelled using three- and
cific gravity ãa=25.0kN/m3, material damping ÷=0.15). four–node shell elements, located in three-dimensional
The supporting of the bridge has been modelled space (geometry model with e2p3 class). The whole
by stiff constraints. They are the number and direc- cross-section of the deck and whole steel structure of
tions of degrees of freedom are corresponding with the pylon has been included into numerical model. The
the bearings installed on the real structure. suspending system has been modelled using rod ele-
ments, connected with the shell elements using joints.
DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF CIVIL STRUCTURES 561

In general, the 1098 shell elements and 14 rod ele-

ments have been used in the numerical model. The
stiffness of shield pipe was not included in the model.
The following material properties have been applied in
the model: properties of the pylon: 18G2 steel (Young
modulus Es=205000MPa, specific gravity ãs=78.5kN/
m 3, material damping ÷=0.06); properties of the deck:
B45 concrete (Young modulus Eb=37000MPa, specific
gravity ãb=25kN/m3, material damping ÷=0.15); prop-
erties of the suspension system (Young modulus
Es=195000Mpa, specific gravity ãs=78.5kN/m3, ma-
terial damping ÷=0.06). The constraints corresponds
with the degrees of freedom of the real structure. Figure 17: Results of numerical computation:
10th mode shape at 8.620Hz [1]
1XPEHURI )UHTXHQF\ )LJXUH )UHTXHQF\ )LJXUH
PRGHVKDSH QXPHULFDO 1R PHDVXUHG 1R
DQDO\VLV>+]@ >+]@
  ± ± ±
  ± ± ±
  ± ± ±
  ± ± ±
  ± ± ±
  ± ± ±
  ± ± ±
  ± ± ±
    
    
    
    
  ± ± ±
  ± ± ±
  ±  ±


Figure 18: Results of numerical computation:

Table 2: Frequencies of mode shapes of the C041
11th mode shape at 7.762Hz [1]
bridge [1]

Figure 16: Results of numerical computation:

9th mode shape at 7.762Hz [1] Figure 19: Results of numerical computation:
12th mode shape at 10.572Hz [1]
562 View publication stats
5 Conclusions and recommenda-
tions
Preliminary results confirm usefulness of the pre-
sented exciter in the vibration tests of bridges.
Better results were obtained during testing the struc-
tures with higher free vibrations frequencies. In bridges,
in which the lowest natural frequencies are about 1Hz,
those mode shapes were not obtained during the ex-
periments, because the value of exciting force had too
low amplitute.
During the testing not all mode shapes have been
measured. Some of mode shapes determined on the
way of numerical computations have not been obtained
during the experiment. The reason of such problems
was the specific mode shape, location of the vibration
exciter or the points of measurement. This could be
improved by initial numerical analysis to determine the
mode shapes. The accurate analysis is not essential.
One has to obtain just the number of resonance fre-
quencies in the band and the mode shapes of vibra-
tions.
The results of the experiments are pointing the need
of the exciter’s structure modification in order to ob-
tain higher exciting force in low frequencies of excit-
ing and a possibility to get constant value of the force,
not depending on the frequency. Such research is in
progres in the Institute of Production Engineering and
Automation WUT.
P ROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2002 - VOLUME II
Acknowledgement
The work was financially supported by the Polish State
Committee for Scientific Research under Grant
No8T07E/04020.
References
[1] J. Bien, P. Rawa, J. Zwolski, Obliczeniowe
wyznaczanie charakterystyk dynamicznych
badanych obiektów mostowych (Computational
evaluation of dynamical characteristics of tested
bridge structures) Wroclaw University of Tech-
nology, Wroclaw (2002)
[2] J. Bien, M. Gladysz, P. Rawa, J. Zwolski, Vi-
bration tests of bridge structures, Proceedings
of the First International Conference on Bridge
Maintenance, Safety and Management, IABMAS
2002, Barcelona, 14-17 July, 2002
[3] J. R. Casas Dynamic Modeling of Bridges:
Observations from Field Testing, Transportation
Research Record
[4] P. Paultre, J. Proulx, Dynamic Testing of
Large-Scale Structure, Structural Engineering
International, 1/97