The IRIS Damage Assessment Methodology 3

The IRIS Damage Assessment

Methodology
Authors:
Hiroshi Tanaka
Michaela Hllrigl-Binder
Helga Allmer
Helmut Wenzel

Motivation
Damage quantification is a major desire of the SHM community. Methodologies to
introduce a quantity for actual condition of a structure into the assessment process are
desired.

Main Results
The idea that the condition of a structure is represented in the character of its dynamic
response is fully accepted by the SHM community. The VCLIFE methodology quantifies
condition analysing input from monitoring.

0.2
0.15
0.1

160
140
120
100
80

0.05

0
0

10

20

30

60

Tim

Spectral Intensity

0.25

57

3 The IRIS Damage Assessment Methodology

3-1 Introduction
Damage detection in civil engineering has long been concentrated on the change of
stiffness with increasing damage. This indicator, however, has been proven to be by far
not sensitive enough to satisfy the practical requirements. Our experience is that a more
sensitive indicator could be observed when the measured frequencies of higher order are
carefully examined. While the lower fundamental frequencies appear not much affected
by the stiffness changes, the higher frequencies can indicate much earlier signs of it. It
was found that actually an energy transfer is happening from lower to higher frequency
ranges with increasing damage. F.3-1 is an example showing this phenomenon. The reduction of eigenfrequencies and the transfer of energy are both observed in this graph.
This phenomenon has never been described in literature before except it was briefly
mentioned in an earlier article by VCE after the first observation of this kind. Meanwhile
it is also identified that the increase of damping goes along with a drop of spectral peaks
caused by increasing damage. It is obvious that this is not the modal damping and it
needs to be described by a system behaviour parameter. The physical concept, the mathematical modelling and a clear simulation of the phenomena are not available yet.

3-2 Structural Non-Linearity and Energy

Transfer
Cascading energy transfer in a dynamical system could be caused by the development of non-linear characteristics of the structural response caused by various reasons.
Suppose there is a development of non-linear mechanisms in both damping and stiffness
of the structure, whose dynamic behaviour is simply expressed by an SDOF model, associF.3-1

Spectral development over time for a sound structure (left)

and during a damage test at MPA Stuttgart (right)

40

0
0

20
10 20 30
40 50 60
70 80 90
100
Fre

quency [Hz]

58

0.2
0.15
0.1

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0 10
60
20 30
40 50
40
60 70
Frequ
20
80 90
ency [H
100
z]

0.05

60

0.25

Tim

0.05

Spectral Intensity

0.1

Tim

Spectral Intensity

0.15

The Energy Cascade in Turbulence 3-3

ated with the progress of a structural damage. It can be typically represented in the equation of motion by modifying both damping and stiffness terms as follows:

mz + c[1+ 2 ( z )]z + k[1 1( z )]z =

0

E.3-1

where 1 and 2 are the linear or non-linear correction terms introduced corresponding
to the development of structural damage and z(t ) represents the dynamic response of the
structure in general. Note that it is unlikely to have any change in the inertia term. E.3-1
can be rewritten as

mz + cz +=
kz k 1( z )z c 2 ( z=
)z F ( z , z )

E.3-2

where F( z , z ) is generally a non-linear function of z and/or z , such as

F ( z=
, z ) C1z 2 + C 2 z 3

E.3-3

for example. It implies that if z is given as a vibration with frequency , F( z , z ) is generally

a function of fluctuations with the frequencies expressed by the multiples of . For example, substitution of z = Asin t to E.3-3 results in

C A2
C A3 3
F ( z , z ) = 1 (1 cos2t ) + 2
(3cos t + cos3t )
2
4

E.3-4

which in turn will result in the dynamic response including functions of twice, thrice higher frequencies of the original for this case. The same process will be repeated as time allows and, as a result, a part of the systems dynamic energy will be gradually distributed
to higher and higher frequency ranges. Where would this process end? For the case of
damage-caused non-linearity, the high frequency energy components dissipate as heat
or noise and, if not, the destruction or rupture of the structure would play a role. Even if it
does not reach the destruction point, the mechanism of structural response will change
largely when damage progressed that far.

3-3 The Energy Cascade in Turbulence

Energy cascading, such as the one described above, can be associated with various
types of non-linear physical phenomena. It is typically observed in the dynamics of turbulent fluid flow. In fact, the case of fully developed turbulence, the energy cascading
process is one of the most central issues.
An English physicist L.F. Richardson (18811953) conceived turbulence as an assembly of eddies of different sizes, where eddies could be hypothetically visualized as individual vortices of some measurable diameter. He then had the idea that large eddies are

59

3 The IRIS Damage Assessment Methodology

prone to break into smaller eddies, which break up into even smaller eddies and so on as
spelled out by the famous parody as follows:
"Big whirls have little whirls
That feed on their velocity,
And little whirls have lesser whirls
And so on to viscosity." by Richardson (1922)
In each break-up process, the larger eddy transfers its dynamic energy to the smaller
ones without dissipating it, meaning that the energy transfer process in turbulence is inviscid, or, in this process, the role of viscous forces is negligible in comparison to the inertia forces. However, energy has to be eventually dissipated somewhere, at much smaller
length scales, or higher frequencies, which is a viscous process. Fluid viscosity has an important role only at those small scales.
This process can be mathematically considered as follows: the Navier-Stokes equation
is a non-linear equation because of an inherent non-linearity of fluid inertia as seen in the
equation below:

ui
u p
u
+ uj 1 +
= 1
t

x j x j x j x j

E.3-5

Out of the three terms involved in the equation, the pressure gradient can be ignored
in the present discussion. In the energy dissipation process described above, the inertia term becomes less important in comparison to the viscous force in higher frequency
ranges, and hence the whole equation becomes almost linear for this case, whereas at
much larger length scales, or in the lower frequency ranges, the inertia term becomes predominant and hence the equation becomes highly non-linear, and this is where cascading
takes place. Note therefore that the non-linear characteristics of the equation, in particular
of the inertia force for this case, are deeply associated with the energy cascading phenomena explained by Richardson.

3-4 Non-Linear Damping

The relationship of energy cascading with non-linearity of dynamical systems is therefore evident in these two different phenomena. A very interesting aspect of this point is
that the detection of energy cascading could be potentially utilized as a tool for the structural health monitoring. As mentioned earlier, the traditional idea of knowledge-based
structural health monitoring is by identifying the reduction of stiffness, which has been
proved to be far less sensitive than desired for practical purposes. In contrast to that, by
finding the transfer of dynamic energy to higher frequencies through spectral analysis of
the ambient vibration survey, it may be possible to detect the damage development in
a structure at its earlier stage. Any extent of structural damage can of course change the

60

Data Analysis 3-5

local structural damping or energy dissipation and stiffness. As a consequence, the global
dynamic properties of the structure, i.e. the eigenfrequencies, mode shapes and modal
damping would be all somewhat influenced.
It needs to be kept in mind that structural non-linearity is attributed, however, not
only to developing damages. Field experience indicates that the magnitude of modal
damping is often amplitude dependent. Increase of damping, when the vibration amplitude is significant, is due to energy consumption at increased friction at bearings, bending
action of piers, behaviour of the bridge outfitting and also the structure-vehicle interaction [Wenzel, 2009].
Admittedly the present method would also detect the developing structural non-linearity due to large motion. However, if there is a development of structural damage as its
consequence, the non-linear characteristics will remain with the structure after the large
amplitude motion disappeared and should be thus detected.

3-5 Data Analysis

For identifying the energy cascading phenomena, the following data analysis can be
applied.

3-5-1 Data Preparation

Acceleration signals ai (t) are measured for a period of ti t ti + T, where i = 1,2,,n ,
with the sampling frequency and measuring period of typically fs = 500Hz and T = 5min,
respectively. n is the number of files.

3-5-2 Analysis
Calculation of the acceleration spectra Gi (f ) by a conventional FFT routine for the frequency range of 0 f fM is required first. fM = fS /2 is the folding frequency. The normalized spectral density functions are then calculated as

=
Fi (f )

Gi ( f )

i2

=
i2
where

G (f )f
f

E.3-6

Normalization of spectral density makes sense since our interest is only in the change
of energy distribution patterns and not in actual magnitudes of the spectral density,
which depends on the total dynamic energy supplied by excitation and is always expected to change during the ambient vibration survey. It is also useful to calculate the fraction
of dynamic energy corresponding to less than any particular frequency level (f ) as follows:

=
Ei (f )

F (k )k
k =0

E.3-7

61

3 The IRIS Damage Assessment Methodology

Ei (f ) is the spectral distribution function which is expected to more clearly reveal the
fraction of energy transferred to different frequency ranges, resulting in the change of its
pattern.

3-5-3 Presentation
Visual presentation of Fi (f ) and Ei (f ) against time (i ) and frequency (f ) would indicate
the transfer of energy to higher frequencies by the change in spectral pattern, where 1
i n and 0 f 250Hz.

3-5-4 Reading of Spectral Patterns

When the distribution function Ei (f ) is examined, it should be noted that the energy
cascading caused by structural non-linearity as discussed in this document is only a partial
transfer of energy through the free vibration process of the structure, and, as it is evident
from the discussion in section 3-2 above, not all the dynamic energy is transferable to high
frequency ranges. Some of the energy should remain with the lower vibration modes.
Another important point is that, while the vibration survey is carried out, there may be
various dynamic excitations or disturbances from the external environment acting on the
structure. There will be, as a result, new dynamic energy supplied to the system and it will
augment the energy fraction at corresponding frequencies. The characteristics of these
excitations are often not readily identifiable. However, when there are any predominant
excitation frequencies, there may be distinct spectral peaks observed at those particular
frequencies. If the excitation is more broad-band noise, a part of this energy will be absorbed at eigenfrequencies and corresponding spectral peaks will show up as additional
spikes in the figures.
The change of pattern in Ei (f ) is, therefore, not expected to be monotonous. Hence,
what needs to be observed is a general tendency of the energy shift, which will be hopefully indicated by a gradual change of the coloured pattern.
The shift of pattern can be quantified by locating the centroid of the area under the
spectral distribution Ei (f ) as follows:

r = fEi (f )f / Ei (f )f
f

E.3-8

Again, also in terms of the centroid, its shift is unlikely to be monotonous. What should
be observed is the general tendency of its change.

62

Example: Overpass S101 in Reibersdorf (2008) 3-6

3-6 Example: Overpass S101 in Reibersdorf

(2008)
An example given below is based on the measurement of the dynamic bridge response carried out in December 2008 for the highway overpass S101 in Reibersdorf, Upper Austria. Prior to the demolition, progressive damages were deliberately exerted on
the structure to observe their effects on dynamic characteristics [Wenzel et al., 2009].
Sampling frequency of the acceleration record was 500Hz.
F.3-2 and F.3-3 depict the progressive change of the normalized acceleration spectrum Fi (f ) and the distributed spectrum Ei (f ) for the frequency range of 0 f 25Hz from
the measured results. There were a number of physical operations applied to the bridge
during a three-day measurement period and some of them are specified beside the figures. Some of these operations can be clearly identified from the pattern of Fi (f ) and Ei (f )
functions. When the concrete pier or slab is being cut, presumably the severing operation
produced a large extent of high frequency noise and, consequently, a large fraction of
the total dynamic energy appears in a much higher frequency range, which appears as
a substantial spike in Ei (f ). In the afternoon of the third day, for example, there was a
vibrating roller working next to the bridge, causing clearly noticeable vibrations on the
bridge, the measurement report states. This noise may be also contributing to the above
mentioned spikes.
It is clear by observing Ei (f ) patterns that, with the progressive damage artificially exerted on the bridge, more and more fractions of dynamic energy were redistributed to
the higher frequency ranges, which is indicated by the shift of dark blue and yellow band
F.3-2

Normalized acceleration spectra Fi (f )

20 40 60

Revealing of
4th strand
5 wires intersected

13/12/2008

Cutting concrete
End of exposing
2nd cable cut
3rd cable cut
Shift in laser signal

12/12/2008

Lifting

3rd lowering

1st cut of the pier

2nd cut of the pier
1st lowering
2nd lowering

11/12/2008

80 100 120 140 160 180 200

320
280
240

10

200
160

15

20

120
80
40

Hz 25

63

3 The IRIS Damage Assessment Methodology

F.3-3

20 40 60

Revealing of
4th strand
5 wires intersected

13/12/2008

2nd cable cut

3rd cable cut
Shift in laser signal

12/12/2008
Cutting concrete
End of exposing

1st cut of the pier

2nd cut of the pier
1st lowering
2nd lowering

Revealing of
4th strand
5 wires intersected

80 100 120 140 160 180 200

3rd lowering

11/12/2008

13/12/2008

2nd cable cut

3rd cable cut
Shift in laser signal

Cutting concrete
End of exposing

3rd lowering

20 40 60

12/12/2008

Lifting

1st cut of the pier

2nd cut of the pier
1st lowering
2nd lowering

11/12/2008

F.3-4

Spectral distribution functions Ei (f )

Lifting

Spectral distribution functions Ei (f )

80 100 120 140 160 180 200

0.36

0.90

0.32

0.80

50

0.28
10

0.70

0.24

0.60

100

0.20
15

0.50

0.16

0.40

150

0.12
20

0.30

0.08

0.20

200

0.10

0.04
Hz 25

1.00

Hz 250

0.00

0.00

towards right, meaning the higher percentage fraction is in the high frequency side of
the figure. F.3-4 is the same Ei (f ) function shown for a much wider frequency range up to
250Hz. It is clear that almost stepwise energy shift took place after the lifting of the damaged pier at the beginning of the second day.
The same tendency is presented even more clearly by calculating the shift of the centroid r of the area under Ei (f ) as shown in F.3-5 By disregarding the spikes due to various kinds of noise, the general tendency is clear it is shifting towards higher frequency
ranges with time.
F.3-5

Normalized acceleration spectra Fi (f )

File number
1 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190

140
145

155
160
165
170
175
180
185

64

Location of the centroid

150

Example: Overpass S101 in Reibersdorf (2008) 3-6

3-6-1 Further Discussion on the Test Results

F.3-6 shows some changes in 1st and 2nd eigenfrequencies during these three days,
most likely caused by the change in the bridges physical conditions. What is shown as
amplitude indicates the ordinate of the normalized spectra at this particular frequency,
namely the modal intensity of the dynamic energy. Artificial damage of the bridge pier
was applied on the north-west column of the bridge and the measurements B and C were
taken at the mid-span of the bridge on the west and east side, respectively.
It is evident that there were two steps of frequency reduction, though the second
one is less clear, corresponding to the cutting of the pier on the first day, the first artificial
damage exerted on the bridge. Immediately following the second cut, the first mode frequency was recovered but it did not happen in the second mode. Note that the column
position was still kept up at the original elevation by being jacked up. The measurement
report [Wenzel et al., 2009] states that no restoring forces were observed for the same
period. Most conspicuous loss of stiffness, both in the first and second modes, took place
during the lowering of the pier. At the same period of time, it was observed that a part of
the dynamic energy started being clearly transferred to the higher frequency range. This
corresponds to the reported development of cracks in the structure due to its optimal
settling by itself. The recovery of both frequencies on the second day corresponds to relifting of the column and insertion of steel plates under the column. Substantial transfer
of energy is observed compared to the day before. It is also evident from the plot of the
modal energy (shown as amplitude), both in the first and second modes, only a small
fraction of energy remains associated with these modes through this period. Gradual reduction of both frequencies through the day may be caused by the change of ambient
temperature or a gradual settling of the structure. The further cascading process seems

0.35

Amplitude B 1 mode
Amplitude C 1st mode
st

Frequency B 1 mode
Frequency C 1st mode
st

3.2

4.2

0.3

Revealing of
4th strand
5 wires intersected

3rd cable cut

Shift in laser signal

End of exposing
2nd cable cut

Lifting

3rd lowering

2nd lowering

1st cut of the pier

2nd cut of the pier
1st lowering

Revealing of
4th strand
5 wires intersected

3rd cable cut

Shift in laser signal

End of exposing
2nd cable cut

Cutting concrete

Lifting

3rd lowering

2nd lowering

1st cut of the pier

2nd cut of the pier
1st lowering
0

Cutting concrete

F.3-6

Change of the 1st (left) and 2nd (right) frequency

5.4

6.6

Amplitude B 2 mode
Amplitude C 2nd mode
nd

Frequency B 2 mode
Frequency C 2nd mode
nd

65

3 The IRIS Damage Assessment Methodology

F.3-7

Normalized acceleration spectra Fi (f ) on the pier

Revealing of
4th strand
5 wires intersected

13/12/2008

Cutting concrete
End of exposing
2nd cable cut
3rd cable cut
Shift in laser signal

12/12/2008

3rd lowering
Lifting

1st cut of the pier

2nd cut of the pier
1st lowering
2nd lowering

11/12/2008

10

15

20

Hz 25

to be associated with the cutting of concrete slab and steel tendons. It is interesting to
observe that no change of the first and second eigenfrequencies was observed during
this operation. The third tendon was severed on the third day and apparent re-settling of
the structure was stated in the measurement report. Further transfer of dynamic energy
is obvious in F.3-3, though again this operation had no visible effects on lower eigenfreF.3-8

Spectral distribution functions Ei (f ) on the pier

66

50

10

100

15

150

20

200

Hz 25

Hz 250

Revealing of
4th strand
5 wires intersected

13/12/2008

Cutting concrete
End of exposing
2nd cable cut
3rd cable cut
Shift in laser signal

1st cut of the pier

2nd cut of the pier
1st lowering
2nd lowering

Revealing of
4th strand
5 wires intersected

12/12/2008

3rd lowering
Lifting

11/12/2008

13/12/2008

Cutting concrete
End of exposing
2nd cable cut
3rd cable cut
Shift in laser signal

12/12/2008

3rd lowering
Lifting

1st cut of the pier

2nd cut of the pier
1st lowering
2nd lowering

11/12/2008

Other Sample Cases 3-7

quencies. Another set of spectral presentations, F.3-7 to F.3-8, results from the acceleration record obtained right above the damaged pier.
The general tendency, namely the reduction of eigenfrequencies and energy transfer
towards high frequency ranges, is the same as seen in the other results but it can be observed even more clearly with this set of data. What is clearly different from the other sets
of data is that conspicuous spectral peaks are found in the frequency range of 8 f 13Hz.
Explanation of these peaks is not immediately given.

3-7 Other Sample Cases

The proposed spectral analysis method for damage identification seems to be successful at least in the case of the S101 overpass. Admittedly, however, it was rather an
ideal case where the scheduled damage was successively applied to the structure and
F.3-9

Europabrcke: based on midday records

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

10

20

30

40

Hz 50

400
380
360
340
320
300
280
260
240
220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

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200

300

400

10

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40

Hz 50

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

600

700

800

700

800

10

20

30

40

Hz 50

1.00
0.95
0.90
0.85
0.80
0.65
0.60
0.55
0.50
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00

F.3-10

Europabrcke: based on midnight records

0

500

850
800
750
700
650
600
550
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

10

20

30

40

Hz 50

100

200

300

400

500

600

1.00
0.95
0.90
0.85
0.80
0.75
0.70
0.65
0.60
0.55
0.50
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00

67

3 The IRIS Damage Assessment Methodology

the measurement was carried out in a protected environment without being disturbed
by on-going traffic, for example. Being encouraged by this case, nevertheless, the method
has been further tried out for some other bridges. This is a brief summary of sample cases.

3-7-1 Europabrcke (2005)

The Europabrcke, opened in 1963, is one of the main alpine north-south routes for
urban and freight traffic and currently stressed by over 30000 motor vehicles per day. Due
to the requirement to assess the prevailing vibration intensities with regard to possible
fatigue damage, a permanent measuring system has been installed since 2003. The superstructure is a steel box girder of variable height along the span with an orthotropic deck.
The bridge is 657m long and consists of six spans of different length, carrying six lanes,
three for each direction, over a total width of 25m. Existing records of vibration measurement are quite extensive. Attached F.3-9 and F.3-10 represent the analysed results from
May to October of the records in 2005, at middays and midnights, respectively. They basically show a healthy, stable condition of the structure, no indication of serious structural
non-linearity being detected.
The statistical evaluation of this structure gives a significant change of the pattern for
80% of energy after the 4th week of observation, but the whole plot shows a fluctuation
that might be due to different traffic. F.3-11 are the boxplots of midday and midnight
results.
It has to be kept in mind, however, that the existence of structural non-linearity, both
or either in stiffness and damping, is not necessarily 100% equivalent to the state where
the structure is damaged in any ways. There may be a case where micro-cracks are developing, for example, but the overall structural behaviour does not show any sign of nonlinearity.

Europabrcke: midday (left) and midnight (right) boxplot of 80% of energy

F.3-11

24
26

30

28
35
30
40

32

34

45
week01 week05 week09 week13 week17 week21

68

week01 week05 week09 week13 week17 week21

Other Sample Cases 3-7

3-7-2 Melk B3A (20002009)

An example of a structure deteriorating over a period of nine years is demonstrated
here. Disregarding some irregularities, the gradual change of the spectral pattern (F.312) clearly indicates that more and more dynamic energy is transferred towards higher
frequency ranges.
One important matter in looking at the change in spectral patterns is that comparison
must be made between the cases of the same structure under similar physical conditions.
For example, all measurements of this particular bridge were carried out under its service
conditions, namely open to the traffic load excitation. Since the traffic loads tend to enhance the bridge vibration in a certain limited range of frequency, the resulted spectral
pattern is different from that obtained under more random ambient excitations such as
micro-tremors or wind. It tends to shift the spectra towards a lower frequency range com-

33.4
41.7
Hz 50.0

280
240
200
160

25/05/2009

08/09/2004

*
13/05/2002

25/05/2009

12/05/2000

0.80
0.70

20

0.60
0.50

30

0.40

120
80

0.30
40

0.20

40
0

1.00
0.90

10

0.10
Hz 50

0.00

F.3-13
08/09/2004

*
13/05/2002

12/05/2000

Melk B3A: without traffic

25/05/2009

25.1

320

16.8

360

13/09/2006

8.5

13/09/2006

08/09/2004

*
13/05/2002

12/05/2000
0.2

* part without excitation

13/09/2006

F.3-12

Melk B3A

1.00
0.90

10

0.80
0.70

20

0.60
0.50

30

0.40
0.30

40

0.20
0.10

Hz 50

0.00

69

3 The IRIS Damage Assessment Methodology

Melk B3A: boxplot of the centroid (left) and boxplot of 80% of the energy (right)

F.3-14

28
15
29
20
30
25

31

30

32
33

35
2000

2002

2004

2006

2009

2000

2002

2004

2006

2009

pared to the time without traffic. In order to avoid this effect, an effort was made to extract
some data obtained when the bridge was freely vibrating without traffic loads. The resulting spectral pattern without traffic excitation is shown in F.3-13.
Concerning the statistical evaluation of this bridge, it depends on which value is used.
For this bridge the results of the location of the centroid of the energy distribution and the
value of 80% of energy are presented to show that there can be a difference: significant
changes for this structure can be observed with the analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the
location of the centroid from the 5th observation period (that is the year 2006) and for the
F.3-15

Flughafen

20/04/2009

21/10/2008

24/04/2008

23/04/2007
23/10/2007

30/10/2006

23/05/2001
17/06/2003
18/03/2004
09/09/2004
22/03/2005
10/11/2005
27/04/2006

New bridge
New configuration
New pavement
Bridge removal

1.00
0.90

10

0.80
0.70

20

0.60
0.50

30

0.40
0.30

40

0.20
0.10

Hz 50

70

0.00

Other Sample Cases 3-7

value for 80% of energy from the 4th observation period (that is the year 2004). F.3-14
shows the boxplots of these results.

3-7-3 Flughafen Vorfahrt (20042009)

The access bridge in front of the terminal 2 of the Vienna International Airport was
established in 1956 and widened to 10.5m in 1968. Measurements of the dynamic characteristics took place after a concern was expressed regarding its load carrying capacity.
Available data are from eleven different groups of files accumulated over a period of five
years, March 2004 through April 2009, while the construction work was progressing. There
were a number of changes in structural configuration, therefore, over this period [Furtner,
2009]. Regardless of the history of various events happening on the structure, there is
clearly a general trend of dynamic energy shift towards higher frequency ranges throughout the period (F.3-15).
Out of existing data files, the first 33 files were measured with the sampling frequency
of 100Hz and the last 98 files were at 500Hz. When the sampling frequency was 100Hz,
any spectral information in high frequencies beyond 50Hz would have been lost. An important issue is, whether any meaningful engineering judgement could be made based
only on the information of less than the cut-off frequency. The effects of sampling rates on
the depicted spectral patterns were examined, because of this reason, based on the data
of this bridge only from the last 98 files, by comparing the following two cases:
/// for 0 < f 50Hz by re-sampling the data at 100Hz, namely every fifth points and
/// for 0 < f 250Hz based on the data available at 500Hz sampling.
F.3-16

Flughafen: Fi (f ) the last 98 files

10

20

30

40

Hz 50

150
140
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

20/04/2009

21/10/2008

24/04/2008

23/10/2007

23/04/2007

30/10/2006

27/04/2006

10/11/2005

Change of parking configuration

Milling of the ramp
Removal of bridge

20/04/2009

21/10/2008

24/04/2008

23/10/2007

23/04/2007

30/10/2006

27/04/2006

10/11/2005

Change of parking configuration

Milling of the ramp
Removal of bridge

100
90

50

80
70

100

60
50

150

40
30

200

20
10

Hz 250

71

3 The IRIS Damage Assessment Methodology

F.3-16 and F.3-17 compare the normalized spectra Fi (f ) and the cumulative distribution Ei (f ) of both cases. It is obvious that (B) has much more information than (A). Transfer
of energy to a higher frequency range that took place between various events is clearly
better recognized by the results of (B). The high spectral peaks started appearing in the
higher frequency range after milling of the ramp started in April 2007, indicating a signifiF.3-17

Flughafen: Ei (f ) the last 98 files

1.00

20/04/2009

21/10/2008

24/04/2008

23/10/2007

23/04/2007

30/10/2006

27/04/2006

10/11/2005

Change of parking configuration

Milling of the ramp
Removal of bridge

20/04/2009

21/10/2008

24/04/2008

23/10/2007

23/04/2007

30/10/2006

27/04/2006

10/11/2005

Change of parking configuration

Milling of the ramp
Removal of bridge

1.00

0.90
0.80

10

0.90
0.80

50

0.70
0.60

20

0.70
0.60

100

0.50
0.40

30

0.50
0.40

150

0.30
0.20

40

0.30
0.20

200

0.10
Hz 50

0.00

0.10
Hz 250

0.00

F.3-18

Flughafen: boxplot of the centroid (left) and

boxplot of 80% of the energy (right)
145
100
150

120
140

155

160
160
180
165

72

04/2009

10/2008

04/2008

10/2007

04/2007

10/2006

04/2006

11/2005

04/2009

10/2008

04/2008

10/2007

04/2007

10/2006

04/2006

11/2005

200

Concluding Remarks 3-8

cant change of spectral pattern. In terms of the cumulative spectral energy Ei (f ), it is more
clearly recognized by case (B) rather than (A), since presumably more and more energy
is transferred to the frequency range beyond 50Hz. Note, however, that high frequency
noise is also effectively cut off for the case of (A) due to low sampling frequency and it
sometimes makes it easier to look at the colour pattern since the spikes caused by operational noise are reduced.
The statistical analysis gives significant changes for this structure with the analysis of
variance (ANOVA) for the location of the centroid from the 3rd observation period (that is
the year 2006) and for the value for 80% of energy from the 4th observation period (that is
the year 2004). F.3-18 shows the boxplots of these results.

3-8 Concluding Remarks

The proposed spectral method (VCLIFE) was applied to the results of on-site measurements at several different bridges. The presented results here further emphasize a possibility of effectively detecting the development of structural damages by looking at the
change of the spectral pattern due to the shift of dynamic energy towards a higher frequency range. In relation to this observation, it should be noted that the results are more
informative when the sampling frequency is high enough, generally speaking.
This energy shift seems to be quite characteristic to the structures with developing
damages. It is considered now that a combination of the ambient vibration survey and the
proposed spectral analysis can be an effective tool, which is applicable as a simple structural health monitoring tool. To this end, it would be ideal if a criterion for the extent of
structural damage corresponding to any indicator of the energy shift can be established.
Locating the centroid of the area under Ei (f ) curves is one possibility but its practicability
would require further discussion.
For the future measurements, it is advisable to have a sampling frequency of 500Hz.
For identifying the high frequency shift of dynamic energy, it is desirable to minimize the
effects of extraneous disturbances, particularly the traffic load. Ideally, if the spectrum of
excitation force can be identified even approximately, its contribution towards the output spectra can be estimated but this is not the case most of the time. Minimization of
noise effects could be achieved by taking a long enough record so that undesirable noise,
including the traffic load, can be regarded more or less an evenly distributed excitation.
Taking several consecutive files, each 330 seconds long, would suffice. Ideally, the free vibration record of the structure should be observed over a certain period of time. It should
be also mentioned that, in any measurements involving multi-locations on the structure,
it is desirable to keep the reference point at the same location throughout the campaign.

73

3 The IRIS Damage Assessment Methodology

References
Furtner, P., 2009. Flughafen Wien Schwechat Vorfahrt Ost Terminal 2 Objekt 102, Dynamische Charakteristik der Bauwerke, Periodische Nachmessung und Interpretation der Ergebnisse. Report 09/1042, April 2009.
Wenzel, H., Veit-Egerer, R., Widmann, M. and Jaornik, P., 2009. WP3 Demonstration Report. Deliverable D11.1, October 2009.
Wenzel, H., 2009. Health Monitoring of Bridges. Wiley.

74