scholarly journals MODAL TESTING OF AN ISOLATED OVERPASS BRIDGE IN ITS CONSTRUCTION STAGES

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
Fuat ARAS

This study presents the application of ambient vibration survey based dynamic testing on an isolated, precast and pre-stressed overpass bridge during and after its construction. In the studied three-bay bridge, the girders are located on the elastomeric bearings carried by two abutments and two internal piers. The first modal testing is performed after the placement of the girders on the elastomeric bearings and dynamic properties of the uncompleted bridge are determined. After the completion of all construction works and the opening of the overpass to human traffic, the modal testing is repeated to obtain the dynamic properties of the final structure. The dynamic properties obtained in both analyses are used to interpret the effects of the performed works between two modal testing. Moreover, the structural behaviour of isolated, precast and pre-stressed bridges is evaluated in detail.

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Romero ◽  
Pablo Pachón ◽  
Víctor Compán ◽  
Margarita Cámara ◽  
Francisco Pinto

Today’s society is sensitive to the architectural heritage conservation. This implies to perform works to maintain these buildings and to assure their structural security. In the last years, the structural analysis of historical masonry constructions has experienced a great progress, thanks to the use of techniques based on the study of the dynamic properties of building structures. In this context, changes on the structural health state of a building are one of the elements that can be assessed considering changes on their dynamic properties. This is useful to evaluate the effectiveness of structural interventions on this kind of buildings by analysing these properties before and after it. This paper focuses on the Jura Chapel, in Jerez de la Frontera (Spain). This chapel is part of San Juan de los Caballeros Church and is dated from the 15th century. In 2015 and after the identification of some structural damages in the chapel vault, an intervention was initiated to improve its structural behaviour and to recover its original appearance. The present work reports the evaluation of the effects that this intervention has on the structural health state of the building, using nondestructive techniques based on ambient vibration tests (AVT) and Operational Modal Analysis (OMA). The AVT were performed for both prerestored and restored states and under environmental loads. A discussion about the validity of doing AVT from extrados when a vault presents disconnection between ribs and web is included in the paper. As a result, the first five natural frequency values have increased while the corresponding mode shapes have not changed significantly. This proves a structural health improvement caused by the repairing process without changing the original behaviour of the structure. This work shows OMA capabilities for evaluating the effectiveness of intervention works on the health state of a historical masonry structure.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Antonella Saisi ◽  
Carmelo Gentile

Historical masonry towers are relevant architectural heritage often in a strategic position within city centres. Their height and position require specific controls in order to define the state of preservation. The paper describes the investigation procedures developed by the authors in selected case studies. According to the timing and to the complexity of the structure, the approach requires preliminary visual inspections, geometric, crack pattern survey supplemented by historical research and stratigraphic survey. Operational modal testing evaluates the overall structural behaviour, indicating eventual local (or global) problems to study in depth by monitoring or further local tests. Emergency operations, such as controls after earthquakes, could require prompt procedures. In this case, the combination of visual inspection, geometric and damage survey with dynamic testing is a reliable procedure for structural assessment. Additional investigation increases the knowledge of local problems or gives information for further activity such as structural modelling. For instance, relevant data are the evaluation of the masonry quality or the control of the local state of stress to estimate through non-destructive or minor destructive testing in selected positions. Nevertheless, such activities require accurate projects of the investigation too, planning and localising several tests in order to solve the problems detected in the preliminary steps of the diagnosis process.


Author(s):  
Jose M. Jara ◽  
Bertha A. Olmos ◽  
Guillermo Martínez

This chapter presents the studies conducted to retrofit an existing bridge in a seismic prone area of Mexico. The Motín de Oro II Bridge was built in the 1970s with a continuous box girder superstructure and wall-type substructure. From the 1970s to nowadays, the design truck loads in Mexico have been substantially incremented and many bridges built in that period have required to be evaluated and, in some cases, rehabilitated and retrofitted. Firstly, the study presents the results of visual inspections of all parts of the bridge and a description of the preliminary studies conducted to determine the material properties, to evaluate the river flow characteristics and to calculate the scour depth. Secondly, the chapter discusses the initial structural analyses of the bridge subjected to the original gravitational and seismic loads and to the current loads before the intervention. These analyses allow to select the structural elements that require to be retrofitted and the best strategy to follow. Finally, the study presents results of the numerical retrofitted model and the experimental assessment of the dynamic properties based on ambient vibration measurements. Additionally, the scour protection and the general construction procedure are also described.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Marcos Chávez ◽  
Fernando Peña ◽  
Claudia Cruz ◽  
Gustavo Monroy

This article presents a study on the structural behavior of the Government Building that is part of the old Lecumberri Palace and which currently houses the Mexican General Archive of the Nation. This building was inaugurated in 1900 and closed in 1976, after serving as a prison for 76 years. It was reopened in 1982 after it had undergone several remodeling works. The construction is made of brick masonry with lime mortar. It is supported by a deposit of overly compressible high-plasticity clays. The main problems of this building are the appearance of cracks in both interior and exterior walls, and moisture in the ground floor, caused by differential settlements. The study entailed a geometric and a damage survey as well as ambient vibration tests in order to determine the dynamic properties of the construction. The data obtained was used for the making of a model that, using the finite element method, was analyzed under different load conditions. This study has focused on the overall response with the assumption of smeared crack damage. According to the results, the building’s safety was deemed as acceptable. It has the capability to withstand seismic actions as established by the Mexican Building Code due to the high density of its walls and the resulting stiffness, which infer that the fundamental vibration period of the building would be distant from the predominant vibration period of the soil. This highlights the idea that the building’s critical condition is constituted by the differential settlements, which cause damage in the construction.


2013 ◽  
Vol 718-720 ◽  
pp. 1816-1819
Author(s):  
Ji Zhou Zheng ◽  
Jia Lin Hou ◽  
Yan Zhang

The elastic tube bundle is a new-style heat exchange element that can enhance heat transfer efficiency and reduce energy consumption. It is difficult to obtain exact analytical solutions because of the complex shape and constraint condition. An experimental modal testing technique is applied to get the dynamic properties. Some issues to which one should pay attention during the experiment are emphasized. Natural frequencies and mode shapes are identified from the test and compared to numerical results. Agreement is found for most frequencies of interest. But, some discrepancies exist for the vibration in-plane due to the inevitable operation error.


2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 803-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Boulanger ◽  
Patrick Paultre ◽  
Charles-Philippe Lamarche

After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, which destroyed a significant part of the seismically vulnerable city of Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital, a 12-storey reinforced concrete building that behaved well was investigated to understand its dynamic response. This paper completes the experimental work presented in a companion paper, in which the dynamic properties of the building were obtained from ambient vibration tests, and from which a finite-element model was updated. This paper’s main objectives are: (i) to understand the causes that led to the observed structural damage; and (ii) to estimate the likely seismic excitation at the site of the building. Several nonlinear analyses involving various ground motion intensities were conducted and the results were compared with the damage reported during the on-site survey. The numerical models reproduced the observed damages well and helped to explain them. The overall response of the mixed stiff frame–wall structure was clearly dominated by the high stiffness of the shear walls, showing that this type of structural system helps in keeping reasonable interstorey drift levels. Overall, the building’s structure seems to have responded linearly to all the ground motions investigated, but deformation demands imposed to the frame by the shear walls lead to local damages.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Mehmet Inel ◽  
Hayri Baytan Ozmen ◽  
Bayram Tanik Cayci

Determining the dynamic properties of structures is important for understanding their seismic behaviour. Ambient vibration signal measurement is one of the approaches used to determine the period of structures. Advantages of this method include the possibility of taking real-time records and presenting nondestructive and rapid solutions. In this study, natural vibration periods are calculated by taking ambient vibration signal records from 40 buildings. The height of the building, infill wall effect, presence of seismic retrofit, and presence of damage are taken into consideration, and their effects on natural vibration periods are investigated. Moreover, the results are compared with the analytical methods to reveal the differences. A significant correlation between the period and height of the building is observed. It is seen that the natural vibration periods of the buildings decrease by 7% to 30% (15% on average) due to infill wall contribution. However, the efficiency of infill walls decreases as the building height increases. Another significant result is that adding shear walls substantially decreases the vibration period values by 23% to 33% with respect to the shear wall ratio. When the analytical estimates and measured building period results are compared, it is seen that analytical models have closer period estimates before infill walls are implemented. The limited data in scope of the study suggest that significant differences may present in the analytical and measured periods of the buildings due to infill wall contributions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Grandy ◽  
Fabian Port ◽  
Jonas Pfeil ◽  
Kay-Eberhard Gottschalk

Abstract The actin cytoskeleton with its dynamic properties serves as the driving force for the movement and division of cells and gives the cell shape and structure. Disorders in the actin cytoskeleton occur in many diseases. Deeper understanding of the regulation is essential in order to better understand these biochemical processes. In our study, we use metal-induced energy transfer (MIET) as a tool to quantitatively examine the rarely considered third dimension of the actin cytoskeleton with nanometer accuracy. In particular, we investigate the influence of different drugs acting on the ROCK pathway on the three-dimensional actin organization. We find that cells treated with inhibitors have a lower actin height to the substrate while treatment with a stimulator for the ROCK pathway increases the actin height to the substrate. This reveals the precise tuning of adhesion and cytoskeleton tension, which leads to a rich three-dimensional structural behaviour of the actin cytoskeleton. This finetuning is differentially affected by either inhibition or stimulation.


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