FINITE ELEMENT MODEL UPDATING OF BRIDGES WITH MOBILE AND SMART TECHNOLOGIES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE-RELATED DECISION MAKING

2021-7-19
Ramadan, Wasim
Understanding the mechanical behavior of civil infrastructure under earthquakes has always been a fundamental concern in civil and structural engineering. Unlike many other disciplines, experimental modeling of civil infrastructure is cumbersome because of scale size, time constraints, and financial limitations. For these reasons, primary efforts on structural dynamics deal with theoretical models built on finite element (FE) method and structural health monitoring (SHM) systems with advanced sensor networks. However, FE solutions include modeling errors, whereas conventional SHM is costly and difficult to implement. The technological innovation in the mobile sensing paradigm is slowly replacing high-cost SHM systems in favor of the embedded accelerometers in smartphones. Moreover, a combination of theoretical and measurement-based approaches can amplify the accuracy to have a more reliable FE model representing reality. Therefore, by reducing research equipment cost and empowering bridge models with field calibration, we can expect improving disaster preparedness at the critical infrastructures. This study presents an innovative engineering mechanics framework for smart and sustainable infrastructure by adapting bridge reconnaissance processes with smartphone sensor support. In this research, the Northern Cyprus transportation network is utilized as a testbed, identifying multiple bridges, producing documentation, developing a database for bridge models, and proposing an updating framework for bridge monitoring using smartphone accelerometers. The results of implementing the proposed framework on twenty bridges, primarily historical, show that monitoring based on smartphone accelerometers can aid FE model calibration and reliability estimations based on developed fragility curves. Eventually, reliability estimations can serve the stakeholders for better-informed decision-making, with a minimal investment in instrumentation and labor according to the proposed methodology.

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Citation Formats
W. Ramadan, “FINITE ELEMENT MODEL UPDATING OF BRIDGES WITH MOBILE AND SMART TECHNOLOGIES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE-RELATED DECISION MAKING,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2021.