A damage identification procedure for girder bridges based on coupling vibration with moving vehicles

This paper proposes a procedure for damage identification based on a time domain approach considering the coupling vibration between girder bridges and moving vehicles including the effect of roadway surface roughness. A bridge-vehicle interaction system, which adopts two-degree-of-freedom vehicle model, is used to develop an algorithm for damage identification. The element stiffness index (ESI) which indicates the ratio of damaged flexural rigidity of the finite element of a beam to undamaged one is adopted as the indicator of the damage in a beam. The concept and procedure suggested in this paper may provide a method to extending engineering choice in damage identification of bridge structures.