Title:
STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING AND FINITE ELEMENT MODELING OF THE GALENA CREEK BRIDGE

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Aslam, Hamza
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Sherman, Ryan J.
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Abstract
Structural health monitoring (SHM) provides numerous benefits when assessing the condition of a structure for long-term degradation or response to an extreme event. The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) was interested in exploring SHM as an asset monitoring tool for their inventory. As such, the objectives of the current study were to develop and implement two SHM systems for the Galena Creek Bridge, located along I-580 and U.S. Route 395 between Reno and Carson City, NV. Completed in 2012, the Galena Creek Bridge is the largest concrete cathedral arch bridge in the world. The bridge is a twin 526.2-meter long, seven-span, two cell reinforced concrete box girder structure. The two SHM systems consisted of a primary seismic system and a secondary exploratory system. Both systems were installed on the northbound structure to measure the structural response to seismic activity as well as to routine traffic, thermal expansion and contraction, and wind events. The seismic system consisted of 33 accelerometers and a seismograph, while the exploratory system included temperature, wind, displacement, and tilt sensors. The system software was designed to send real-time notifications to proper authorities on the condition of the bridge following a predefined trigger event. To compliment the SHM systems, a detailed finite element model was developed in CSiBridge to improve the understanding of the Galena Creek Bridge structural response. A parametric study examined how a range of variables influenced the dynamic properties of the structure. Static dead load, modal, and time-history analyses were performed to provide insights on the influence of each parameter. Recommendations are provided to enable future model calibration to the field-measured data from the SHM systems.
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Date Issued
2021-12-13
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