This study investigated a number of different damage detection algorithms for structural health monitoring of a typical suspension bridge. The Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge, a part of the Interstate 80 in California, was selected for this study. The focus was to implement and validate simple damage detection algorithms for structural health monitoring of complex bridges. Accordingly, the numerical analysis involved development of a high fidelity finite element model of the bridge in order to simulate various structural damage scenarios. The finite element model of the bridge was validated based on the experimental modal properties. A number of damage scenarios were simulated by changing the stiffness of different bridge components including suspenders, main cable, bulkheads and deck. Several vibration-based damage detection methods namely the change in the stiffness, change in the flexibility, change in the uniform load surface and change in the uniform load surface curvature were employed to locate the simulated damages. The investigation here provides the relative merits and shortcomings of these methods when applied to long span suspension bridges. It also shows the applicability of these methods to locate the decay in the structure.
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