The use of vibration signatures to detect flexural cracking in reinforced concrete bridge decks

摘要

A study into the influence of damage on the modal properties of two reinforced concrete bridge decks is presented. The decks, measuring 5m by 2.5m, were loaded incrementally in four point bending and at each major load increment the natural frequencies and mode shapes were measured. The results showed that there were reductions in natural frequency for the first seven modes and that, on average, the overall reduction increased with increasing damage.