Parametric study of the vehicle-bridge interaction system identification method

Bridges have been instrumental in facilitating efficient transportation. However, bridges are prone to deterioration due to daily use and natural disasters. If left unattended, this deterioration can lead to structural damage. Monitoring is crucial because structural damage can have significant economic consequences and even be life-threatening. Therefore, we are focusing on bridge monitoring using vehicle vibration. This study clarifies the characteristics of vehicles that are effective for identifying the vehicle-bridge interaction system. This study clarified that the proposed method is affected by the damping of the vehicle and the frequency ratio between the vehicle and the bridge. The results are consistent with previous studies that have demonstrated the reduced accuracy of bridge modal parameter estimation from vehicle vibration. It is practical to design the vehicle frequency to be lower than that of the bridge when estimating the bridge’s features. This paper shows that the characteristics of vehicles that are advantageous for vehicle response analysis clarified in previous studies are also important in the proposed method and show the usefulness of bridge maintenance management methods using vehicles. In the future, we will verify the feasibility of the proposed method in cases where different types of bridges and colors of noise are present.