Structural Health Monitoring

SHM of Large Scale Civil Infrastructure

This research aims to develop and apply innovative approaches for health monitoring and condition assessment of civil infrastructure systems such as bridges, buildings, and tunnels through field and laboratory investigations as well as finite element analysis.

Load Rating of Bridges without Structural Plans

Load rating describes the processing of quantifying the safe live load carrying capacity of an existing bridge. For most bridges, this load rating is derived as an analytical solution based on the structural design details and operational condition state. This research explores non-destructive approaches for load rating of bridges  without plans or insufficient structural details. 

Full-field Vibration Imaging for Damage Detection

This research focuses on the use of a high-speed imaging approach for measuring full-field vibration data for damage identification and localization in engineering structures. The studied framework is based on the design of a novel monitoring system that leverages a high-speed imaging system for capturing vibration response in a non-contact manner.

Characterizing Lateral Load Distributions in Bridges

The goal of this research is to develop a strategy for reducing the number of bridges that will require posting due to the inclusion of heavier trucks by leveraging the general form of the AASHTO load rating factor equation through refined analysis methods. Specific attention is on the identification of potential performance improvements that can be achieved with reductions in lateral load distribution and effective slab width.

Vibration Serviceability Assessment of Footbridges

Although current design methodologies enforce constraints for strength and stability of the lightweight footbridge structures, it is their serviceability, in terms of level of comfort and safety, that has been the major concern affiliated with this specific types of structures.  This research evaluates the vibrational serviceability of a highly-trafficked in-service footbridge through experimental testing and analytical studies.

Acoustic Emission Technology for Condition Monitoring

Acoustic emission (AE) is the generation of transient elastic waves that are caused by the release of energy from localized sources within a specimen. The acoustic waves within a material matrix can be detected by attaching one or more AE sensors, made of piezoelectric material. This research aims to use AE testing as a non-destructive method to evaluate and monitor integrity of materials and structural members.

Related Publications

  • Demircilioglu, E., Teomete, E., and Ozbulut, O. E. (2020). “Strain sensitivity of steel fiber reinforced industrial smart concrete.” Journal of Intelligent Materials and Structural Systems, 31(1), 127-135, HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1177/1045389X19888722, January 2020.
  • Bagheri, A., Ozbulut, O. E., Harris, D. K., Alipour, M., and Hosseinzadeh A. Z. (2019). “A hybrid structural health monitoring approach for load rating of reinforced concrete bridges with insufficient structural properties.” Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, 15(6), 754-770, HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1080/15732479.2019.1572197, June 2019.
  • Sherif, M., Khakimova, E., Tanks, J., and Ozbulut, O. E. (2018). “Cyclic flexural behavior of hybrid SMA/steel fiber reinforced concrete analyzed by optical and acoustic techniques.” Composite Structures, 201, 248-260, HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1016/J.COMPSTRUCT.2018.06.039, October 2018.
  • Bagheri, A., Alipour, M., Ozbulut, O. E., and Harris, D. K. (2018). “Identification of flexural rigidity in skewed concrete slab bridges with limited structural information.” ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, 144(8), 04018126, HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0002131, August 2018.
  • Bagheri, A., Ozbulut, O. E., and Harris, D. K. (2018). “Structural system identification based on variational mode decomposition.” Journal of Sound and Vibration, 417, 182-197, HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1016/J.JSV.2017.12.014, March 2018.
  • Alipour, M., Harris, D. K., Barnes, L. E., Ozbulut, O. E., and Carroll, J. (2017). “Load capacity rating of bridge populations using machine learning.” ASCE Journal of Bridge Engineering, 22(10), 04017076, HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1061/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0001103, October 2017.
  • Sherif, M., Ozbulut, O. E., and Tanks, J. (2017). “Acoustic emission analysis of cyclically loaded SMA fiber reinforced mortar beams.” Cement and Concrete Research, 95, 178-187, HTTP://DX.DOI.ORG/10.1016/J.CEMCONRES.2017.02.021, May 2017.
  • Gheitasi, A., Ozbulut, O. E., Usmani, S., Alipour, M., and Harris, D. K. (2016). “Experimental and analytical vibration serviceability assessment of an in-service pedestrian bridge.” Case Studies in Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation, 6, 79-88, HTTP://DX.DOI.ORG/10.1016/J.CSNDT.2016.11.001, December 2016.

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Related Projects

Refined analysis methods for bridge load rating

Project Title: Performance characteristics of in-service bridges for enhancing load ratings: leveraging refined analysis methods

Project Duration: 09/15/2018 – 03/14/2020

Sponsor: Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC)

Photogrammetry and accelerometer data fusion for infrastructure assessment

Project Title: A smart device approach to infrastructure assessment: photogrammetry + accelerometer data fusion

Project Duration: 02/04/2019 – 01/04/2020

Sponsor: 4-VA Initiative

Acoustic emissions for cracking characterization of pavements

Project Title: A modified moisture damage test for use in performance mixture design procedure

Project Duration: 09/17/2018 – 03/16/2019

Sponsor: Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC)

Deployment of ground penetrating radar and ultrasonic tomographer for NDE of bridges

Project Title: Deployment of ground penetrating radar and ultrasonic tomographer non-destructive techniques for assessment of corrosion-deteriorated adjacent prestressed concrete box beams

Project Duration: 05/01/2017 – 05/31/2018

Sponsor: Mid-Atlantic Transportation Sustainability Center (MATS)

Load rating strategies for bridges without plans

Project Title: Load rating strategies for bridges with limited or missing as-built information - Phases I and II

Project Duration: 07/01/2014 – 05/30/2018

Sponsor: Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC)