Benchmark Problem on Health Monitoring of Highway Bridges

Developed and Coordinated by

F. Necati Catbas, University of Central Florida (catbas@mail.ucf.edu),

Juan Caicedo, University of South Carolina (caicedo@engr.sc.edu)

Shirley Dyke, Washington University, St Louis (sdyke@seas.wustl.edu)

An international effort has been initiated to explore bridge health monitoring methodologies and to conduct benchmark problems under the auspices of International Association for Bridge Maintenance and Safety (IABMAS). In addition, this study is aimed to engage the national and international researchers as well as practitioners in the broad field of structural health monitoring through several national and international societies, associations and committees such as American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Dynamics Committee, newly formed ASCE Structural Health Monitoring and Control Committee, International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (ISHMII), SPIE and others.

The first purpose of this study is to present an analytical bridge health monitoring (BHM) benchmark problem directed toward medium-span bridges. The problem statement has been developed through a collaborative effort, and addresses the current needs for the advancement of BHM.

This web page is developed to provide relevant documents, data, conference session information related to the benchmark study and other information to Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) community in particular, and to any interested party in general.

Documents and Presentations:

• Experimental Data from the Benchmark (instrumentation plan included) (NEW 1/31/08)
• Numerical Model of the Benchmark Problem (Finite Element Model developed in MATLAB, graphics, Help files etc included), August 2006. (LATEST UPDATE 3/6/2007, previously updated in 2/7/2007, August 2006, initial distribution April 2006)
• IABMAS BHM Committee Meeting Minutes in Porto, Portugal (July 18, 2006) (new)
• Short Abstract about the Numerical Phase of Benchmark Problem – Open to All Interested Researchers, December 2005
• Presentation at ASCE Structural Health Monitoring and Control Committee Meeting (during ASCE Mechanics of Materials Conference June 1, 2005)
• Meeting Minutes of the San Diego Meeting (March 6, 2005 during SPIE Conference)
• Research Needs and Benchmark Studies (Document Distributed before SPIE Smart Structure/NDE for Health Monitoring Conference in San Diego on March 2005)
• IABMAS BHM Committee Meeting Minutes in Kyoto, Japan (October 21, 2004)