RESUME

Modern footbridges are often slender structures prone to excessive vibrations induced by pedestrians, due to the trend for construction of longer spans, using new materials and satisfying modern aesthetic requirements. Adverse human induced effects may lead to serviceability problems in these structures, affecting the human comfort and the structural integrity and durability. It may be then very useful to monitor the long term dynamic structural behavior, observing and controlling the levels of vibration attained and evaluating the evolution of the structural health condition under operational excitations, taking profit from recent progress occurred in terms of continuous dynamic monitoring systems, automated Operational Modal Analysis and statistical damage detection techniques. Continuous dynamic monitoring systems, with remote control and tele-transmission, collect vibration data and ambient variables from a structure over a long period of time, and they may be used either simply as alert systems, sending automatic messages whenever some predefined response threshold is exceeded, or as Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems. In this case, automated Operational Modal Analysis plays a major role in the automatic estimation of modal parameters allowing the tracking of the time evolution of the most relevant structural dynamic properties, stemming from environmental and operational factors or structural changes due to damage. Damage detection requires then the elimination of environmental and operational effects, which can be achieved using Principal Component Analysis and statistical treatment of corresponding residue errors, leading to a health index that is sensitive to damage. In this context, this thesis describes the efforts exerted on the development of LabVIEW based software for Operational Modal Analysis, applied either to ambient vibration testing or to continuous dynamic monitoring, by summarizing the corresponding state-of-art output-only modal identification methods, the participation in the real implementation of continuous dynamic monitoring systems, the investigation on the Principal Component Analysis based damage identification procedure and presenting two illustrative applications concerning the continuous dynamic monitoring of two Portuguese lively footbridges. The first application

concerns Pedro e Ins footbridge, in Coimbra, where a dynamic monitoring system was installed at the end of construction with the main purpose of checking the efficiency of the tuned mass dampers implemented to control excessive lateral and vertical vibrations, whereas the second one is focused on the stress-ribbon footbridge of FEUP Campus, where a SHM system was installed to analyze and remove the influence of environmental and operational factors on the modal estimates, and check the feasibility of vibration based damage detection on a efficient and economical basis.

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RESUM
Les passerelles pitons modernes sont souvent des structures minces susceptibles vibrations excessives, dus la tendance pour la construction de plus longues envergures, utilisant des nouveaux matriaux et conditions esthtiques inovatives. Les effets dfavorables induits par les pitons peuvent mener aux problmes d'utilit en ces structures, affectant le confort humain et l'intgrit et la longvit structurales. Il peut tre alors trs utile de surveiller le comportement structural dynamique long terme, observant et contrlant les niveaux des vibrations atteints et faisant la evaluation de l'volution de l'tat de sant structural sous des excitations oprationnelles, prenant le bnfice du progrs rcent produit en termes de systmes de surveillance dynamiques continus, Analyse Modale Oprationnelle automatise et techniques statistiques de dtection de dommages. Les systmes de surveillance dynamiques continus, avec tlcommande et tltransmission, rassemblent des donnes de vibration et des variables ambiantes d'une structure sur une longue priode, et ils peuvent tre employs simplement en tant que systmes d'alerte, envoyant les messages automatiques toutes les fois qu'un certain seuil de rponse prdfini est dpass, ou en tant que systmes structuraux de la surveillance de la sant (SHM). Dans ce cas-ci, l'analyse modale oprationnelle automatise joue un rle important dans l'valuation automatique des paramtres modaux permettant le cheminement de l'volution de temps des proprits dynamiques structurales les plus appropries, provenant des facteurs

environnementaux et oprationnels ou des changements structurels. La dtection de dommages exige alors l'limination des effets de l'environnement et oprationnels, qui peuvent tre ralise utilisant l'Analyse de Composant Principal et le traitement statistique des erreurs correspondantes de rsidu, menant un index de sant qui est sensible aux dommages. Dans ce contexte, cette thse dcrit les efforts exercs sur le dveloppement du logiciel bas par LabVIEW pour l'Analyse Modale Oprationnelle, appliqu l'essai ambiant de vibration ou la surveillance dynamique continue, en rcapitulant les mthodes d'tat-de-art

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d'identification modale correspondantes, la participation dans la vraie excution des systmes de surveillance dynamiques continus, la recherche sur le procd et la prsentation d'identification de dommages bas par Analyse de Composant Principal de deux applications d'illustration au sujet de la surveillance dynamique continue de deux passerelles pitons au Portugal. La premire application concerne la passerelle de Pedro e Ins, Coimbra, o un systme de surveillance dynamique a t install la fin de la construction avec le but principal de vrifier l'efficacit des amortisseurs de masse accords mise en application pour commander des vibrations latrales et verticales excessives, tandis que le second est concentr sur la passerelle du campus de FEUP, o un systme de SHM a t install pour analyser et enlever l'influence des facteurs environnementaux et oprationnels sur les valuations modales, et vrifier la praticabilit de la dtection de dommages base en mesures dynamiques, sur une base efficace et conomique.

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RESUMO
Devido tendncia para a construo de vos maiores, utilizando novos materiais e s actuais exigncias de ordem esttica, as pontes pedonais modernas so estruturas frequentemente esbeltas e susceptveis de apresentarem vibraes excessivas induzidas por pees. Os efeitos adversos induzidos pelos pees podem levar a problemas de utilizao dessas estruturas, afectando o conforto dos utilizadores, a integridade estrutural e a durabilidade. Pode ser por isso muito til monitorizar o comportamento dinmico estrutural de longo prazo, observando e controlando os nveis de vibrao atingidos e avaliando a evoluo da performance estrutural sob excitaes operacionais, tirando partido do progresso recente em termos de sistemas de monitorizao contnua dinmica, da Anlise Modal Operacional automatizada e de tcnicas estatsticas para deteco de danos. Os sistemas de monitorizao contnua dinmica, com controle e transmisso de dados remotas, permitem a recolha de dados de vibrao e das variveis ambientais de uma estrutura por um longo perodo de tempo, podendo ser usados tanto como simples sistemas de alerta, enviando mensagens automticas sempre que algum valor limite da resposta pr-definido ultrapassado, como para avaliar a condio estrutural (SHM). Neste ltimo caso, a automatizao da Anlise Modal Operacional desempenha um papel importante, pois permite o clculo automtico de parmetros modais, possibilitando o acompanhamento da evoluo temporal das propriedades dinmicas estruturais mais importantes, motivada por factores ambientais e operacionais ou por mudanas estruturais causadas por danos. Em seguida, a deteco de danos exige a eliminao dos efeitos ambientais e operacionais, o que pode ser conseguido usando a Anlise de Componentes Principais e o tratamento estatstico dos resduos correspondentes, possibilitando o clculo de um ndice de sade estrutural sensvel a

danos. Neste contexto, esta tese descreve os esforos desenvolvidos para a criao de um software, baseado em LabVIEW, para Anlise Modal Operacional, aplicado no processamento de dados de ensaios de vibrao ambiental e provenientes de sistemas de monitorizao dinmica contnua, apresentando o estado-da-arte dos mtodos de identificao modal baseados apenas na resposta estrutural, participando na implementao de sistemas de monitorizao contnua dinmica, investigando a utilidade da Anlise de Componentes Principais na identificao de danos e apresentando duas aplicaes que ilustram o acompanhamento contnuo de duas pontes pedonais Portuguesas bastante flexveis. A primeira aplicao trata-se da ponte Pedro e Ins, em Coimbra, onde um sistema de monitorizao dinmica foi instalado no final de construo com o objectivo principal de verificar a eficincia dos sistemas de massas sintonizadas implementados para controlar vibraes laterais e verticais. A segunda aplicao uma ponte stress-ribbon no Campus da FEUP, onde um sistema de monitorizao da condio estrutural foi instalado para analisar e remover a influncia de factores ambientais e operacionais sobre as estimativas modais, e para verificar a viabilidade de deteco de danos com base na medio de vibraes de uma forma eficiente e econmica.c

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This dissertation would not have been possible without the contribution of many people who not only influenced my work, but also supported me in many ways in the last five years of living in Porto. My first debt of gratitude must go to my advisor, Professor lvaro Cunha, Head of the Laboratory of Vibrations and Structural Monitoring (ViBest) of FEUP, for supplying all the necessary resources to research, encouraging me to participate in international conferences, and providing fruitful discussions and a rigorous review of the dissertation. I am grateful to Professor Elsa Caetano, co-supervisor of this thesis. Her trust, knowledge and helpful suggestions, as well as her important contributions on the simulation of damage scenarios of footbridges were especially appreciated. Special thanks to Prof. Filipe Magalhes, who has kindly cooperated in ambient vibration testing of bridges, and provided me interesting information, discussion and assistance in theoretical developments. Many thanks to Prof. Carlos Moutinho and Eng Antnio Cardoso for helping me in the

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conduction of experiments, use of diverse experimental devices, as well as in the construction of monitoring systems. A special acknowledgement must be also addressed to Professor Wei-Xin Ren and Professor Bao-Chun Chen, from Fuzhou University, China. It was their visit to ViBest / FEUP in 2005 that created the opportunity for me to pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Porto. I also want to make a general acknowledgement to many other FEUP PhD students and friends that helped me in this research in many ways, and in particular to Joana Delgado, Amrico Dimande, Leonel Ramos and Sandro Diord Rescinho. At the institutional level, I would like to thank the financial support from Fundao para a Ciencia e a Technologia (FCT), through the four-year PhD fellowship

SFRH/BD/29269/2006 and through the Projects POCTI/ECM/46475/2002 (Vibrations in Cable-Stayed Bridges) and PTDC/ECM/109862/2009 (Advanced Tools for Dynamic Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges and Special Structures, DYNAMO_DEMO). Moreover, all the support from the construction company Soares da Costa, related with the implementation of the continuous dynamic monitoring system of Pedro e Ins footbridge, is also deeply acknowledged. I would like to thank my parents in China for supporting me throughout the years and especially for their apprehensions when I was in Portugal. Although far away in distance, we always remained very close. There are many challenges in life. Some, as this dissertation, you choose for yourself, others are mysteriously trust upon you. At last, but not least, I want to acknowledge to my wife, Shu-Xian Hong and our daughter Bo-Yuan Hu (a special gift from God) for their love, support, encouragement and understanding in dealing with all the challenges.

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