Damping Effect of a Passing Vehicle for Indirectly Measuring Bridge Frequencies by EMD Technique

The indirect approach for measuring bridge frequencies from a passing vehicle has become an attractive method recently because it provides mobility, reliability, and safety for setting up sensors in comparison with the traditional method for measurement. In the vehicle–bridge interaction system, it is realized that the bridge frequencies can be identified from the spectral analysis of the passing vehicle. However, there exist many factors affecting the identified results of bridge frequencies, and one key factor is the vehicle damping. This study investigates the effect of vehicle damping on the identification of the first bridge frequency for three different levels of road surface roughness by the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) technique. The numerical experimentation shows the following properties that can be utilized in a field measurement: (1) higher vehicle damping tends to suppress the vehicle frequency, and (2) the use of vehicle damping helps to suppress the effect of rough surface roughness and make the first bridge frequency visible.