Bridge Integrity Assessment By Continuous Wavelet Transforms

The potential of continuous wavelet transforms for damage assessment of existing bridges is investigated herein. Different types of continuous wavelet transforms have been under investigation and the most effective ones have been introduced in a toolbox to automate the damage assessment procedure. In this paper, the performance of the wavelet approach and the influence of different parameters in the damage assessment procedures are studied through two examples: a simply supported beam and a three-span concrete bridge. Applying the wavelet transforms to a structure's static and/or dynamic response showed promising results with regard to localization of structural modification or damage. This paper underlines the high sensitivity of the wavelet analysis to damage intensity and its ability to be applied directly to the damaged data. These key characteristics could lead to this approach becoming one of the best for structural health monitoring of existing bridges in the near future.