Experimental Study on Bridge Structural Damage Identification Based on Quasi-Static Displacement Effects and Wavelet Packet Decomposition

Based on the displacement-induced linearity error curve and the theory of wavelet packet analysis, a bridge structural damage identification method is proposed, integrating two damage indicators: Quasi-Static Displacement-Induced Linearity Error Curve (QSDIL) and Relative Energy Rate of Wavelet Packet Energy Spectrum (RES). This method first constructs the QSDIL damage indicator based on a quasi-static displacement-induced linearity error, which is used for the preliminary localization of the bridge structural damage. Subsequently, relying on the principles of wavelet packet analysis, the method constructs the RES damage indicator for accurate positioning of the damage location in the bridge structure. The proposed method is experimentally validated, and the impact of factors such as single-point damage, multi-point damage, signal noise, lane position, and vehicle weight on the experimental results is investigated. The results indicate that the proposed method exhibits excellent identification performance for the location of structural damage in both single-point and multi-point damage scenarios, with good agreement between experimental and theoretical values. As the signal-to-noise ratio decreases, the accuracy and precision of the RES curve in locating the bridge structural damage position exhibit a nonlinear decreasing trend, with relatively small identification errors observed at noise levels of 90 dB to 100 dB. Different lane positions have a minimal impact on the damage identification effectiveness. With increasing vehicle weight, both QSDIL and RES curves show an increasing trend in peak values, facilitating the localization of bridge structural damage positions.

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