Dual-purpose procedure for bridge health monitoring and weigh-in-motion used for multiple-vehicle events

Current literature on integrating structural health monitoring (SHM) systems with Bridge-Weigh-in-Motion (BWIM) does not extend to multiple-vehicle events. Also, in most of the SHM-BWIM systems, the trucks’ transverse position change is not appropriately considered as a potential source of false alarms. In this study, a multiple-presence dual-purpose (MPDP) SHM approach is proposed to monitor bridge integrity using the existing BWIM system sensors in single and multiple-truck events. This approach centers on the influence line (IL) change and applies a recently developed multiple-presence IL (MP-IL) technique to the SHM domain for the first time in the literature. This can effectively handle the multiple presence issue to make the integrated system more practical. Also, the proposed procedure studies the impact of transverse position changes to provide a more realistic bridge health monitoring approach. To show the approach applicability, an existing long-span concrete-box-girder bridge was modeled and validated against a set of experimental data using known large events. Eleven damage scenarios were simulated to evaluate the MPDP approach under single and multiple truck events. Based on the results, the MPDP SHM procedure coupled with the novel MP-IL could effectively detect the damage scenarios in both single and multiple-truck events, even when the transverse position changed.