Moving force identification for real-time bridge weigh-in-motion

Abstract

Moving Force Identification (MFI) is one of the Bridge Weigh-In-Motion (B-WIM) techniques that utilize bridge responses to passing vehicles to infer the forces applied by those vehicles. A challenge with MFI is the computational time needed to obtain results, especially when using 2-D or 3-D finite element models (FEMs) with large numbers of degrees of freedom (DOFs). This technical note proposes a new technique to reduce the computational time, which allows for real-time load monitoring and the potential for control of overloaded trucks. The technique utilizes the most critical parts of the bridge eigenvectors instead of the full system eigenvectors. The selected parts include the DOFs for the elements where sensors are located, and DOFs of track elements, where vehicle axles interact with the bridge. The method is verified experimentally in this paper.