Modal analysis of railway bridge hangers using artificial and ambient excitation

Abstract
This paper describes the methods used and results obtained from analysing some resonance phenomena which were observed on a steel railway bridge. These phenomena were visible on the slender hangers connecting the arch girder and the main truss girder under certain wind conditions. The paper describes the set up of a vibration monitoring system designed to measure the vibration response of the hangers together with the wind velocity and the wind direction over a period of several months under operational conditions. These data should yield the basis for correlating the wind and the structural characteristics. In addition artificial impulse hammer excitation was used to measure the modal characteristics (natural frequencies and modes of the hangers separately. The results of these tests compared well with those obtained from applying some "output only" modal identification techniques to the operational response data with unknown excitation forces. The results also compared well to analytical predictions and were used to identify the axial forces in the hangers by updating the axial force minimising the test/analysis deviations. The results allowed to estimate the fatigue life of the hangers confirming the need for the design of anti- vibration devices.