Model updating of Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge based on the structural health monitoring signals

In this paper, the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (NYRB) and its structural health monitoring (SHM) system is briefly presented first. Based on the physical meaning of sensitivity and the existing finite element program ANSYS, a simple and applied new method of model updating is proposed. In this method, the structural model is updated by modifying the parameters of design, and validated by structural natural vibration characteristics as well as stress-time response. By using the method, the finite element modeling (FEM) of the NYRB is updated based on the SHM signals, and the "baseline" FEM reflecting the structural current state is obtained. The results could be as a reliable referenced criterion for health monitoring and dynamical response forecasting of bridge structure.