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Estimating Bridge Fundamental Frequency from

Vibration Response of Instrumented Passing
Vehicle: Analytical and...

Article in Advances in Structural Engineering April 2012

DOI: 10.1260/1369-4332.15.3.417

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 Estimating Bridge Fundamental Frequency from
Vibration Response of Instrumented Passing Vehicle:
Analytical and Experimental Study

Dionysius M. Siringoringo* and Yozo Fujino

Bridge and Structure Laboratory. Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo,
Bunkyo-ku Tokyo, JAPAN 113-8656

(Received: 8 December 2010; Received revised form: 27 June 2011; Accepted: 14 July 2011)

Abstract: Driving velocity, natural frequency of vehicle and natural frequency of

bridge are the main contributing factors to vibration of a vehicle when passing a
bridge. By separating contributions of the first two factors, one can estimate the natural
frequency of a bridge indirectly from vehicle acceleration response when it crosses a
bridge. In this paper, we apply this concept to estimate the bridge fundamental
frequency indirectly using the response of a passing instrumented vehicle. The paper
first describes analytical formulation and finite element simulation to demonstrate the
feasibility of the method. Afterwards, it describes an experimental verification as a
proof-of-concept of the method on a full-scale simply-supported short span bridge by
using a light commercial vehicle instrumented with accelerometer. Dynamic responses
of the vehicle while passing the bridge are recorded and analyzed. Spectra analysis of
the vehicle responses reveal that the first natural frequency of the bridge can be
estimated with reasonable accuracy when the vehicle moves with constant velocity.
The concept of indirect frequency estimation is useful for assessment of short and
medium span bridges where permanent instrumentation and routine visual inspection
can be too costly. In this method, one can use inspection vehicle instrumented with
vibration sensor to conduct periodic measurements by passing the vehicle over several
monitored bridges and estimate their fundamental frequencies. When significant
change in frequency is detected, detail inspections can be further conducted to
investigate the possible damage on the bridge.

Key words: vehicle-bridge identification system, indirect frequency estimation, bridge frequency estimation, bridge
assessment.

1. INTRODUCTION structural conditions. These indicators are usually

Vibration monitoring has been widely used for global
structural assessment. Several excitation techniques have
been explored and utilized in the vibration-based bridge
assessment such as ambient vibration, forced vibration,
traffic-induced vibration and seismic-induced vibration
(Brownjohn et al. 2008; Fujino et al. 2009). In a
vibration-based bridge assessment, characteristics such as
vibration level and modal parameters are commonly used
as indicators since they provide information on the actual
estimated from bridge responses obtained from sensors
placed directly on a bridge. This type of estimation is
commonly known as direct estimation technique. Another
technique that has been investigated recently is the indirect
estimation. In this technique, the indicators are not
estimated directly from bridge response but through the
response of a carrier such as vehicle when it passes the
bridge (Yang et al. 2004; Lin and Yang 2005; Bu et al.
2006; Kim and Kawatani 2008; Yang and Chang 2009).

*Corresponding author. Email address: dion@bridge.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp; Tel: +81-(0)3-5841-6095.

Associate Editor: Y Xia.

Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012 417

 Estimating Bridge Fundamental Frequency from Vibration Response of Instrumented Passing Vehicle:
Analytical and Experimental Study

The concept of indirect estimation is attractive
especially for assessment of short and medium span
bridges, where permanent instrumentation and routine
visual inspection are considered too costly. In this concept,
we do not need to place sensors on bridges; instead, we
deploy an inspection vehicle and perform periodic
measurement by recoding the vehicle vibration when
passing the bridge. In the structural health monitoring, we
understand that fundamental frequency of a structure
represents the actual structural condition. Therefore,
significant change in structural condition may cause
change in the fundamental frequency (Salawu 1997) that
can be detected from vibration response. With this
premise, the indirect frequency estimation is expected to
provide a quick assessment of bridge condition. When
change in the fundamental frequency is detected, detail
inspections can be conducted further to investigate the
possible damage on the bridge.
The main objective of this study is to investigate the
feasibility of indirect frequency estimation using dynamic
response of passing vehicle as a tool for quick assessment
of bridge condition. We emphasize on the use of typical
light commercial vehicle as the inspection vehicle in
contrast to other study (Lin and Yang 2005) that utilized
special vehicle such as truck or trailer. Such inspection
vehicle, named Vehicle Intelligent Monitoring System
(VIMS), has been developed recently in the authors
research group (Fujino 2005; Asakawa et al. 2008). The
current system is limited only to the assessment of road
pavement and expansion joint, and is expected to include
assessment of bridge condition via frequency estimation.
The study consists of two parts. The first part describes
theoretically the characteristics of dynamic response from
a passing vehicle and determines the main factors that
influence the response. The second part describes
experiment verification, as a proof-of-concept of the
method, conducted on a 59 m simply-supported bridge.
2. THEORY: EQUATION OF MOTION OF
VEHICLE-BRIDGE SYSTEM
Consider a two-dimensional vehicle-bridge system shown
in Figure 1. The vehicle, with mass Mv supported by two
wheels with mass mi, stiffness ki and dashpot ci (i = 1, 2)
moves with velocity . The bridge is modeled as a simply-
supported Bernoulli-Euler beam system that has the mass
(Mb), stiffness (Kb) and damping (Cb). Following the
Hamilton principle (Lin and Trethewey 1990), one can
derive the equation of motion of the two-axle vehicle
system and represent it in the matrix form as follows
(details on the symbols are provided in appendix):

2
2 2 2 C + 2 mi N iT N iv 0 0
M b + mi N i N i NiT f zi M v Ni f i J &&
T T b
i =1
i =1 i =1 i =1 q(t ) 2 2 2 q& (t )
&& i +1
0 Mv 0 z (t ) + ci N i ci i c ( 1) bi z&(t )
0 0 J &&
(t ) i =1 i =1 i =1 &(t )
2 2 2
ci (1)i +1 bi N i ci (1)i +1 bi ci bi2
i =1 i =1 i =1

2
K b + 2 mi N i ( N iv + N i v&)
T 2
0 0
i =1
q(t )
2 2 2 2
i +1
ki N i + ci N iv ki ki (1) bi z(t ) (1)
i =1 i =1 i =1 i =1 (t )
2
k (1)i b N + c (1)i b N v
2 2 2

i i i i i i ki (1)i +1 bi i i
k b 2

i =1 i =1 i =1 i =1

2 2
mi N i v mi NiT v&
T 2

0 2 2
i =1 i =1 M v g fzi N i mi gN i
2 2 r ( x ) i =1 i =1
= ci v r ( x ) +

0 i k

0

i =1 i =1
r ( x ) 0
2 2
i


0 ci (1) bi v ki (1) bi
i

i =1 i =1

418 Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012

Dionysius M. Siringoringo and Yozo Fujino

V constant

b1 b2 Sprung Mass

c.g

Mv, J
Z (t ) Bridge vertical axis
k1 C1 k2 C2 Bridge (L, Mb, El )

w (x) y (x)
x1 = v.t
r (x)
Unsprung Mass
(m1, m2)

Figure 1. Schematic figure of vehicle model crossing a simply-supported bridge

Assuming that vehicle moves with constant velocity compared to vehicle mass, the equation of motion can
and that mass of the wheels are negligibly small be simplified to:

2 2
[ M b ] N iT fzi M v N iT f i J [Cb ] 0 0
i =1 i =1 q&&(t ) 2 2 2 q& (t )
0 &&
z (t ) + ci N i i +1

Mv 0
ci ci (1) bi z&(t )
0 0 J &&(t ) i =1 i =1 i =1
&(t )
2 2 2
ci (1) bi N i ci (1)i +1 bi ci bi2
i +1

i =1 i =1 i =1

[ Kb ] 0 0
q(t )
2 2 2 2
i +1
ki N i + ci N iv ki ki (1) bi z (t ) (2)
i =1 i =1 i =1 i =1 (t )
2
k (1)i b N + c (1)i b N v
2 2 2

i i i i i i ki (1)i +1 bi ki bi2
i =1 i =1 i =1 i =1

2
0 0 M v g fzi N i
i =1
2 2
r ( x )
= ci v
ki r ( x ) + 0
i =1 i =1

0
2 2
ci (1) bi v ki (1) bi
i i

i =1 i =1

Eqn 2 is the general equation of motion of the to limit the identification problem so that it relates only
system. In order to obtain a simplified analytical to the stiffness of the bridge an undamped system with
solution in modal space, the Hermitian shape function smooth pavement condition is considered. With these
is replaced by mode shapes of the bridge. Furthermore, additional assumptions, Eqn 2 becomes:

Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012 419

 Estimating Bridge Fundamental Frequency from Vibration Response of Instrumented Passing Vehicle:
Analytical and Experimental Study

2 2
2

[ M b ] T
i fzi Mv T
i f i J q&&(t ) [ K b ] 0 0
q(t ) M v g fzi i
i =1 i =1
2 2
2


i =1

&&z (t ) + ki i i (3)
0 i
i +1
Mv 0 k k ( 1 ) b
i z ( t )
= 0
&& i =1 i =1 i =1
0 0 J ( t ) 2 ( t )
0

k (1)i b k (1)i +1 b 2
2 2
ki bi

i =1 i i i

i i
i =1 i =1

2.1. Analytical Closed-Form Solution in Modal and substitute the result to the second row of Eqn 3 to
Space produce:
The closed-form solution is sought using only the first
vt 2
mode (i.e. = sin i +1
L
). Dividing the first row of
2 2 ki (1) bi
Eqn 3 by Mb yields: z ki sin (t ) q + ki z + i =1
M v &&
2
ki bi
i =1 i =1 2
2
vti M 2
vt J && (8)
q&&(t ) + sin z (t ) + sin
fzi v && (t ) i =1
L i M b
f
i =1
L M b i =1
(4) 2 2
J&& ki (1) bi z ki (1) bi sin (t ) q = 0
i +1 i
M g 2 vt
+ b2 q(t ) = v fzi sin
M b i =1 L i =1 i =1

Kb Note that if we assume that the distances between

where b = . Now, considering that the second
Mb the front and the rear wheels to the center of gravity
and third terms on the left-hand side of Eqn 4 are are almost equal and so are the values of k1 and k2, the
the results of multiplications of fzi, f i, fourth term on left-hand side of Eqn 8 becomes
considerably small, as shown by
vt M v
sin
J
L M b
, , and , whose values are
Mb
2 i +1
considerably small (i.e. less than one), their ki (1) bi
contributions to the total product on the left-hand side of lim i =1 2
Eqn 4 are also negligibly small. This further simplifies b1 b2
ki bi
k1 k2 2
the equation of motion to: (9)
i =1
2
q&&(t ) + b2 q(t ) = fzi sin (t ) (5) 2 2
J&& ki (1) bi z ki (1) bi sin (t ) q = 0
i +1 i
i =1
i =1 i =1
v
where = Mvg/Mb and = is the vehicle-to-bridge
L This leaves us with the equation of motion:
mass ratio and frequency of the input force,
respectively. Solution for Eqn 5 for zero initial 2 2
conditions of displacement and velocity is: z ki z = ki sin (t ) q
M v &&+ (10)
i =1 i =1
2 2
q(t ) = 2 zi
f sin (t ) fzi sin ( b t ) (6)
( b2 ) i =1 b i =1 in which after dividing it by Mv and by defining the
ki
Next, we rewrite the third row of Eqn 3 as: quantity vi = , yields
Mv
1
=
2
2
ki bi
2 2
&&
z+ vi2 z = vi2 sin (ti ) q (11)
i =1 (7) i =1 i =1

2 2
J&& ki (1)i +1 bi z ki (1)i bi sin (t ) q Next, we substitute the quantity of q from Eqn 6 into
i =1 i =1 Eqn 11 to obtain

420 Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012

Dionysius M. Siringoringo and Yozo Fujino

2
2 where:
&&
z+ vi2 z = vi sin ( t )
2

( b2 2 ) i =1
i =1
(12) 4 2
C1 = 2
2 (17a)
2
2
2( b ) 4 2
2
fzi sin (t ) fzi sin ( b t )
i =1 b i =1

Finally, the solution for Eqn 12 becomes the solution 3

C2 =
for undamped SDOF system. By employing Duhamel 2( b2 2 ) 2 4 2
integration to Eqn 12, one can obtain the following (17b)
solution: 3 3
2 2
b ( b )
2
( b + )
2

cos t 1 ( cos 2t cos t )

z (t ) = +
2( b2 2 ) 2 ( 2 )
2
( b )2
C3 = 2 2
(17c)
( cos t cos( b )t ) 2( b ) b [ ( b ) ]
2 2
+ (13)
b 2 ( b )2
( cos t cos( b + )t ) ( b + )2
C4 = (17d)
2 ( b + )2 2( b2 2 ) b [ 2 ( b + )2 ]

2 Eqn 16 shows that vehicle acceleration can be

2
where = vi2 and = fzi. Taking the time separated into periodic responses with three frequency
components that is the frequency of vehicle
i =1 i =1
derivative of Eqn 13 results in velocity: 2
= vi2 , the driving frequency = v/L and the
i =1
( 2 sin 2t sin t ) bridge natural frequency shifted by driving frequency
z (t ) = 2
sin t +
2( b ) 2 ( 2 ) (b ) = (b v/L). Similar results are also obtained
2 2

in the work by (Yang et al. 2004) for the case of single

( sin t + ( b )sin( b )t ) (14)
+ mass and single suspension system moving on a beam.
b 2 ( b )2 The constants C1, C2, C3 and C4 in Eqn 17 determine the
( sin t + ( b + )sin( b + )t ) contribution of each frequency component to the total
acceleration response in terms of amplitude.
2 ( b + )2
Note that the third and fourth terms of the right-hand-side
The second time derivative of Eqn 13 gives the of Eqn 16 indicate that the exact values of bridge
acceleration of vehicle as: frequency cannot be extracted directly from the vehicle
response. Instead, they are always corrected by the driving
frequency v/L. However, if one knows the driving
&&
z (t ) =

cos t +
(
(2)2 cos 2t 2 cos t ) velocity (v) and the bridge length L a priori then can be
2( b2 2 ) 2 ( 2 ) computed, and the bridge frequency can be estimated
2

quite reasonable. Eqn 16 suggests that one can
3 cos t + ( b )2 cos( b )t theoretically estimate the bridge frequency if the other two
+
b 2 ( b )2 frequency components are known or can be identified.
3 cos t + ( b + )2 cos( b + )t
This is not a very difficult task since the driving frequency
(15) can be computed a priori and the vehicle frequency can be
2 ( b + )2 estimated from a free-vibration test of the vehicle on a
stationary condition.
Finally, we can rearrange Eqn 15 as:
3. PARAMETRIC STUDY AND FINITE
z (t ) = C1 cos 2t + C2 cos t + C3 cos ( b ) t
&& ELEMENT SIMULATION
(16) In order to determine the influence of parameters such
+C4 cos ( b + ) t as driving velocity, vehicle frequency and natural

Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012 421

 Estimating Bridge Fundamental Frequency from Vibration Response of Instrumented Passing Vehicle:
Analytical and Experimental Study

frequency of the bridge to the vehicle acceleration and 104

Vertical displacement of vehicle
to the accuracy of bridge frequency identification, we 0
conducted numerical simulations using finite element 1
model. In the simulations, the following vehicle

m
2
properties were used: Mv = 2000 kg, J = 2500 kg.m2,
k1 = k2 = 5 105 N/m, b1 = b2 = 1 m. The bridge span was 3
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
30 m (L = 30 m) with cross-section A = 2 m2 and the area Time (sec)
of moment inertia I = 0.1667 m4. The bridge was made
of reinforced concrete with the mass density 2400 kg/m3 104
Vertical velocity of vehicle
4
and the Youngs modulus 2.75 1012 N/m2. It was
2
modeled as a linear Bernoulli-Euler beam, simply

m/s
0
supported at both ends and discretized into 30 elements.
2
Stiffness and mass matrix of the bridge were derived
4
using the consistent element method and the Hermitian 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
shape function. Time (sec)
In simulation, the following conditions were assumed: (1)
Vertical acceleration of vehicle
Surface of the bridge pavement was very smooth (r(x) = 0). 0.01
(2) Structural Damping of vehicle was negligible c1 = c2 = 0. 0.005
(3) Damping of the bridge was distributed proportionally

m/s2
0
to the stiffness. (4) Vehicle response was measured on its 0.005
center of gravity. (5) Smooth entrance and exit on the 0.01
approaching span implying no bouncing effect on 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
the vehicle response induced by expansion joint. These Time (sec)

assumptions were taken in order to keep the problem and
solution traceable. The vehicle and bridge response were
calculated using the coupled nonlinear equation of motion
as shown in Eqn 2. A program was coded in Matlab to
compute the nonlinear response using the Newmark-beta
method with time step of 0.005 second and by assuming
Figure 2. Vertical response of the vehicle resulted from finite
element simulation when passing the bridge with velocity 10 m/s:
(a) displacement; (b) velocity; and (c) acceleration
Fourier Spectrum of vehicle Acceleration

constant acceleration between two consecutive points in

Fourier Amp (m/s2)

1.5 5.75 Vec spectrum

time. 1st bridge freq = 5.39 Hz
1 2st bridge freq = 21.58 Hz
The first three bridge frequencies obtained from finite
Vec freq = 11.25 Hz
element analysis were 5.39 Hz (first symmetric mode), 0.5
21.57 Hz (first asymmetric mode) and 48.54 Hz (second 11.23
0.39 21.29 21.68
symmetric mode). Figure 2 shows an example of vertical 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
displacement, velocity and acceleration of the vehicle for Frequency (Hz)
driving velocity 10 m/s. Fourier spectrum of the
acceleration response is depicted in Figure 3. As can be Figure 3. Results of finite element simulation: comparison of peaks
seen on this figure, five dominant peaks appear in the in Fourier spectrum of vehicle vertical acceleration (values on the
frequency range of 050 Hz. The first peak appears at figure) with bridge natural frequencies
0.39 Hz, which is very close to the driving frequency
0.33 Hz. The second peak appears at 5.75 Hz that of two frequency peaks, only one peak appears near the
corresponds to the bridge first natural frequency (b1 + bridge first natural frequency. However, as will be shown
v/L = 5.39 + 0.167 Hz). The third peak appears at later, the two peaks become noticeable at higher driving
11.23 Hz that is consistent with the natural frequency of velocity.
the vehicle (11.25 Hz). Finally, the fourth and the fifth The results reveal that the frequency component
peaks are related to the second natural frequency of the associated with the first natural frequency of the bridge
bridge (b2 v/L = 21.48 0.167 Hz). Note that the has the highest spectrum amplitude, and thus dominates
current driving velocity results in a very small driving the vehicle response. The frequency peaks associated
frequency so that the two frequency peaks that with the second natural frequency have smaller amplitude
correspond to the bridge natural frequency as suggested but are still identifiable. The simulation results indicate
by Eqn 16 become closely spaced and indistinguishable that the fundamental frequencies of the bridge can be
in the spectrum. As a result, Figure 3 shows that instead identified from vehicle response and that the closed-form

422 Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012

Dionysius M. Siringoringo and Yozo Fujino
analytical solution can reasonably represent the response
of vehicle-bridge system. Discrepancies between the
identified and the theoretical values are very small and
within an acceptable range (i.e. 3%).
3.1. Parametric Studies on the Effect of Vehicle
Velocity, Vehicle Frequency and Bridge
Frequency on Vehicle Acceleration
Response
In the following section, we shall describe parametric
studies conducted to examine the influence of driving
velocity, vehicle frequency and natural frequency of the
bridge on the vehicle response. In simulations, the three
factors were investigated independently in that when the
influence of one factor was examined the other two
factors were kept constant.
The first parametric study was aimed at investigating
the influence of driving velocity on the vehicle response.
To this end, we used various driving velocity (i.e. v = 2,
4, 5, 8, 10, 16 and 20 m/s) while the natural frequency of
vehicle and bridge were kept constant. The highest
velocity 20 m/s was selected since testing a bridge with
higher velocity was not only difficult in practice but also
resulted in a very short duration of vehicle response.
Figure 4 shows the comparison of frequency peaks in
Fourier spectrum of vehicle vertical acceleration for
different driving velocity. It is clear from the figure that
except for the one near 11 Hz all other peaks are affected
by the change in vehicle velocity. The most significant
effect of driving velocity can be seen on the first peak that
corresponds to the driving frequency 2 = 2v/L. The
second and the third peaks that correspond to the bridge
first natural frequency are also affected by the increase in
driving velocity. Note that the second and the third peaks
near 5.4 Hz are very closely spaced when the driving
velocity is smaller than 10 m/s, and gradually become
clearly separated as the driving velocity increases.
Likewise, the fifth and sixth peaks that correspond to the
second bridge frequency are also affected by the velocity.
In the second parametric study, the effect of vehicle
frequency to the vehicle response was examined. For
Vehicle velocity (m/s)
20
18
16
14
12
10
8 6th peak
6 decreases, the same trend can be seen for the fourth peak
4
2 in the spectrum that corresponds to the bridge second
0 5 10 15 20
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 4. Results of parametric studies: comparison of peaks in
Fourier spectrum of vehicle vertical acceleration under various
driving velocity with constant vehicle mass and bridge stiffness
Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012
this purpose, natural frequencies of the bridge and
vehicle velocity were kept constant ( = 10 m/s) while
the vehicle frequency were varied by changing the
vehicle mass (Mv) so that the equivalent unsprung
frequency i = ki / M v varied gradually between 40
and 100 Hz. Figure 5 shows the influence of the vehicle
frequency on the spectrum of vehicle acceleration
response. One can see that the significant change
appears only on the third peak that corresponds to the
vehicle frequency. The vehicle frequency increases
with the increase in equivalent unsprung frequency.
Meanwhile frequencies of the other peaks remain
unaffected even though amplitudes of the peaks
change. As evident in the figure, the peaks that
correspond to the bridge first natural frequency remain
the largest peak and the most dominant one. This
suggests that one can extract fundamental natural
frequency of a bridge using acceleration response of
different type of vehicle with different dynamic
properties. Simulation using different vehicle
frequency is important since the change in vehicle
properties is inevitable in practice. Vehicle mass may
vary in different testing conditions; and condition of
spring and dashpot may differ from time to time. In
fact, when using portable sensors or accelerometers one
must accept the possibility of using different types of
car with different dynamic properties.
In the third parametric study, we examined the
effects of bridge dynamic properties on vehicle
responses. For this purpose, the bridge stiffness was
modified by changing the Young modulus (E) and
moment inertia (I) of the bridge so that the EI value
decreased gradually and uniformly along the bridge
girder, while the vehicle dynamic properties and
driving velocity were kept constant ( = 10 m/s).
Figure 6 shows the simulation results, where the y-axis
denotes the remaining stiffness as the fraction of EI in
such that the value of one means no reduction of EI.
The reduction of EI is evaluated between 0.1 EI and
0.9 EI.
The third parametric study gives the following
results. First, the first and the third peaks that
correspond to the driving frequency and the vehicle
1st peak
2nd peak
frequency respectively remain constant in frequency.
3rd peak Second, frequency of the second peak that corresponds
4th peak
5th peak to the bridge first natural frequency decreases as EI
25 30
natural frequency. Third, as the bridge stiffness
decreases the influence of the bridge first natural
frequency as the dominating frequency is gradually
replaced by the second mode as indicated by the change
in amplitude of the first and second peaks. Note that
423
 Estimating Bridge Fundamental Frequency from Vibration Response of Instrumented Passing Vehicle:
Analytical and Experimental Study

Normalized fourier amplitude 0.8

0.6 1st peak 3rd peak 4th peak

(constant in frequency) (varying in frequency) (constant in frequency)
0.4
2nd peak
(constant in frequency)
0.2

0
100

90
Eq
uiv

80
ale
nt

70
un
sp
ru

60
ng
fre

50
qu

35
30
en

25
cy

40 20
(H

15
z)

)
10 ncy (Hz
30 5 Freque
0

Figure 5. Results of parametric studies: comparison of peaks in Fourier spectrum of vehicle vertical acceleration using various vehicle
frequencies, with constant driving velocity and bridge stiffness
Normalized fourier amplitude

1 2nd peak
varying in 3rd peak
0.8 1st peak 4th peak
frequency constant in
constant in varying in
0.6 frequency
frequency frequency
0.4
0.2
0
1
0.9
Re

0.8
ma
ini

0.7
ng
bri

0.6
dg

0.5
e sti

0.4
ffn
es

35
0.3 30
s
(E

25
20
I) i

0.2
15
n

10 cy (Hz)
%

0.1 5 Frequen
0

Figure 6. Results of parametric studies: comparison of peaks in Fourier spectrum of vehicle vertical acceleration using various values of
bridge stiffness, with constant vehicle frequency and driving velocity

when EI reduction is 0.7, the bridge second frequency Simulation results indicate that the decreases in
coincides with the vehicle frequency that results in frequencies as the outcome of reduction in bridge
resonance. stiffness can be detected from vehicle response. This

424 Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012

Dionysius M. Siringoringo and Yozo Fujino

justifies the premise that a change in bridge condition
that alters frequency of the bridge can be detected by
analyzing the dynamic response of the passing vehicle.
4. EXPERIMENTAL STUDY: FULL-SCALE
MEASUREMENT USING INSTRUMENTED
VEHICLE
4.1. Description of the Bridge
In this section, we shall describe a full-scale
experiment as a proof-of-concept of the method. The
tested bridge is a simply-supported steel-box girder
bridge with the length of 59 m and the width of 4 m.
The bridge deck is made of reinforced-concrete slab
cast over the steel box girder (Figure 7). With the
length-to-width ratio of about 15, we can expect the
bridge to behave as a simply-supported beam in that
the vertical bending modes dominate the vibration
response. The bridge crosses over an outlet of a dam
lake in a southeastern part of Tokyo. The traffic
volume on the bridge is very limited due to its remote
location, so that although not newly built, it is still
structurally sound with smooth pavement condition.
This makes the bridge an ideal test-bed for verification
of the proposed frequency estimation system.
4.2. Dynamic Characteristics of the Bridge
Prior to the bridge test using inspection vehicle, we
conducted ambient vibration and impact test in order to

Tested bridge Inside the Steel-box girder

Sandbag drop for impact-force vibration testing of the bridge Accelerometers inside steel-box grider

Accelerometers on the vehicle

Move with constant
velocity v
Acc
4.0 m

0.345 m
2.58 m

59.0 m
2.58 m

Accelerometer Strain gauge

2.5 m
3 1 5
7 8 Bridge cross section
4 2 6

@ 7.35 m
Vibration sensors inside bridge girder

Figure 7. Tested bridge, dimensions, and sensor layout (units in meter)

Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012 425

 Estimating Bridge Fundamental Frequency from Vibration Response of Instrumented Passing Vehicle:
Analytical and Experimental Study

measure bridge response and to estimate its modal impact force was at the quarter of the bridge length,
parameters. Vertical bridge accelerations were amplitudes of the second and third frequencies were
recorded at eight locations along the girder by placing higher than the first one. We could identify the first
uniaxial accelerometers inside the steel box girder frequency of the bridge at 2.17 Hz with damping ratio
(Figure 7). Initially ambient vibration test was of 2.28%. Table 1 provides the complete results of
conducted for several minutes, however, soon it was bridge frequencies and damping ratios identified by the
realized that the ambient excitation was insufficient to impact tests.
excite the fundamental vibration modes of the bridge
since hardly any sources of ambient excitation present
at the site. Note that the traffic around the bridge was Table 1. Bridge modal properties estimated from
completely stopped during the test. Therefore, we impact test
conducted an impact vibration test later on by dropping
Frequency Damping ratio
sandbag from a crane onto girder at several positions. Mode (Hz) (%)
The sandbag impact test could excite only the first few
vibration modes as shown in Figure 8. However, these 1st Symmetric bending 2.17 2.28
1st Asymmetric bending 5.44 1.01
results were adequate since we were only interested in 2nd Symmetric bending 11.94 0.51
the fundamental modes. Note that since the location of

140 140 14 14
11.9 5.4 5.4 Node 4
Node 1 11.9 Node 2 Node 3
120 120 12 12
Fourier amplitude (m/s)

100 100 10 10

80 80 8 8

11.9
60 60 6 6
11.9
2.17
2.17
40 40 4 4
2.17 2.17

20 20 2 2

0 0 0 0
0 10 20 0 10 20 0 10 20 0 10 20
Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz)

14 14 25 30
5.44 Node 5 5.44 Node 8
11.9 11.9
Node 6 Node 7
12 12
25
20
Fourier amplitude (m/s)

10 10
20
11.9 11.9 15
8 8
5.44 15 5.44
6 6
10
2.17 2.17 10
4 4
5
5
2 2

0 0 0 0
0 10 20 0 10 20 0 10 20 0 10 20
Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz)

Figure 8. Frequency spectra of bridge accelerations measured from impact test

426 Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012

Dionysius M. Siringoringo and Yozo Fujino
4.3. Vehicle Instrumentation and Dynamic
Characteristics in Stationary Condition
A light commercial vehicle Toyota Land Cruiser was
utilized as the inspection vehicle. The use of this type of
vehicle instead of special utility vehicle such as truck or
trailer was considered important since one of the
objectives of the study is to integrate the proposed
identification system into the current VIMS that also
utilizes a light commercial vehicle. Data acquisition
system in the inspection vehicle consisted of a portable
triaxial silicon-type accelerometer Model 2422 produced
by Silicon Designs Inc. and a GPS sensor (Figure 9). The
accelerometer was mounted on a thick and heavy steel
plate using an adhesive tape. Afterwards, the steel plate
was placed inside the car cabin on top of the car floor at
a point that had equal distance between the front and rear
wheels, as well as between the left and right wheels. This
location was selected to minimize the effect of pitch and
rolling motions since we emphasized only on the vertical
bouncing mode. The accelerometer was connected to a
small laptop for data acquisition. Even though the
accelerometers were of triaxial type, only the vertical
accelerations at the sampling rate of 1000 Hz were
analyzed this study.
To estimate frequency of the vehicle, we conducted a
simple jumping test when the vehicle was at a stationary
condition. Two persons simultaneously jumped off the
vehicle doors that were located at the center of vehicles
longitudinal axis, after giving sufficient initial vibration.
During the jumping test, the driver and data acquisition
operator were on the car and the engine was on to ensure
that the vehicle had the same mass and was in the same
condition as it would be in the moving vehicle experiment.
Quick release of mass in the instantaneous jumping is
expected to give the same effect as the pull-back-quick-
release free-vibration test commonly used in modal
testing. In the test, we targeted the vehicle bouncing mode
because it is the lowest mode that can be excited when a
vehicle moves with moderate driving velocity. As
mentioned previously the engine was kept on during the
Laptop for DAQ
Figure 9. Vehicle used in experiment and the VIMS system
Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012
(a)
0.4
Car acceleration (cm/s2)
Car free vibration response
0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0 0.5 1 1.5
Time (second)
(b)
PSD of free vibration part
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 10. Response of vehicle in stationary condition obtained
from jumping test: (a) time-history; (b) power spectra density of
the free-vibration part
stationary free-vibration test. Engine vibration presents at
high frequency range typically over 20 Hz, so its effect on
the vehicle response is considered insignificant compared
to the fundamental frequency of the bridge, vehicle and
driving velocity that are all below 5 Hz.
Modern commercial vehicles typically have high
damping to ensure comfortability of users. Therefore,
the impact vibration response lasted only for a very
short period. Figure 10 shows an example of vehicle
vertical response when subjected to jumping test. One
can see that one cycle of free vibration response lasts
only for about 0.68 seconds, which gives the estimate of
the first frequency around 1.48 Hz. The figure also
shows how quickly the response was damped out.
Estimation using logarithmic decrement gives the
damping of the first mode as high as = 2.35.
4.4. Bridge Response under Moving Vehicle
The experiment was conducted using four driving
velocities: 10 km/h, 20 km/h, 30 km/h and 40 km/h.
For each driving velocity, the vehicle passed the
bridge six times from both ends. In order to maintain
equal testing condition, the driver and DAQ operator
were onboard, and the recording conditions were
unchanged throughout the test. As mentioned
previously, eight accelerometers were placed inside
the bridge box girder to record bridge vertical motions
when vehicle moves across the bridge. Accelerations
were recorded with the pre-set field sampling
frequency 20 kHz. In analysis, they were later down-
sampled to 1000 Hz. Figure 11 describes examples of
427
 Estimating Bridge Fundamental Frequency from Vibration Response of Instrumented Passing Vehicle:
Analytical and Experimental Study

0.1 0.4
Node 7 Node 2
0.05 0.2
0 0
0.05 0.2
0.1 0.4
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20

0.1 0.1
Node 3 Node 5
0.05 0.05
0 0
Acceleration (m/s2)

0.05 0.05
0.1 0.1
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20

0.1 0.1
Node 4 Node 6
0.05 0.05
0 0
0.05 0.05
0.1 0.1
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20

0.4 0.1
Node 1 Node 8
0.2 0.05
0 0
0.2 0.05
0.4 0.1
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
Vehicle enters the bridge Vehicle leaves the bridge Vehicle enters the bridge Vehicle leaves the bridge
Time (second)

Figure 11. Examples of bridge accelerations under moving vehicle (v = 20 km/h)

the bridge accelerations recorded when vehicle run
with velocity 20 km/h. From the spike in
accelerations recorded by sensor node seven and node
eight located near the end of the bridge, we can
estimate the time when vehicle entered and left the
bridge. This was later confirmed by computing the
vehicle travelling time under constant driving
velocity.
In analysis, only sections of response
corresponding to the instance when the vehicle was on
the bridge were selected, and their Fourier spectra are
depicted in Figure 12. The spectra clearly show the
bridge first natural frequency dominates the total
bridge responses under moving vehicle. Table 2 lists
the identified bridge frequencies for several driving
velocities. The results clearly show that bridge
frequencies identified from the response under
moving vehicle are very similar with those identified
during impact test (Table 1). One frequency that
differs slightly is the first bending mode identified at
the range of 2.152.16 Hz. This value is slightly
smaller than the first frequency during impact test (i.e.
2.17 Hz), but still within acceptable margin of error.
The similarities between the frequencies identified
from moving vehicle and impact test suggest that
although the vehicle added extra mass to the whole
system when passing the bridge, the vehicle-to-bridge
mass ratio (i.e. Mv /Mb) was too small to produce
significant change to the systems ratio of stiffness
and overall mass. These results validate the
assumption of the vehicle-to-bridge mass ratio
expressed in Eqn 5.
4.5. Response of Vehicle when Passing the
Bridge
Figures 13(a) to 13(d) provide examples of vehicle
vertical acceleration for each driving velocity. As can be
seen, vehicle response during the first few seconds after
entering the bridge is highly contaminated by spikes
resulted from the wheels impact on expansion joint. The
vehicle bouncing and pitching modes are expected to
dominate this portion of the response, and therefore

428 Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012

Dionysius M. Siringoringo and Yozo Fujino

Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4

250 250 30 30
2.15 2.15
2.15 2.15
25 25
200 200
5.43 5.43
20 20
Fourier Amp

Fourier Amp

Fourier Amp

Fourier Amp
150 150
15 15
11.9 11.9
100 100
10 10

50 50 11.9 11.9
5 5

0 0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz)

Node 5 Node 6 Node 7 Node 8

30 30 25 25
2.15 2.15
25 25 5.43 5.43
20 11.9 20 11.9
5.43 5.43
20 20
Fourier Amp

Fourier Amp

Fourier Amp

Fourier Amp
15 15
15 15
2.15 2.15
10 10
10 10

11.9 11.9 5 5
5 5

0 0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz)

Figure 12. Frequency spectra of accelerations of the tested bridge under moving vehicle (v = 20 km/h)

Table 2. Bridge frequency (in Hz) estimated from
bridge acceleration subjected to moving vehicle
Vehicle velocity (km/h)
Mode 10
1st Symmetric bending 2.16
1st Asymmetric bending 5.42
2nd Symmetric bending 11.95
should be excluded from analysis. Figures 13(e) to 13(h)
show examples of vehicle accelerations after excluding
the effect of wheels impact in the beginning and the end
of the responses. Large vehicle damping and the
relatively smooth pavement condition apparently
suppressed the amplitude of acceleration to the maximum
of 0.05 cm/s2 and 0.1 cm/s2 for velocity 1030 km/h and
40 km/h respectively.
Figure 14 shows the power spectra densities of vehicle
accelerations for the four driving velocities. Spectra of
the first three velocities in Figures 14(a) to 14(c) show a
similar characteristic in that the response is dominated by
two large peaks at low frequency range below 3 Hz. In
addition, there is one small peak below 1 Hz in each
20 30 40 driving velocity whose value increases slightly as the
2.15 2.15 2.15
velocity increases. This peak seems to be the driving
5.43 5.42 5.45 frequency. The first large peak appears consistently in
11.94 11.94 11.90 the frequency range between 1.45 Hz to 1.52 Hz. This
frequency is very close to the result of the vehicle
jumping test (i.e. 1.48 Hz), and thus considered as the
vehicle natural frequency. The second large peak appears
in the frequency range of 2.32.4 Hz for each driving
velocity. This value is slightly higher than the first bridge
frequency identified previously from the impact test.
However, as explained in Section 3, we cannot identify
the exact value of bridge frequency from vehicle
response directly. Instead, it would be deviated slightly
by the frequency of driving velocity. To avoid confusion
we shall name the identified peak as estimated bridge
frequency to distinguish it from the bridge real

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 Estimating Bridge Fundamental Frequency from Vibration Response of Instrumented Passing Vehicle:
Analytical and Experimental Study

(a) 0.2 (e)

Vel: 10 km/h 0.1 Vel: 10 km/h

Acc (cm/s2)
Acc (cm/s2)
0.1
0 0
0.1
0.1
0.2
0 5 10 15 20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time (sec) Time (sec)

(b) 0.2 (f) 0.1

Vel: 20 km/h Vel: 20 km/h
Acc (cm/s2)

Acc (cm/s2)
0.1 0.05
0 0
0.1 0.05
0.2 0.1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time (sec) Time (sec)

(c) 0.4 (g) 0.2

Vel: 30 km/h Vel: 30 km/h
Acc (cm/s2)

Acc (cm/s2)
0.2 0.1
0 0
0.2 0.1
0.4 0.2
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (sec) Time (sec)

(d) 0.4 (h)

Vel: 40 km/h 0.2 Vel: 40 km/h
Acc (cm/s2)

Acc (cm/s2)

0.2
0 0
0.2
0.2
0.4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Time (sec) Time (sec)

Figure 13. Vehicle accelerations while passing the bridge for velocity: (a) 10 km/h; (b) 20 km/h; (c) 30 km/h; (d) 40 km/h. Selected vehicle
acceleration after excluding the initial impact responses for velocity: (e) 10 km/h; (f) 20 km/h; (g) 30 km/h; (h) 40 km/h

frequency. We note that the estimated bridge frequency
and the frequency of vehicle on the spectra can be clearly
observed during the velocity 10 km/h and 20 km/h. For
higher velocity (i.e. 30 km/h), however, the vehicle
frequency cannot be clearly identified in several trials
because their amplitudes were small and masked by the
driving frequency peaks. Furthermore, the bridge
frequency cannot be identified clearly at velocity
40 km/h [Figure 14(d)]. At this velocity, the vehicle
bouncing frequency (1.47 Hz) appears to dominate the
response and seems to mask the bridge frequency as
indicated by small peak around 2.4 Hz. It is cleear from
the spectrum that the vehicle bouncing mode has large
damping as indicated by wide band under the peak
associated with the vehicle bouncing frequency.
In all cases, we can only identify the first frequency
of the bridge from the vehicle response. There are small
peaks in the frequency range of 5.25.5 Hz that is the
range of the bridge second frequency, but they do not
appear consistently, and their amplitudes are small.
From the results of six trials for each driving velocity
(Table 3), one can notice that the values of estimated
bridge frequency are relatively consistent, indicating
good repeatability of the identification result. Variations
of the estimated bridge frequency are within acceptable
range with the maximum coefficient of variation is 4%.
4.6. Accuracy of Estimation Results and
Practical Considerations
Analytical solution of the vehicle response indicates the
presence of two frequency peaks associated with bridge
frequency: b = b v/L (Eqn 15). However,
considering that = v/L was very small (i.e. 0.02 Hz,
0.05 Hz and 0.07 Hz for driving velocity 10 km/h,

430 Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012

Dionysius M. Siringoringo and Yozo Fujino

(a) 0.07 (b) 0.2

2.44
Vel = 10 km/h
0.06

0.15 Vel = 20 km/h

PSD of acceleration 0.05 2.38

PSD of acceleration
1.44
0.04
0.1
0.03
1.52
0.02
0.05
0.01

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

(c) 0.2 (d) 1.4

Vel = 30 km/h 1.47 Vel = 40 km/h
1.2
0.15 2.44
PSD of acceleration

PSD of acceleration
1

0.8
0.1
0.6 Bridge
frequency
0.4
0.05 1.47
0.2

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Figure 14. Power spectra density of the vehicle accelerations while passing over the bridge with velocity: (a) 10 km/h; (b) 20 km/h;
(c) 30 km/h; (d) 40 km/h

Table 3. Estimated bridge frequencies (in Hz) obtained from vehicle acceleration when passing the bridge

Velocity 10 km/h Velocity 20 km/h Velocity 30 km/h

Bridge* Bridge Bridge* Bridge Bridge* Bridge
estimated disc** estimated disc** estimated disc**
Trial no Vehicle (Hz) (Hz) (%) Vehicle (Hz) (Hz) (%) Vehicle (Hz) (Hz) (%)
1 1.46 2.32 5.83 1.52 2.32 4.74 1.46 2.44 9.19
2 1.52 2.38 8.59 1.58 2.3 3.82 2.41 7.81
3 1.45 2.44 11.36 1.57 2.32 4.74 2.32 3.66
4 1.41 2.44 11.36 1.47 2.2 0.79 2.32 3.66
5 1.47 2.38 8.59 1.52 2.38 7.51 1.47 2.44 9.19
6 1.47 2.25 2.60 1.47 2.4 8.43 2.32 3.66
Mean 1.46 2.37 1.52 2.32 1.46 2.38
std 0.04 0.07 0.05 0.07 0 0.06
c.o.v (%) 2.42 3.12 3.09 3.04 0.01 2.61

*) Bridge estimated frequency: value of frequency peak that associated with bridge frequency
**) Bridge discrepancy: disc = festimated factual/factual 100% where the factual = 2.17 Hz obtained from impact test

20 km/h and 30 km/h, respectively) both frequency of estimated bridge frequency and the analytical value,
peaks were very closely spaced and as a result, they one can observe that the estimated bridge frequency is in
appeared as one frequency peak. Comparing the value fact b + = b + v/L. Using this relationship, we can

Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012 431

 Estimating Bridge Fundamental Frequency from Vibration Response of Instrumented Passing Vehicle:
estimate the bridge first frequency by subtracting from
the estimated bridge frequency. As a result, the first
estimated bridge frequency based on Figure 14 becomes
2.41 Hz, 2.27 Hz and 2.37 Hz, for the velocity 10 km/h,
20 km/h, and 30 km/h, respectively. Assuming that the
actual first frequency of the bridge is 2.17 Hz, as
suggested by the impact test, the margin of error of the
identification can be computed. In this case, the error is
defined as e = festimated factual/factual. Table 3 shows
the identification error is in the range of 2.6 11.4%.
This is the level of accuracy suggested by experiments
and should be accepted as limitation of the identification
method. This implies that when judging whether the
bridge has suffered from a significant damage that
changes its frequency, only the frequency changes
larger than the identification margin of error can be
considered statistically significant.
The experiment results also show that the bridge
frequency can be estimated when vehicle velocity does
not exceed 30 km/h. When the vehicle moves with
velocity larger than 30 km/h, the vehicle bouncing mode
dominates the response and as a result, the bridge
frequency cannot be identified. Higher velocity also
creates technical and practical difficulties such as:
(1) increasing the wheel bouncing impact on expansion
joint at the entrance of the bridge, (2) resulting in shorter
response and thus poor resolution of frequency response
spectrum.
For practical consideration, knowledge of vehicle
frequency is important to distinguish the vehicle natural
frequency from the other frequency peaks in the
spectrum. Therefore, conducting modal testing of the
vehicle prior to bridge testing is recommended.
However, when vehicle frequency is not known a priori,
or when the modal testing does not give a reasonable
result, one possible technique to differentiate the bridge
frequency from other frequencies is by changing the
mass of vehicle. This can be accomplished by adding
more mass on the vehicle and conducting several test
conditions with different mass and different driving
velocity. If the change in the vehicle mass is large
enough to alter the vehicle frequency, then one can
expect the frequency peaks associated with vehicle
frequency to change according to mass conditions. With
noticeable changes in the peaks of vehicle frequency and
driving frequency, we can conclude the unaffected peaks
as the one that correspond to the bridge fundamental
frequency. This procedure can be repeated several times
using various mass weights and driving velocities.
5. CONCLUDING REMARKS
In this paper, we have described a study on indirect
bridge frequency estimation using the response of
432
Analytical and Experimental Study
instrumented passing vehicle. It has been shown
analytically using a model of two-axle vehicle-bridge
system that response of a vehicle when passing a bridge
is influenced by frequency components that are
functions of vehicle velocity, vehicle frequency, and
bridge frequency. By setting the driving velocity
constant and employing the prior knowledge of vehicle
frequency, the fundamental frequency of the bridge can
be estimated reasonably from vehicle response.
A full-scale experimental verification has been
conducted to investigate the feasibility of identification
system. The experiment verification was conducted on
a short-span simply-supported bridge using a light
commercial vehicle Toyota Land Cruiser and the VIMS
data acquisition system. Experiment has shown
promising results in that the first frequency of the
bridge can be identified with reasonable accuracy under
moderate driving velocity below 30 km/h with the
maximum estimation error being 11.4%. Repeatability
of the identification results has also been confirmed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge invaluable
assistance from Dr. Tomonori Nagayama and Dr. Hung
Minh Dinh during experiments and for helpful
discussion throughout the study. This work is part of
research supported by Japanese Grant-in-Aid for
Scientific Research (PI: Yozo Fujino) whose financial
assistance is gratefully acknowledged.
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NOTATION
frequency = bi, i.e. i-th frequency)
E Youngs modulus of the bridge
vi frequency due to spring ki and mass Mv
( )
I moment inertia of bridge
L total length of the bridge vi = ki / M v
Kb structural stiffness matrix of the bridge vehicle driving frequency ( = v/L)
Mb structural mass matrix of the bridge i bridge i-th mode shape i (vt) = sin(ivt/L)
Cb structural damping matrix of the bridge 2
Mv vehicle mass vehicle frequency = vi2
J mass moment of inertia of vehicle i =1
mi mass of the unsprung load (wheel i) logarithmic damping of the vehicle vertical
mb mass of the bridge per unit length vibration
cb bridge uniform damping coefficient vehicle-to-bridge mass ratio ( = Mvg/Mb)
ci damping coefficient of wheel i

Advances in Structural Engineering Vol. 15 No. 3 2012 433

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