Structural identification-based condition assessment: a demonstration of methods applied to a laboratory scale model testbed

This paper reports on results from an ongoing project to study structural identification-based approaches to the condition assessment of constructed facilities. Under such an approach baseline and sequentially identified system models would be used comparatively to track changes in system parameters and to infer the onset, location, and extent of structural damage, deterioration, and/or defects. As part of the initial phases of this research a scale model grid representing a steel girder highway bridge was designed constructed, instrumented and tested at the University of Cincinnati. This paper presents the development, testing, and analysis of this scale model structure and offers the data generated as a benchmark problem on structural identification for the members of the research community.