Visiting Research Seminar-Institute for Infrastructure Engineering

Address (Room): Conference Room, ZG60, Kingswood Campus

Date: Friday 7 September 2012
Time: 12pm to 2pm (Light lunch will be provided)
Venue: Conference Room, ZG60, Building Z, Kingswood Campus

Presenter: Professor Siu-seong Law, Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Title of the seminar:
Condition Assessment of the Tsing-Ma Suspension Bridge Deck

Brief abstract of the seminar:
All existing methods for damage detection down to element level are suitable for a small to medium-size structure, and they are difficult for application to a large scale structure. In the evaluation of a bridge structure, initial information on the geometry and material properties of the structure should be available as a reference basis. Dynamic structural responses arising from external excitations are collected and input into an algorithm of structural evaluation to obtain an estimation on the location and extent of local anomalies. However, information of the structure is plenty for a large structure. The supports and connections in the structure may not be accurately modelled. This would lead to a low accuracy of evaluation and sometimes not feasible to evaluate the structure with existing algorithms.

The seminar addresses this problem with a new technique of assessment by dividing a large bridge structure into different smaller portions (substructures) with clearly defined connections. A target substructure that contains some significant components that need close monitoring is selected while the presence of other substructures is represented by the interface forces at the boundary (connection) with adjacent substructures. Dynamic accelerations measured from the substructure under excitation are used to estimate the interface forces between the target substructure and its adjacent substructures. The accuracy of this new method is judged from the accuracy of the reconstructed interface forces and the final condition evaluation result. This new technique is firstly illustrated with a box-sectioned bridge deck. The additional problems arise in application to the Tsing-Ma Suspension bridge deck structure, e.g. selection of the target bridge deck, selection of the optimal sensor locations and selection of excitation type, are further discussed.

Biography
He received the bachelor degree in Civil Engineering and the degree of Master of Philosophy from University of Hong Kong in 1972 and 1984, and the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from University of Bristol, United Kingdom, in 1992, respectively. Currently, he is a full professor at Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He conducts research on structural condition assessment and moving load identification, such as new modelling technology, new system identification and model updating methods for large civil structures. He has more than 235 technical publications including more than 139 refereed journal SCI papers with the h-index equals 21, and two books by Taylor and Francis.

Professor Law is the associate editor of the international journal of Advances in Structural Engineering, and an editorial board member of the international journal of Structural Engineering and Mechanics.

 
For catering purposes, please RSVP to r.stoddart@uws.edu.au by COB Monday 3 September 2012.
Please advise if you have any special dietary requirements.

Speakers: Professor Siu-seong Law, Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

r.stoddart@uws.edu.au

Phone: 4736 0106

School / Department: Institute for Infrastructure Engineering