Search

Steel structures subject to dynamic loads are prior to generate excessive vibration and noise. Viscoelastic treatment is an effective measure to mitigate the vibration and noise from thin-walled structures in a broad frequency range. H-shaped steel beams are widely used in civil engineering. So an experiment system is established and a series of impact hammer tests are conducted to assess the modal parameters, dynamic response and acoustic behaviour of an H-shaped steel beam coated with various viscoelastic treatments. Firstly, the spectra of the velocity response and acoustic radiation of the bare beam are analysed based on the tested data. Secondly, the resonance frequencies and modal loss factors of the beam with various viscoelastic treatments derived from the frequency response function are compared. Finally, the effect of the layout and thickness of viscoelastic patches on the mitigation of vibration and noise is discussed experimentally. It is shown that the modal loss factor of the first mode increases from 0.012 to 0.191 when the web is treated with 5 mm thick constrained layer damping (CLD). The viscoelastic patches on the web of the H-shaped beam are more effective to control the vibration and noise of the beam than the patches on the flanges. The viscoelastic treatment has distinct effect on the reduction of structural vibration and noise owing to the different dominant frequencies of vibration and noise as well as the frequency-dependent radiation efficiency. The normal velocity level of the H-shaped beam with an 8 mm thick web can be reduced by more than 10 dB and the sound pressure level around the beam about 8 dB when the web is partially covered with the constrained layer damping composed of 2.0 mm thick damping layer and 3.0 mm thick constraining layer.

This study proposes a frequency domain vehicle-track coupling model for the CRTS (China railways track system)-III type damping track system based on the two-dimensional vehicle-track-viaduct coupling model, and utilizes dynamic compliance method to determine the dynamic compliance for the vehicle and track systems. The accelerations for the viaduct are hereinafter obtained and are compared between CRTS-III damping track system and conventional CRTS-III track system, and the structure-borne noises for near field and far field of the viaduct are assessed with finite element method (FEM). The acoustic contribution rates for the substructures of the viaduct to the near-field and far-field noises are analyzed. The results reveal that in comparison with the conventional CRTS-III system, the CRTS-III damping track system can mitigate the viaduct acceleration peak with 69.9%, and mitigate the average acceleration with 60.4%. The near field and far field noise measurement points are captured for the CRTS-III damping track system, the sound pressure levels decline by 8.15 dB and 8.36 dB, respectively. The acoustic contribution rates for the viaduct top plate reach 65.28% and 68.30%, respectively. The viaduct top plate thus becomes the major noise source and the damping track system can effectively mitigate the structure-borne noise of the viaduct.

Footbridges usually suffer from vibrations induced by the actions of pedestrians, which calls for various control measures to improve the serviceability. This study described the dynamic analysis and Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) implementation for a single-pylon cable-stayed footbridge scaled model, aimed at providing an experimental case study regarding of vibration control design of slender structures. A scaled model for the real footbridge was designed based on similarity principles. Then, the dynamic behavior of the footbridge was assessed by ambient vibration tests. The natural frequencies and mode shapes were identified from operational vibration measurements by covariance-driven stochastic subspace identification algorithm. The frequency of first vertical bending modes is 2.10 Hz, falling into the human walking frequency range [1.6, 2.4] Hz. Therefore, the footbridge needs vibration control to improve its serviceability. Finally, a self-made TMD using lead, spring and oil buffer was implemented on the scaled model of the footbridge. The laboratory forced vibration test was employed to illustrate the effectiveness of the TMD. By installing TMD, the acceleration response at mid-span of the footbridge was remarkably reduced. The study could provide meaningful reference for vibration control design of the full-scale footbridge.

Computational cost reduction and the best solution seeking are frequently encountered during model updating for complex structures. In this study, a hybrid algorithm using kriging model and genetic algorithms (GAs) is proposed for updating the Finite Element (FE) model of complex bridge structures employing both static and dynamic experimental measurements. The kriging model is first established to approximate the implicit relationship between structural parameters and responses, serving as a surrogate model for complex FE model when deriving analytical responses. An objective function is later defined based on the residual between analytical response values and experimental measured ones. GAs are finally employed to find the best solution by searching on the whole design space of updating parameters selected based on a sensitivity analysis. To verify the proposed algorithm, Caiyuanba Yangtze River Bridge, a double decked of roadway and light railway bridge with a main span of 420 m is used. Both frequencies and displacements predicted by the updated model are more close to experimental measured ones. The results show that the kriging surrogate model has good accuracy in predicting response and can be used as a surrogate model to reduce computational cost, and GAs provide a higher chance to obtain global best solution.