Drive-by bridge inspection from three different approaches

This study presents a vibration-based health monitoring strategy for short span bridges utilizing an inspection vehicle. How to screen the health condition of short span bridges in terms of a drive-by bridge inspection is described. Feasibility of the drive-by bridge inspection is investigated through a scaled laboratory moving vehicle experiment. The feasibility of using an instrumented vehicle to detect the natural frequency and changes in structural damping of a model bridge was observed. Observations also demonstrated the possibility of diagnosis of bridges by comparing patterns of identified bridge dynamic parameters through periodical monitoring. It was confirmed that the moving vehicle method identifies the damage location and severity well.