Experimental study on impact force identification of ship-bridge collision using smart piezoelectric sensors

Abstract

The bridges over navigation waterways are exposed to ship collision and ship-bridge collision accidents have been widely reported worldwide. The measurement of ship impact force during a collision accident is of great importance for condition assessment of ship-collided bridges and subsequent strategic actions made by the bridge authority. The impact force of ship-bridge collision is usually evaluated by use of the measured structural responses during ship collision and an identification algorithm, but the accuracy is limited. In this paper, a method for direct impact force identification of ship-bridge collision using smart piezoelectric sensors is proposed. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by experimental study on a scale pier model of a cable-stayed bridge. The piezoelectric sensors are embedded into the scale pier model and the impact force is generated by a hammer. Various impact sceneries are taken into account to investigate the capacity of the piezoelectric sensors for impact force identification. Through acquiring the voltage signals from the piezoelectric sensors at different locations, the impact force is identified with the aid of the calibrated relationship between the impact force and the voltage output.