Analyzing the Dynamic Behavior of Suspension Bridge Towers Using GPS

A.P.C. Larocca, R.E. Schaal, M.C. Santos, R.B. Langley

Abstract:	The aim of this work is to characterize the dynamic oscillation of the top of the towers of a suspension bridge with GPS and to analyze the resulting values by Fourier analysis and wavelet transform. It is a complementary research about the analysis of the dynamic movements of the Pierre-Laporte Suspension Bridge in Quebec City, Canada. A previous work [Larocca et al., 2005b] analyzed the deck’s movements of this bridge. Suspension bridge fundamentally consists of cables anchored to the earth at their ends and supported by towers at intermediate points. From these cables, a floor or 'deck' is suspended. Therefore, the towers have to be flexible enough to allow for changes in length due to live loads and temperature. Theoretically, the tower can be assumed as a thin beam. GPS data were collected at the towers of the bridge. The data sets were collected by researchers from the Centre de Recherché en Géomatique at Université Laval in July 1996. One GPS receiver was installed on the top of each of the towers, both 110 m in height, whereas a third receiver was placed on the ground, used as reference. Two 3-hour GPS sessions with a data-sampling interval of 2 seconds were collected. As no other sensors were used for measuring the deflections, the conclusions about the results are supported by theoretical values.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2006) September 26 - 29, 2006 Fort Worth Convention Center Fort Worth, TX
Pages:	1477 - 1487
Cite this article:	Larocca, A.P.C., Schaal, R.E., Santos, M.C., Langley, R.B., "Analyzing the Dynamic Behavior of Suspension Bridge Towers Using GPS," Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2006), Fort Worth, TX, September 2006, pp. 1477-1487.
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