Statistical Damage Identification Techniques Applied to the I-40 Bridge over the Rio Grande River

The statistical significance of vibration-based damage identification parameters is studied via application to the data from the tests performed on the Interstate 40 highway bridge in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A test of statistical significance is applied to the mean and confidence interval estimates of the modal properties and the corresponding damage indicators. The damage indicator used in this study is the change in the measured flexibility matrix. Previously presented deterministic results indicate that damage is detectable in all of the damage cases from these data sets. The results of this study indicate that the changes in both the modal properties and the damage indicators are statistically significant for all of the damage cases. However, these changes are distributed spatially for the first three damage cases and do not localize the damage until the fourth and final damage case.