Experimental Study on Damage Detection of a Continuous Girder Bridge Based on Wavelet Packet Energy Accumulated Variation Index

Based on the ability of catching the change of energy distribution in frequency band for changing in the structure condition by the wavelet packet analysis method, the wavelet packet energy accumulated variation index was proposed to distinguish structural damage in the paper. And the damage index was applied into the damage recognitions of a two-span continuous girder bridge model. The results of measured acceleration time history from three different kinds of excitation ways, including vehicle excitation, environment excitation and hammer excitation, indicated that, the wavelet packet energy accumulated variation index could be applied in the structure damage recognition feasibly and effectively. Uniting more than one damage identification index results is possible to distinguish the different structural damage condition accurately. This damage index in the paper is suitable to all three kinds of acceleration response from different excitation sources, which shows that this index has the universal serviceability.