An investigation of the changes in the natural frequency of a pile affected by scour

Scour around bridge foundations is one of the leading causes of bridge failure. Up until recently, the monitoring of this phenomenon was primarily based around using underwater instrumentation to monitor the progression of scour holes as they develop around foundation systems. Vibration-based damage...

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Main Authors: Prendergast, L.J., Hester, D., Gavin, K., O’Sullivan, J.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2013
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55005/
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author Prendergast, L.J.
Hester, D.
Gavin, K.
O’Sullivan, J.J.
author_facet Prendergast, L.J.
Hester, D.
Gavin, K.
O’Sullivan, J.J.
author_sort Prendergast, L.J.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Scour around bridge foundations is one of the leading causes of bridge failure. Up until recently, the monitoring of this phenomenon was primarily based around using underwater instrumentation to monitor the progression of scour holes as they develop around foundation systems. Vibration-based damage detection techniques have been used to detect damage in bridge beams. The application of these vibration based methods to the detection of scour has come to the fore in research in recent years. This paper examines the effect that scour has on the frequency response of a driven pile foundation system, similar to those used to support road and rail bridges. The effect of scour on the vibration characteristics of the pile is examined using laboratory and field testing. It is clear that there is a very clear reduction in the natural frequency of the pile as the severity of scour increases. It is shown that by combining state-of-the-art geotechnical techniques with relatively simple finite element modelling approaches, it is possible to accurately predict the natural frequency of the pile for a given scour depth. Therefore, the paper proposes a method that would allow the estimation of scour depth for a given observed pile frequency.
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spelling nottingham-550052018-09-17T10:32:59Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55005/ An investigation of the changes in the natural frequency of a pile affected by scour Prendergast, L.J. Hester, D. Gavin, K. O’Sullivan, J.J. Scour around bridge foundations is one of the leading causes of bridge failure. Up until recently, the monitoring of this phenomenon was primarily based around using underwater instrumentation to monitor the progression of scour holes as they develop around foundation systems. Vibration-based damage detection techniques have been used to detect damage in bridge beams. The application of these vibration based methods to the detection of scour has come to the fore in research in recent years. This paper examines the effect that scour has on the frequency response of a driven pile foundation system, similar to those used to support road and rail bridges. The effect of scour on the vibration characteristics of the pile is examined using laboratory and field testing. It is clear that there is a very clear reduction in the natural frequency of the pile as the severity of scour increases. It is shown that by combining state-of-the-art geotechnical techniques with relatively simple finite element modelling approaches, it is possible to accurately predict the natural frequency of the pile for a given scour depth. Therefore, the paper proposes a method that would allow the estimation of scour depth for a given observed pile frequency. Elsevier 2013-08-09 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by_nc_nd https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55005/1/UCDLukePrendergast_PileScour.pdf Prendergast, L.J., Hester, D., Gavin, K. and O’Sullivan, J.J. (2013) An investigation of the changes in the natural frequency of a pile affected by scour. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 332 (25). pp. 6685-6702. ISSN 0022-460X http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2013.08.020 doi:10.1016/j.jsv.2013.08.020 doi:10.1016/j.jsv.2013.08.020
spellingShingle Prendergast, L.J.
Hester, D.
Gavin, K.
O’Sullivan, J.J.
An investigation of the changes in the natural frequency of a pile affected by scour
title An investigation of the changes in the natural frequency of a pile affected by scour
title_full An investigation of the changes in the natural frequency of a pile affected by scour
title_fullStr An investigation of the changes in the natural frequency of a pile affected by scour
title_full_unstemmed An investigation of the changes in the natural frequency of a pile affected by scour
title_short An investigation of the changes in the natural frequency of a pile affected by scour
title_sort investigation of the changes in the natural frequency of a pile affected by scour
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55005/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55005/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55005/