Damage detection of gusset plate condtion in truss bridges based on wavelet packet energy percentage

This paper investigates the possibility and effectiveness of using a recently developed relative displacement sensor for the damage detection of gusset plate conditions in steel truss bridges. The developed sensor is an innovative design offering some advantages and unique features, and is a much easier and cheaper method of structural health monitoring due to the simplicity of its direct measurement of relative displacement without the need for a stable reference point. To investigate the potential applications of the developed sensor to the damage detection of joint conditions, a steel truss bridge model is fabricated in the laboratory and installed with the developed sensors to detect the loosen bolt damage in the gusset plates by using measured relative displacements. Those measured relative displacement measurements from the free vibration tests of both the undamaged and damaged truss models are analyzed, and a damage index based on the wavelet packet energy percentage change is used to detect the existence of the loosen bolt damage in steel truss bridges. Experimental studies demonstrate that the developed relative displacement sensor has a sensitive performance to indicate the joint conditions in steel truss bridges.