Abstract:
Real-time reliable monitoring of the dynamic and deflection behavior of flexible structures such as long span bridges is of great interest for civil engineer. For many years, monitoring the dynamic behavior of engineering structures has relied on measurements made by accelerometer and anemometer. GPS receivers with a capability of resolving motion at the centimeter level with sampling rates of 10 Hz and higher are now available. Previous studies demonstrated the feasibility of deploying Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS method for the dynamic monitoring of structures. Recently, researcher has suggested a novel method based on the use of Real-Time Kinematic GPS technique in inversed mode : with mobile 'base station' and fixed 'rover' to monitor the movement of an interested entity in instantaneous mode. This research aims to assess the performance of Real-Time Kinematic and Inversed Real-Time Kinematic GPS techniques for detecting vertical movement of the Rama 8 Bridge. Several tests conducted in this study confirmed that the RTK method produced more realistic results than the inversed RTK method especially when the bridge model was non-stationary. It was also noticed that the inversed RTK method gave unacceptable results when the bridge model was sharply moving. Furhermore, it was found that the inversed RTK results could be improved by post-processing the raw data. Therefore, the inversed RTK method is not recommended to be used for detecting the vertical movement of the Rama 8 Bridge.