Evaluation of dynamic properties of the Infante Dom Henrique Bridge

Abstract

The Douro valley at Porto is crossed by several outstanding bridges linking the cities of Porto and Gaia, like the centenary metallic Maria Pia and Luiz I Bridges or the concrete Arrábida and S. João Bridges. Recently, a new crossing was constructed and open to road traffic in the vicinity of these well-known bridges: the Infante D. Henrique Bridge. The evaluation of the most relevant dynamic properties of the bridge, after completion, was developed by the Laboratory of Vibrations and Monitoring of FEUP, using both experimental and numerical tools. This study allowed to achieve an experimentally validated finite element model of the bridge, which may constitute a baseline model for future damage detection studies. In this context, the present paper describes the main features of the developed work and presents the obtained results, stressing the excellent correlation achieved between measured and calculated dynamic properties.