The fluid-structure interaction under seismic excitation is very complicated, and thus the damage identification of the bridge in deep water is the key technique to ensure the safe service. Based on nonlinear Morison equation considering the added mass effect and the fluid-structure interaction effect, the effect of hydrodynamic pressure on the structure is analyzed. A series of underwater shaking table tests are conducted in the air and in water. The dynamic characteristics affected by hydrodynamic pressure are discussed and the distribution of hydrodynamic pressure is also analyzed. In addition, the damage of structure is distinguished through the natural frequency and the difference of modal curvature, and is then compared with the test results. The numerical simulation and test of this study indicate that the effect of hydrodynamic pressure on the structure should not be neglected. It is also found that the presence of the damage, the location of the damage and the degree of the severity can be judged through the variation of structure frequency and the difference of modal curvature.
A three-step damage identification method based on dynamic characteristics is proposed to improve the structure reliability and security and avoid serious accident. In the proposed method, the frequency and difference of modal curvature(DMC) are used as damage indexes. Firstly, the detection of the occurrence of damage is addressed by the frequency or the square of frequency change. Then the damage location inside the structure is measured by the DMC. Finally, with the stiffness reduction rate as a damage factor, the amount of damage is estimated by the optimization algorithm. The three-step damage identification method has been validated by conducting the simulation on a cantilever beam and the shaking table test on a submerged bridge. The results show that the method proposed in this paper can effectively solve the damage identification problem in theory and engineering practice.