Tower bridge movement analysis with GPS and accelerometer techniques: Case study Yonghe tower bridge

This study investigates the possibility of using Wden Matlab function and Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) method for bridge tower movement analysis. GPS and accelerometer techniques were used to collect the lateral displacements, acceleration and torsion displacements data of a Yonghe bridge lower. The analysis of test results indicate that the: (1) noise of GPS signals is high (2) signals accuracy obtained from the wden function increased by 20%; (3) traffic loads are the main factor affects the tower movement; (4) power spectral density is a good parameter to detect the tower movements and (5) GPS can be used as a trustworthy tool for characterizing the dynamic behavior of the low frequency bridges.