Synchronized Assessment of Bridge Structural Damage and Moving Force via Truncated Load Shape Function

Moving load and structural damage assessment has always been a crucial topic in bridge health monitoring, as it helps analyze the daily operating status of bridges and provides fundamental information for bridge safety evaluation. However, most studies and research consider these issues as two separate problems. In practice, unknown moving loads and damage usually coexist and influence the bridge vibration synergically. This paper proposes an innovative synchronized assessment method that determines structural damages and moving forces simultaneously. The method firstly improves the virtual distortion method, which shifts the structural damage into external virtual forces and hence transforms the damage assessment as well as the moving force identification to a multi-force reconstruction problem. Secondly, a truncated load shape function (TLSF) technique is developed to solve the forces in the time domain. As the technique smoothens the pulse function via a limited number of TLSF, the singularity and dimension of the system matrix in the force reconstruction is largely reduced. A continuous beam and a three-dimensional truss bridge are simulated as examples. Case studies show that the method can effectively identify various speeds and numbers of moving loads, as well as different levels of structural damages. The calculation efficiency and robustness to white noise are also impressive.

Streben of the I as the Fundamental Form of Consciousness

This paper aims to show that Fichte’s concept of Streben or striving of the I is the necessary condition of finite or individual consciousness. The I posits itself absolutely, but in doing so it posits the not-I as well, therefore it posits itself absolutely as self-limiting I. If there was no limitation on the infinite striving of the I’s activity, then there would be no I, at least as we know it. Firstly, the paper emphasizes why this activity or striving needs to be infinite, and at the same time determined. Then, why is it necessary for theoretical self-consciousness, regarding the idea of Anstoss, divided self and absolute I. Finally, why is it also necessary for practical standpoint, considering the ideas of practical striving, tendency, longing, drive, and desire (both in individual striving towards self-coherence and social drive for intersubjectivity). It will be concluded that the I possesses a “dual nature” or divided character: it is finite, but it strives towards infinity. The tension arising from this contradiction should be the moving force of the I.

Dynamic Response Analysis of a Forced Fractional Viscoelastic Beam ∗

In this paper, dynamic response analysis of a forced fractional viscoelastic beam under moving external load is studied. The beauty of this study is that the effect of values of fractional order, the effect of internal damping, and the effect of intensity value of the moving force load on the dynamic response of the beam are analyzed. Constitutive equations for fractional order viscoelastic beam are constructed in the manner of Euler–Bernoulli beam theory. Solution of the fractional beam system is obtained by using Bernoulli collocation method. Obtained results are presented in the tables and graphical forms for two different beam systems, which are polybutadiene beam and butyl B252 beam.

Le sage et son mystique

The Sage and His Mystic. A Look at the Correspondence Between Henri Pourrat and Jan Čep Henri Pourrat (1887-1959) is inextricably linked to his region of Auvergne and his work as well as his personality have left an indelible mark there. Although his influence gradually faded away after the Second World War, it can be measured by a veritable mass of letters exchanged with countless correspondents. He enjoyed a reputation as a writer, the success of which was confirmed by the award of the Grand Prix du Roman de l’Académie Française to the whole of Gaspard des montagnes in 1931 and by the award of the title of Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 1928. Jan Čep (1902-1974) was the translator of his works into the Czech language. Pourrat had sympathy for him because of the poetic inspiration that Čep drew from the same sources as him-self, that is, from the rustic world of the countryside, from its myths and legends. Pourrat perceived Čep as mystical because his work emanates from the deep metaphysical dimension. Faith thus plays the role of a bridge between the two men. For both of them it is the moving force in their lives. This is a full literary and spiritual contact that this article highlights.

A Novel Acceleration-Based Moving Force Identification Algorithm to Detect Global Bridge Damage

This paper presents a new moving force identification (MFI) algorithm that uses measured accelerations to infer applied vehicle forces on bridges. Previous MFI algorithms use strain or deflection measurements. Statistics of the inferred forces are used in turn as indicators of global bridge damage. The new acceleration-based MFI algorithm (A-MFI) is validated through numerical simulations with a coupled vehicle-bridge dynamic interaction model programmed in MATLAB. A focussed sensitivity study suggests that results are sensitive to the accuracy of the vehicle velocity data. The inferred Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), calculated by A-MFI, is proposed as the bridge damage indicator. A real weigh-in-motion database is used with a simulation of vehicle/bridge interaction, to validate the concept. Results show that the standard deviation of inferred GVWs has a good correlation with the global bridge damage level.

atrever-se a uma escrita infantil: a infância como abrigo e refúgio

The present text is a childlike exercise in writing. In responding to an invitation to write an adult, academic text, we the authors found that the presence of a child's standpoint acted to change the expressions that were to be elucidated, and that the project that adult writing represents was suspended by the creative force of childhood. "Philosophy for children" became "children for philosophy"; "moral education" became "the end (of) morality" and "conceptions of childhood" became the "childhood of conceptions." As such our text is divided into different sections, in each of which we explore the implications of allowing ourselves to be transformed in our practice by recognition of the child’s voice; the problematization of conventional educational programmatics for one, and the opening of new pedagogical pathways, which recognize childhood as a moving force of thinking, as opposed to an object of study and manipulation. To this end, we engage several interlocutors from different fields--literature, philosophy, education, "philosophy for children", and from chronological children themselves. We conclude by proposing, based on an encounter with the work of H. Cisoux and J. Derrida, that we think about the relations between deconstruction and childhood in such a way that our affirmation of childhood leads to a transformation of the text itself—not only in its content but in its form. As such, we present the reader with a fundamentally childlike text.