TY - CONF A1 - Auersch, Lutz A1 - Said, Samir A1 - Rohrmann, Rolf ED - Döhler, Michael T1 - Modal analysis of road and rail bridges for damage detection and resonance prediction N2 - In the 1980s, the Federal Institute of Material Research and Testing started with modal analysis measurements of some bridges before and after repair. For one of the bridges, a structural health monitoring was installed 1994 which is still working up to now. It has been modified and extended several times. The monitoring was extended from the critical span to three neighbouring spans. A modal analysis of the whole bridge with seven spans have been done three times, twice together with EMPA of Switzerland. Additional calibration measurements have been done and additional evaluation procedures have been implemented for the monitoring of the steadily increasing loads from the road traffic. Additional sensors were installed such as strain gauges, crack-width, and temperature sensors. The strong influence of the temperature on the natural frequencies has been studied over the years. Later, a temperature compensation has been established and a weak aging trend has been found in the monitoring data. Now, the bridge will be demolished and replaced by a new bridge. Some results of this long-term monitoring will be shown and possible damages (changes of the pre-stress or the support structure) will be discussed. A second application of modal analysis will be demonstrated: the prediction of the resonances due to passing trains. The response of a bridge to passing trains can be calculated in frequency domain as the multiplication of three spectra, the axle sequence spectrum of the train, the transfer function of the bridge, and the modal force spectrum of a single passing load. A resonance occurs if a maximum of the train spectrum coincides with the maximum of the bridge spectrum. The amplitude at this resonance is strongly influenced by the modal force spectrum which is identical to the frequency or wavenumber spectrum of the corresponding mode shape. Therefore, modal analysis from calculation, impact measurements, wind and train measurements are necessary for the prediction of the resonance occurrence and amplification. Examples of mode shape spectra for single or multi-span bridges with simply supported or continuous spans will be shown, and some relations between mode shapes and resonance amplifications will be concluded. T2 - 11th International Operational Modal Analysis Conference (IOMAC) CY - Rennes, France DA - 20.05.2025 KW - Bridge monitoring KW - Multi-span bridges KW - Damage detection KW - Resonance PY - 2025 SP - 39 EP - 46 PB - INRIA CY - Rennes AN - OPUS4-63473 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Auersch, Lutz A1 - Song, Jiaojiao T1 - Analysis of intact and damaged (floating) slab tracks by finite-element boundary-element models and by measurements N2 - The damage detection and repair control have become important tasks for slab tracks. Different intact and damaged slab tracks have been investigated theoretically and experimentally for train passages and hammer impacts. The following damages have been considered: The loss of contact between the sleeper and the track slab, between the track slab and the base slab, and between the base slab and the base layer. At first, a slab track with a gap between the track slab and the base layer has been calculated by the combined finite-element boundary-element method which correctly incorporates the behaviour of the infinite soil. The basic results are the track displacements of the rail, the track slab, and the base layer along the track which are caused by a single axle load. These solutions are properly superposed for to get the complete train load. The influence of track and soil parameters and of the track damage has been analysed. For the intact track, the compliance of the soil is dominant whereas the track bending stiffness becomes more important for the damaged track. By comparing the calculated results with the measurements, the length of the gap could be quantified. A slab track with a loose sleeper (without contact to the supporting track slab) was analysed by the transfer function between the displacements and the hammer force (receptance functions) where a resonance appeared in case of the damage. Differences between the different track elements confirmed the detection of the damage. A floating slab track with a thin rubber layer has been investigated for a possible gap between the base slab and the base layer. The behaviour of the intact track has been calculated by a wavenumber-domain method, and the same behaviour has been found in the measurements at several track sections, indicating that there is no damage. Finally, a floating slab track with steel springs and viscous fluid dampers has been measured in the Tongji laboratory. The modes of the floating track slab and the transfer function with corresponding resonances have been calculated and successfully compared with results from wheelset drop tests. T2 - Third International Conference on Rail Transportation (ICRT2024) CY - Shanghai, China DA - 07.08.2024 KW - Railway track KW - Damage KW - Vibration measurement KW - Finite element method KW - Boundary element method KW - Frequency response function KW - Moving load response KW - Floating slab track PY - 2025 SN - 978-0-7844-8594-1 SP - 591 EP - 600 AN - OPUS4-61267 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Baier, Johanna A1 - Wiehle, Philipp A1 - Thiele, Marc ED - Nille-Hauf, Konstantin T1 - Structural design of rammed earth – Influence of manufacturing parameters on the compressive strength N2 - At present, no structural design code for rammed earth exists that is based on the semiprobabilistic safety concept and adequately reflects the mechanical performance of modern rammed earth structures. This research aims to establish a scientifically grounded design framework for load-bearing rammed earth walls, incorporating the semi-probabilistic safety approach to ensure reliability and structural integrity. As a first step within the research project the influence of the manufacturing parameters of rammed earth on its mechanical properties are investigated. Compressive strength tests are carried out on cylinders produced with varying initial moisture contents and different compaction energies. Moreover, it is investigated whether the Proctor test according to DIN 18127 is suitable for determining the optimal moisture content (OMC) of rammed earth production. T2 - Earth Builder Summit EBS 2025 CY - Biberach, Germany DA - 06.03.2025 KW - Rammed earth KW - Structral design KW - Mechanical parameters PY - 2025 SP - 41 EP - 44 PB - Hochschule Biberach CY - Biberach AN - OPUS4-64343 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Baeßler, Matthias A1 - Simon, Patrick ED - Cunha, Álvaro ED - Caetano, Elsa T1 - Review of Ballasted Track Destabilization on Shake Table Tests N2 - Shake table tests have been used for a long time to understand the densification and fluidization of granular materials. While purely vertical shaking is quite unlikely to be found in vibration analysis when it comes to granular materials as soils, it has been found that the vertical vibration of railway bridge support structures can affect the fabric of the ballasted track on top. Starting from the experience at French railway lines with destabilizing track conditions on short bridges in high speed lines in the 1990s, various shake table test configurations have been used to investigate the destabiliza-tion of ballast at high acceleration levels. This article describes the effects of the variously investigated dynamic excitations of railway bridges on the bal-lasted track itself. T2 - 11th International Conference on Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Engineering Structures (EVACES 2025) CY - Porto, Portugal DA - 02.07.2025 KW - Infrastructure KW - Ballasted track KW - Ballast KW - Railway bridge dynamics PY - 2025 SN - 978-3-031-96105-2 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-96106-9_62 SP - 595 EP - 604 PB - Springer CY - Cham AN - OPUS4-64265 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Auersch, Lutz T1 - Characteristic Frequencies of Train-Induced Bridge, Track, Ground and Building Vibrations – Excitation and Mitigation N2 - The characteristic frequencies of train-induced vibrations are discussed in theory and experiment following the propagation of vibrations from the source to the receiver: 1. Out-of-roundness frequencies of the wheels, 2. sleeper-passage frequency, 3. the vehicle-track eigenfrequency, 4. band frequency of the impulses of the passing static axle loads, 5. car-length frequency and multiples, 6. axle-distance frequencies with two characteristic zeros, 7. bridge eigenfrequencies, 8. the cut-on frequency due to the layering, and 9. the cut-off frequency due to the material damping of the soil, 10. the building-soil eigenfrequency, 11. as a rigid building or flexible wall/column mode, 12. floor eigenfrequencies, 13. acoustic room resonances, 14. the „resonance“ frequency or cut-off frequency of a base isolation. Coincidences of some of these characteristic frequencies or frequency ranges can be typically problematic and mitigation measures at the track or at the building can be necessary. The bridge response to the passing static loads is deter¬mined by the axle-sequence spectrum, the eigenfrequency (transfer function) of the bridge, and the modal force or mode shape spectrum. The ground vibration has typically high frequencies for a stiff soil and low frequencies for a soft soil. The high amplitudes between the zeros of the axle-sequence spectrum are often measured in the ground vibrations, and they can be mitigated by soft support elements or a higher bending stiffness of the track. T2 - EVACES 2025 CY - Porto, Portugal DA - 02.07.2025 KW - Train-induced vibration KW - Vehicle excitation KW - Track response KW - Bridge resonance KW - Ground vibration KW - Soil-building transfer KW - Floor resonance KW - Axle-sequence spectrum KW - Vehicle-track eigenfrequency KW - Axle impulses PY - 2025 SN - 978-3-031-96113-7 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-96106-9_77 VL - 2025 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Springer CY - Cham, Schweiz AN - OPUS4-63655 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Simon, Patrick A1 - Baeßler, Matthias ED - Cunha, Álvaro ED - Caetano, Elsa T1 - On the reassessment of bridge superstructure vibrations for high-speed traffic N2 - The acceleration thresholds of bridge superstructures remain critical for designing and reassessing railway bridges on high-speed lines, with ballasted track systems historically limited to 3.5 m/s2 vertical accelerations due to destabilization risks. As part of the European InBridge4EU project, this study addresses methodological uncertainties in linking vertical bridge vibrations to lateral track creep—a key focus area for modernizing assessment protocols. A comparative analysis of two acceleration postprocessing methods (peak identification vs. fatigue-derived rainflow counting) as part of a recently proposed framework was conducted using an example bridge and train combination. Results demonstrate that rainflow counting yields more conservative creep estimates with the bulk of cumulative vibration-induced creep attributable to accelerations exceeding 3 m/s2. However, discretizing acceleration ranges into 1 m/s2 bins introduced significant errors compared to continuous cycle data, highlighting sensitivity to analysis parameters. These findings underscore the complexity of reconciling laboratory-derived harmonic vibration models with real-world bridge dynamics, where non-uniform acceleration patterns dominate. The research directly informs ongoing efforts to refine standardized criteria for ballasted track stability, particularly through the InBridge4EU project’s systematic re-evaluation of vibration limits and their engineering implications. By quantifying discrepancies between computational approaches, this work advances the development of robust protocols for predicting track degradation under high-speed operational loads. T2 - 11th International Conference on Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Enginering Structures (EVACES 2025) CY - Porto, Portugal DA - 02.07.2025 KW - Infrastructure KW - Railway bridges KW - Ballast destabilization KW - Acceleration limit KW - Ballasted track KW - Rainflow counting PY - 2025 SN - 978-3-031-96105-2 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-96106-9_53 VL - 675 SP - 506 EP - 515 PB - Springer CY - Cham AN - OPUS4-64267 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Liao, Chun-Man A1 - Bernauer, F. A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Igel, H. A1 - Hadziioannou, C. T1 - Assessment of prestress loss in a large-scale concrete bridge model under outdoor condition N2 - Environmental conditions affect the accuracy of field measurements used to monitor civil structures. Previous studies have shown that measured dynamic responses often lack the sensitivity needed for effective localized damage detection. To address this issue, our study focuses on distinguishing environmental effects from damage related effects in measured data to enhance vibration-based damage identification methods. Experimentally, the problem of prestress loss in a prestressed concrete bridge model was examined. By adjusting the pre-stressing force in a large-scale concrete bridge model, cracking phenomena were observed. To demonstrate field monitoring of a large-scale prestressed structure, noise recording was performed and the measurement data was analyzed with operational modal analysis. Additionally, ultrasonic testing, known for its high sensitivity in damage localization, was used to cross-check the structural damage. Seismic and coda wave interferometry were also employed to estimate wave velocities, providing insights into the level of prestress loss and temperature sensitivity. Ultimately, these measurable wave properties help to overcome the uncertainties associated with traditional vibration-based damage detection methods. T2 - EVACES 2025 CY - Porto, Portugal DA - 02.07.2025 KW - Prestress Loss KW - NDT KW - Ambient Vibration KW - Ultrasonic Testing KW - Coda Wave Interferometry KW - Seismic Interferometry PY - 2025 SN - 978-3-031-96105-2 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-96106-9_20 VL - 675 SP - 181 EP - 189 PB - Springer Nature CY - Cham AN - OPUS4-64212 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kulkarni, Kajol A1 - Kemmler, Samuel A1 - Schwartz, Anna A1 - Gedik, Gülçin A1 - Chen, Yanxiang A1 - Papageorgiou, Dimitrios A1 - Kavroulakis, Ioannis A1 - Iakymchuk, Roman T1 - Harvesting energy consumption on European HPC systems: Sharing Experience from the CEEC project N2 - Energy efficiency has emerged as a central challenge for modern high-performance computing (HPC) systems, where escalating computational demands and architectural complexity have led to significant energy footprints. This paper presents the collective experience of the EuroHPC JU Center of Excellence in Exascale CFD (CEEC) in measuring, analyzing, and optimizing energy consumption across major European HPC systems. We briefly review key methodologies and tools for energy measurement as well as define metrics for reporting results. Through case studies using representative CFD applications (waLBerla, FLEXI/GALÆXI, Neko, and NekRS), we evaluate energy-to-solution and time-to-solution on diverse architectures, including CPU- and GPU-based partitions of LUMI, MareNostrum5, MeluXina, and JUWELS Booster. Our results highlight the advantages of accelerators and mixed-precision techniques for reducing energy consumption while maintaining computational accuracy. Finally, we advocate the need to facilitate energy measurements on HPC systems in order to raise awareness, teach the community, and take actions toward more sustainable exascale computing. T2 - SCA/HPCAsiaWS 2026: SCA/HPCAsia 2026 Workshops: Supercomputing Asia and International Conference on High Performance Computing in Asia Pacific Region Workshops CY - Osaka , Japan DA - 26.01.2026 KW - Energy consumption KW - eEergy measurement KW - Energy-to-solution KW - Mixed-precision KW - HPC KW - CFD PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654175 DO - https://doi.org/10.1145/3784828.3785161 SP - 40 EP - 49 PB - ACM CY - New York, NY, USA AN - OPUS4-65417 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -