Modal properties identification of a novel sandwich footbridge - Comparison of measured dynamic response and FEA

A modern sandwich composite footbridge made of high-tech materials, being an example of practical application of laminated composites in civil engineering, is presented. The in situ non-destructive testing of the footbridge, aiming to identify modal properties and pedestrian comfort, is described. The measured eigenmodes and eigenfrequencies are compared with numerically estimated values. Finite element analyses of the footbridge are performed with aid of pure equivalent single layer shell and shell-solid models using Abaqus 6.14 environment. Application of the models is assessed basing on the obtained results in the field of footbridge dynamic response description capabilities.