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An ambient vibration survey of the Humber Bridge was carried out in July 2008 by a combined team from the UK, Portugal and Hong Kong. The exercise had several purposes that included the evaluation of current technology for instrumentation and system identification and the generation of an experimental data set of modal properties to be used for validation and updating of finite element models for scenario simulation and structural health monitoring. The exercise was conducted as part of a project aimed at developing online diagnosis capabilities for three landmark European suspension bridges.Ten stand-alone triaxial acceleration recorders were deployed at locations along all three spans and in all four pylons during five days of consecutive one-hour recordings. Time series segments from the recorders were merged, and several operational modal analysis techniques were used to analyse these data and assemble modal models representing the global behavior of the bridge in all three dimensions for all components of the structure.The paper describes the equipment and procedures used for the exercise, compares the operational modal analysis (OMA) technology used for system identification and presents modal parameters for key vibration modes of the complete structure. suspension bridge operational modal analysis structural identification 4

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a b s t r a c tThis tutorial paper aims to introduce the topic of operational modal analysis to nonspecialists on the subject. First of all, it is stressed the relevance of this experimental technique particularly in the assessment of important civil infrastructure. Then, after a synthesis of required theoretical background, three of the most powerful algorithms for output-only modal identification are presented. The several steps of these identification procedures are illustrated with the processing of data collected on a concrete arch bridge with a span of 280 m. As the use of operational modal analysis in the context of structural health monitoring is a subject under active research, this theme is also introduced and briefly exemplified with data continuously recorded at the same bridge.