Stiffness Separation Method for Damage Identification of Steel Truss Bridge: Exploring Diverse Separation Interfaces

Abstract

Effective identification and quantification of bridge damage are critical for ensuring infrastructure safety and longevity. This study introduces a damage identification approach for steel truss bridges based on the stiffness separation method. This method simplifies large‐scale problems by partitioning structures into substructures through separation interfaces. To enhance interface adaptability, the method conducts distinct analyses of nodes and members and a combined analysis involving both. A case study of the New Yellow River Bridge validated the effectiveness of the proposed method. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the Nelder–Mead (NM) simplex and Interior Point (IP) methods was performed across various damage and separation scenarios. The findings confirm the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method for damage detection, highlighting its importance for maintaining the safety of large bridge structures.