Examining Environmental Changes on Concrete Bridges with the Help of Local Distance Correlation

Abstract

To investigate the influence of environmental effects on concrete bridges, local distance correlation (LDC) is used due to its ability to accommodate the nature of environmental data, namely local stationarity. Similarities and differences of these influential variables can be identified with the help of LDC. Moreover, LDC pattern based upon weather phenomena and natural frequencies as well as crack widths show relations between their respective temporal progresses. These findings are illustrated by data from a test bridge in Munich and a bridge for vehicles in Bochum, Germany.