Monitoring and Identification of Vibration Frequencies on a Portion of México City Metro Line 12

Abstract

The use of recursive subspace-based identification methods is analyzed in the estimation of the most significant vibration frequencies along an elevated railroad segment of México City Metro Line 12 using ambient vibration measurements recorded from 2012, when the line was opened, to 2018. Due to the railroad characteristics, the use of high-order models and the systematic tuning of the methods are required to achieve low uncertainty in frequency estimation. A frequency history is generated using these high-order models in order to check for variations along the seven years where important events took place: two low- and one high-intensity earthquakes, paving, and construction of sidewalks and planters around the sensor station. Results are consistent for all methods under analysis in the identified frequencies, suggesting that the system has preserved its structural health. To produce independent results, spectral analysis was performed showing that the associated frequency history is again consistent with that generated with recursive subspace-based identification methods. Overall, results indicate that these subspace methods are suitable for frequency monitoring in the studied system offering, in the case of recursive N4SID, important advantages in terms of low computational cost, real-time implementation, and smaller uncertainty.