Modal parameter identification in civil structures via Hilbert transform ensemble with improved empirical wavelet transform

To overcome the inaccurate frequency band division in empirical wavelet transform (EWT) induced by high noise and modulation edge band, this study proposes an improved EWT (IEWT) and applies it to operational modal analysis (OMA) in civil structures. The IEWT segments the frequency band using spectral trend determined with removing the high-frequency components of the Fourier spectrum. The synchroextracting transform is employed to denoise the frequency components obtained from IEWT combined with the random decrement technique and Hilbert transform to identify modal parameters. The effectiveness of IEWT and the proposed modal analysis method is comprehensively verified by a full-scale cable-stayed footbridge. The results demonstrate that the proposed IEWT, random decrement technique, and Hilbert transform can accurately identify the modal parameters from multi-setup ambient vibration measurements.