Time Series Analysis of Bridge Cracks Under Temperature Effect

Abstract Based on the inspection data of a bridge crack in service in Nujiang City, the relationship between temperature change and bridge crack width change was analyzed, and the correlation between crack width before expansion and temperature and time in the short term was analyzed. The respective correlations were analyzed by multiple linear regression of their crack widths with time and temperature using a self‐programmed function in Madlab. The analysis found that the correlation between the change in bridge crack width before expansion and the change in temperature in the short term was high, while the correlation between crack width before expansion and time was poor. It was also found that temperature and crack width showed their exponential changes. Based on the above characteristics, we applied the time series analysis method to establish a model of crack width change under the influence of temperature and we used this model to derive a prediction formula that is consistent with it. We predicted the change of crack width under temperature change in the short term according to its prediction formula and we compared it with the measured value, and the results showed that this model has high accuracy.