Study of the Reasonable Acquisition Frequency Evaluation Method of Midspan Deflection of Medium- and Small-Span Beam Bridges
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe reviewer thanks the authors for their contribution. The article is appreciated because the findings are useful information for assessment applications of small and medium-span concrete beam bridges which, in turn, represent the infrastructures with the most severe conditions. Nonetheless, the goal of the article must better be explained within abstract, introduction and conclusions. Furthermore, the publication in the “Applied Sciences, MDPI” is not recommended unless the following suggestions are taken into account:
1) Please polish the abstract. Please add sentences to explain the meaning, the main points, the improvement and the promising application of the work. The logic should also be improved.
2) Introduction. The current state of knowledge relating to the topics of the article has not been covered and clearly presented, and the authors’ contributions and findings are not emphasized. In this regard, the authors should make their effort to address these issues.
3) Introduction. In the literature, the experimental fundamental frequency has been used to predict the prestress losses in simply supported concrete bridges. Such a measurement can furnish some reliable indications on the existing prestress losses when the concrete girder-bridges are subjected to a severe cracking. Please refer to this issue through the following references:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2016.09.017
- https://doi.org/10.12989/sem.2021.77.1.001
4) The geometric and mechanical characteristics of the simply supported concrete T-beam bridge, which have been considered, have not clearly been illustrated. Please provide more information and introduce figures with schemes of the concrete bridge.
5) The information of the Finite Element (FE) model of the simply supported concrete T-beam bridge, which has been considered, has not clearly been illustrated. Please provide more information and introduce figures of the corresponding FE model. Moreover, please insert tables which list the types of FE used, with the corresponding amounts within the FE model and mesh sizes of the bridge.
6) It seems that the authors did not consider the presence of the cables inside the concrete T-beam bridge (Figures 2-3). Steel tendons affect the first and second-order natural vibration frequencies of concrete bridges. Please justify the reasons regarding this important point.
7) Please change the term “mid-span” with the term “midspan”.
8) Percentage comparison errors and differences must be reported with one decimal only within the text.
9) The further work should be mentioned at the end of the article. Please mention.
10) Additional comments should be added in regard to the practical value of this work, and how the industry can profit from this article. Besides, are the authors intended to develop some machine learning methods for SHM and assessment of concrete bridges using dynamic measurements ?
11) The English should be checked and improved. Please also check the grammar. It is suggested that the authors should ask a native speaker in English, with expertise in “structural engineering”, to edit the whole article.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageEnglish language requires an extensive editing.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe novelty of the research work is weak.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsReviewer comments attached
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe reviewer thanks the authors for revising their contribution. Nevertheless, comment 3 has not properly been addressed in the introduction:
In the literature, the experimental fundamental frequency has been used to predict the prestress losses in simply supported concrete bridges. Such a measurement can furnish some reliable indications on the existing prestress losses when the concrete girder-bridges are subjected to a severe cracking. Please refer to this issue through the following references:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2016.09.017
- https://doi.org/10.12989/sem.2021.77.1.001
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageEnglish language requires a moderate editing.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authorsok
Author Response
First of all, thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to review my paper and provide valuable suggestions. I have edited the paper again in English and polished the sentences, and further to the content of the paper added explanation, make the article more complete.. Finally, thank you again for your valuable advice to me.
