17 - Long-term wireless structural monitoring of operational bridges

Abstract

Wireless sensors are a rapidly maturing technology well suited for installation in large-scale civil engineering structures. When compared with wired counterparts, wireless sensors enjoy lower costs and less complex installations making them attractive to many structure owners. Given the important role bridges play in transportation systems, the cost advantages of wireless sensing are especially attractive to the bridge engineering community. This chapter reports on five deployments of wireless structural monitoring systems on operational bridge structures. The aim of the chapter is to highlight noteworthy case studies that have advanced the state of the art in wireless monitoring. First, two early short-term deployments are presented including a dense wireless monitoring system on the Golden Gate Bridge in California and a smaller deployment on the Stork Bridge in Switzerland. Next, two long-span bridges (Jindo Bridge, Korea, and the New Carquinez Bridge, California) are presented where long-term deployments have been made possible based on hardening the wireless sensing hardware and resolving power constraints. The last case study on the Telegraph Road Bridge in Michigan presents a permanent wireless monitoring system deployed on a short-span slab-on-girder highway bridge for assessment of structural performance and health. In all of the studies presented, the hardware and software design of the wireless system is highlighted along with lessons learned from short- and long-term deployments.