Abstract
Civil infrastructure is expanding around the world. The ever-growing trend toward urbanization drives the demand for new investments. However, the new constructions and gradual deterioration of those already existing, especially bridges, give rise to concerns about their proper maintenance. To improve safety and drive down maintenance costs of civil structures, there is a need for inexpensive sensing systems capable of reliable and automated monitoring. In this study, we present a new concept of thin-film strain sensors arranged in an array with a concentric layout that is incorporated into a flexible substrate sheet. The designed sensor array is intended to analyze strains in the proximity of round holes made at the crack tips, found in the investigated construction elements of civil structures. In this study, the performance of the sensor array was demonstrated using measurements taken on a highway bridge in one of the largest cities in Japan. We show that it can measure local strain distribution and indicate a region with risk for crack formation. The demonstrated results show new area of potential applications for the printed strain sensors in monitoring civil structures.
Highlights
Regular maintenance inspection of civil structures such as bridges is an essential element for their proper functioning and safety
We focused on local strain measurements in the proximity of damage-sensitive elements of steel bridges, where defects were already found and temporarily repaired using the crack-stop hole
A sensing system composed of 25 printed strain sensors arranged in an array with a concentric layout was demonstrated
Summary
Regular maintenance inspection of civil structures such as bridges is an essential element for their proper functioning and safety. To improve the safety of civil structures and reduce maintenance costs, there is a need for reliable and inexpensive methods for automated monitoring of strains around the crack-stop holes. We focused on local strain measurements in the proximity of damage-sensitive elements of steel bridges, where defects (e.g., cracks) were already found and temporarily repaired using the crack-stop hole. With this regard, resistive strain gauges were chosen for implementation in this work. The currently available strain sensors are used for diverse applications and the previously reported research is promising, to date, there is no proper solution that is dedicated specially to crack-stop hole monitoring. The demonstrated good performance of the printed sensors has great potential for practical use in monitoring civil infrastructures
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