Multimetric Monitoring of a Historic Swing Bridge

Abstract

The Rock Island Arsenal Government Bridge, built over the Mississippi River in 1896 between Rock Island, IL and Davenport, IA, is just one of over two hundred bridges owned by the United States Army. The swing span of the Rock Island Arsenal Government Bridge has the ability to rotate 360° in either direction and can lock each end of the span on either abutment. The bridge carries highway and rail traffic; the swing span allows for the passage of barge traffic on the river. The Army regularly inspects and maintains their bridges to ensure their functionality. To supplement the regular inspections of the swing span of the Government Bridge, the US Army Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) has installed a structural health monitoring system composed of both a fiber optic sensor network and a wireless smart sensor network. This multi-framework system measures strain, acceleration, and orientation and uses these metrics to perform structural health monitoring of the bridge. The monitoring is designed to automatically record the measured changes in strain caused by swing events and record the accelerations measured during train events and other scheduled times of day. The integrated monitoring system has been successful in recording the necessary multimetric sensor data and using it to monitor the swing span of the Government Bridge.