Field dynamic testing on a Cyprus concrete highway bridge using Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)

Abstract

The aims of the bridge management authorities are to ensure that bridges fulfil their purpose and functionality during their design life. So, it is important to identify and quantify the deterioration of the structural condition early so that a timely application of an intervention will avoid more serious problems and increased costs at a later stage. A measure to enhance the effectiveness of the existing structural evaluation by visual inspection is instrumental monitoring using sensors. The activities performed in this process belong to the field of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). The SHM offers opportunities for continuous or periodic monitoring on bridges and technological advances allow nowadays the employment of wireless sensors networks (WSN) for this task. A SHM application using WSN was implemented on a multi-span reinforced concrete (RC) highway bridge in Limassol with the objective to study its dynamic characteristics and performance. Part of the specific bridge will be replaced and this offered a unique opportunity for measurements before and after construction so that apparent changes in the dynamic characteristics of the bridge will be identified after the repairing work. The measurements provided indications on the frequencies and mode shapes of the bridge and the response amplitude during the passing of traffic. The latter enabled the investigation of the dependency of the bridges structural damping to the amplitude of vibration induced by the passing of traffic. The results showed that as the excitation increases the magnitude of modal damping increases as well.