Conception of Long-span Bridge Health Monitoring and Monitoring System Design

A primary objective of long-span bridge health monitoring is to obtain the information on bridge condition through online monitoring of the structural performance.Also,health monitoring helps to verify the design approaches and to validate the analytical models of bridge structures.In addition,the unknown issues and the uncertainties involved in the structural mechanics and the environmental condition of a long span bridge may be studied through health monitoring.In this paper,after a brief overview of the development of bridge health monitoring,the connotation of bridge health monitoring is pointed out in an extended sense.Related issues on the design of monitoring system,including the principles of system design and the monitoring items for long span bridges are discussed.