Use of Structural Health Monitoring Techniques for a Forensic Study of Bridge Accidents

This paper presents an overview of a real-time web-based continuous monitoring system for the Vincent Thomas Bridge (Los Angeles, California). An effectiveness multi-thread bridge monitoring system architecture is shown. Using the bridge monitoring system, the bridge response to seismic activity, bridge-ship collision,and ambient vibration were measured, and the bridge modal frequencies were successfully determined with vibration-based identification methods.