Development of a Low-Cost, Continuous Structural Health Monitoring System for Bridges and Components

The Iowa State University Bridge Engineering Center developed a low-cost, continuous structural health monitoring system that can be used to monitor typical girder bridges. The developed structural health monitoring system can be grouped into two main categories: an office component and a field component. The office component is a structural analysis software program that can be used to generate thresholds which are used for identifying isolated events. The field component includes hardware and field monitoring software which performs data processing and evaluation. The hardware system consists of sensors, data acquisition equipment, and a communication system backbone. The field monitoring software has been developed such that, once started, it will operate autonomously with minimal user interaction. In general, the structural health monitoring system features two key uses. First, the system can be integrated into an active bridge management system that tracks usage and structural changes. Second, the system helps owners to identify overload occurrence, damage, and deterioration.