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Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges
It is quite simple! It adds safety and reduces maintenance costs to have structural health monitoring of road and railway bridges.
Poor maintenance of bridges has historically led to several unfortunate collapses. One of the most recent examples of this was the Ponte Morandi A10 motorway bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy, in August 2018. A 210-metre (690 ft) section of the bridge suddenly collapsed during a rainstorm, and an extensive analysis of the structural failure was conducted.
A DS-sensor solution from ElastiSense allows service personnel or authorities to continuously monitor bridge structures, such as the one in Genoa. Through the incoming data, it is possible to read the current state of the structure and subsequently plan maintenance and repairs way ahead of a possible disastrous collapse.
Staying in control of the maintenance costs and, more importantly, being able to stay proactive when it comes to maintenance and possible safety issues.
Rely on sensor solutions designed for harsh environments
The DS-sensor series consist of innovative displacement sensors. They are all designed and developed to operate in harsh environments, including outdoor locations where they will be exposed to rain, snow, dust, heat, cold, dirt, and all other sorts of weather-related obstacles.
Through a regime of strenuous tests, the DS-sensors are continually tested to ensure immaculate and unaffected performance through changing seasons – year after year.
Stay in control with a DS-Sensor bridge monitoring solution
The main purpose of structural health monitoring of bridges is to control safety and economy. For authorities it is a question of damage detection and having a characterization strategy for the monitored structures. Aging or degradation will eventually affect structure performance and will – in worst cases – cause structural damage or even collapse.
By monitoring these structures, you are able to do predictive maintenance and thereby prevent damage and disaster. Mounted to a bridge, DS-sensors will typically provide a detailed measurement of any movement in joints, bearings, or suspensions, and allow you to measure the relative distance between the abutments and the seat of the bridge, or even cracks in the structure.
Why the future belongs to elastic DS-sensors
ElastiSense’s unique and truly innovative DS-sensors are amazingly durable, extremely strong, and are highly efficient for a stretchable sensor. The DS-sensors are fully encapsulated in high-grade silicone rubber with embedded electronics. This makes them resistant to almost any kind of environmental or weather-related challenge. Rated IP68, they cope with external influences, such as rain, snow, dust, dirt, wind, UV-radiation, extreme heat and freezing cold.
The stretch sensor technology combined with the silicone rubber encapsulation makes the sensors bendable in all directions and tolerant to over-stroke and misalignment. The technology offers an efficient and optimal alternative to non-contact or cylinder-based sensor solutions, and installation is easy-as-pie. Furthermore, the sensors require no maintenance.
Altogether, the DS-sensor series are utterly superior to other sensor solutions when it comes to bridge health monitoring.
Real-life health monitoring of bridges
DS-sensors have proven very efficient in several different bridge health monitoring projects around the world. Here are a few examples:
Denmark: The ‘Munkemølle Bridge’ is located in southern Denmark. Here the local municipality uses the sensor-produced data to determine what state the bridge is in and to decide which maintenance initiatives to engage in.
Read the full case-story about the Munkemølle Bridge or watch the video below.
Norway: The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens Vegvesen) has mounted two DS-sensors on a bridge near (location?). The two sensors measure the relative displacement between the abutments and the seat of the bridge. Displacement is typically caused by changes in temperature and load variations, and the precise data from the sensors help the administration follow wear and tear, fatigue, and potential crack generation on the bridge. The overall purpose is to enable preventive measures and perform predictive maintenance on the bridge.
Read the full case-story about the Norwegian bridge
USA: In the state of Virginia the Department of Transportation (VDOT) installed a total of twelve DS20-sensors on one of their bridges. The sensors were installed to monitor the bridge bearings. This sensor data is used to understand how the bridge moves, to predict maintenance, and to estimate how many more years the bridge can remain in operation.
Read the full case-story about bridge monitoring in Virginia
All cases mentioned have the DS-sensor series in common, and all utilizes the technology to enable preventive measures and plan predictive maintenance on set bridges.
If you want to learn more about the DS-sensors and ElastiSense’s innovative Displacement Sensor Technology, please visit the section: DS-Sensors
For specific enquires, do not hesitate to reach out for more information – either using our contact form or by email or phone