Computational & Technology Resources
an online resource for computational,
engineering & technology publications
Civil-Comp Proceedings
ISSN 1759-3433
CCP: 106
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWELFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATIONAL STRUCTURES TECHNOLOGY
Edited by:
Paper 94

Development of a Bus Monitoring System for Long Term Health Monitoring of Short- and Medium-Span Bridges

A. Miyamoto and H. Emoto

Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamaguchi University, Japan

Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper
A. Miyamoto, H. Emoto, "Development of a Bus Monitoring System for Long Term Health Monitoring of Short- and Medium-Span Bridges", in , (Editors), "Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Computational Structures Technology", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 94, 2014. doi:10.4203/ccp.106.94
Keywords: short-span bridges, medium-span bridges, public bus, condition assessment, vibration, structural health monitoring, field test, practical application, characteristic deflection, information technology..

Summary
Bridge health monitoring using information technology and sensors is capable of providing more accurate knowledge of bridge performance than traditional strategies. In this paper, a new condition assessment method for existing short- and medium-span reinforced or prestressed concrete bridges is proposed based on vibration monitoring data obtained from a public bus. This paper not only describes details of a prototype monitoring system that uses information technology and sensors capable of providing more accurate knowledge of bridge performance than conventional ways but also shows specific examples of bridge condition assessment based on vehicle vibrations measured by using an in-service public bus equipped with vibration measurement instrumentation. This paper also describes a sensitivity analysis of deteriorating bridges based on simulation of the acceleration response of buses conducted by the "substructure method" employing a finite element model to verify the above bridge performance results. The main conclusions obtained in this study can be summarized as follows: (1) Because the vibration responses of passenger vehicles, such as buses, have a good linear relationship with the vibration responses of the target bridges, the proposed system can be used as a practical monitoring system for bridge condition assessment. (2) The results of sensitivity analysis performed by the substructure method show that bus vibration responses are useful for evaluating target bridge performance. (3) The proposed method was applied to a network of real bridges in a local area to evaluate its effectiveness. The results indicate that the proposed method can be used to prioritize the repair or strengthening works of existing bridges based on various vibration information in order to help bridge administrators establish rational maintenance strategies.

purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20)

go to the previous paper
go to the next paper
return to the table of contents
return to the book description
purchase this book (price £65 +P&P)