Structural Health Monitoring
Bridge monitoring is included in the more general Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and is generally referred to as the design, development, and implementation of damage detection or characterization strategy for real-time assessment of structural conditions with considering safety and economy.
Bridge structural health monitoring systems typically consist of the following stages:
Bridge SHM (Bridge structural health monitoring systems) typically includes monitoring a structure over a certain period of time, whether for short- or long-term damages, deflections, or settlement by using an appropriate array of smart sensors and devices.
NEXT Industries uses in its systems intelligent sensors for the detection and extraction of data; the subsequent data analysis allows to determine the current state of the bridge structure (for example it shows how much the ground of the poles has settled and / or deviated from its original reference point) and it is continuously updated, with the possibility of sending alarms in case of exceeding the established thresholds.
Bridges monitoring systems can be vibration-based (changes, degradation, and damages due to vibration forces) or strain-based.
IoT technology is ideal for this type of applications, where large volumes of digital data must be managed and it is possible to access, collect, and analyze data real time and remotely, without the need, for instance, of shutting down bridges to perform field inspections with human workers in the loop.
The analysis of the collected data can provide essential information for the correct interpretation of the general structural state of the bridge, in particular for particularly complex structures where subsidence or cracking degradation phenomena of the concrete have occurred: in such cases, monitoring is strongly recommended 24/7.
Data obtained by remotely monitoring buildings sets the foundation towards effective predictive maintenance approaches.
