Load rating of the Indian River Inlet Bridge using a structural health monitoring system
Date
2013
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
As the average age of our transportation infrastructure increases, it becomes
critical that the methods for identifying changes and evaluating the structural integrity
of the bridge be both robust and accurate. Structural health monitoring can provide
great benefits to the inspection and evaluation process by providing quantifiable data
that can be used to identify changes in the structure and determine the condition of the
structure. In this research, the strain data obtained from the structural health
monitoring system on the Indian River Inlet Bridge was used to both create an
accurate finite element model of the bridge as well as to load rate the critical element
of the bridge, the west edge girder. Three load tests were performed in order to
establish the baseline response of the bridge and to develop a finite element model. A
parametric study of the model was performed to evaluate the sensitivity of the model
to changes in structural parameters such as concrete strength, effective width of the
edge girder deck section, and boundary conditions. A load rating on the west edge
girder was performed incorporating the load test data and compared to a load rating
based on the finite element model results. Based on the load test, a load rating
adjustment factor of 1.14 was calculated, showing a possible increase of 14% over the
purely analytical load rating. This research works to increase the base of knowledge
of structural health monitoring systems used for load rating and, specifically, serves as
an important example of long term monitoring of stay cable bridges.