Bridge Health Monitoring Using Fleet Vehicle Loads
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for monitoring bridge health status under normal traffic conditions are either disruptive to traffic or resource-intensive, and there is a growing need for cost-effective and easy-to-implement solutions due to the aging infrastructure and limited maintenance resources.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing a fleet of heavy vehicles with known weights and vision-based displacement measuring systems to acquire physical data on bridge integrity under normal traffic conditions, allowing for continuous monitoring without disrupting traffic, using cameras and image processing to measure displacements and account for other vehicles' configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If bridge monitoring is performed using traditional methods with defined loads and vehicles of known masses, then measurement precision of load-dependent deformations is improved, but the bridge must be closed to traffic which causes loss of time and productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from static load testing to dynamic monitoring by capturing bridge deformations during normal traffic flow. Multiple cameras record the bridge structure while vehicles pass through, allowing deformation measurement under dynamic loading conditions without requiring bridge closure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the bridge's own traffic as the loading source for monitoring. Instead of requiring external test vehicles and人工 setup, the normal traffic flowing through the bridge provides the necessary loads for structural assessment, making the bridge monitor itself during its normal operation.
2Productivity
If bridge monitoring is performed under normal traffic conditions using existing methods, then productivity is improved by avoiding bridge closure, but device complexity increases due to multiple sensors and synchronization requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The camera system serves multiple functions: it records bridge structure deformations, captures vehicle images for identification, and provides temporal synchronization markers. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized sensors and simplifies the overall monitoring system architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing system that automatically correlates camera images with deformation data using vehicle identification and timestamp matching. This intermediary layer simplifies the complexity by providing automated data fusion rather than requiring direct complex synchronization between multiple independent sensor systems.
3Measurement precision
If a fleet of heavy vehicles with known weights is used for monitoring, then measurement precision of bridge response is improved, but the quantity of substance increases due to requiring multiple vehicles
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the bridge's own traffic as the loading source for monitoring. Instead of requiring external test vehicles and人工 setup, the normal traffic flowing through the bridge provides the necessary loads for structural assessment, making the bridge monitor itself during its normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring bridge deformations in response to passing vehicles and using this information to assess structural health. The deformation measurements feed back into the evaluation model to determine if the bridge structure is responding normally to expected loads, providing ongoing verification without requiring additional vehicles.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables continuous, non-disruptive monitoring of bridge health status, providing robust and cost-effective integrity data that can be used to assess load-bearing capacity and structural integrity, reducing the need for frequent closures and expert involvement.
Implementation Method 1
the at least one sensing device is a vision-based displacement measuring system
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~6
Figure 7~8
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a method for monitoring a health status of one or of a plurality of bridges (10) under normal traffic condition. The method comprises: a) providing at least one sensing device (12) per bridge configured to measure a physical quantity variation related to the integrity of said one or said plurality of bridges; b) providing a fleet of heavy vehicles (14), wherein an estimation of the weight of each heavy vehicle is known with a deviation of no more than 10% of the actual weight of each heavy vehicle; c) acquiring a set of physical data related to the integrity of said one or said plurality of bridges (10) from said at least one sensing device (12) when at least one heavy vehicle of the fleet crosses one bridge (10); d) determining the configuration of other vehicles (15a, 15b, 15c, 15d, 15e) on the bridge, if any, when said at least one heavy vehicle (14) crosses said one bridge; e) repeating steps c) and d) in order to acquire multiple sets of physical data related to the integrity of said one or said plurality of bridges (10) so that the number of sets of integrity data associated with one bridge (10) permits to measure or observe a deviation, and c) obtaining a health status of said one or said plurality of bridges based on the deviation between said multiple sets of physical data associated with one bridge.