An interdisciplinary team of Drexel engineers have developed a new
solar-powered, wireless system to monitor bridge deformation 24/7. The
system could help inspectors identify bridges in need of repair and prevent
catastrophic failures, according to
Ivan
Bartoli, PhD, professor of civil, architectural and
environmental engineering.
The system consists of displacement sensors, solar cells and wireless
transmitters. Multiple sensors can be mounted on a bridge without wiring,
transmitting continuous data on bridge movements. This allows for early
detection of structural problems.
“With as much aging infrastructure as there is in the U.S. we need a way to
keep a close eye on these critical assets 24/7,” said Bartoli. “This is an
urgent need, not just to prevent calamitous and often tragic failures, but
to understand which bridges should take priority for maintenance and
replacement.”
Fei Lu, PhD
, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, postdoctoral
researcher Mustafa Furkan, and PhD student Yao Wang helped develop the
system. Wang led optimization of the solar power supply to ensure
uninterrupted monitoring, even in harsh weather.
Bartoli said the low-maintenance, durable system could enable continuous
monitoring of thousands of bridges, not just problematic ones. Data on
bridge deformation under traffic loads and environmental factors would help
inspectors identify needed repairs.
The research was published in the IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected
Topics in Industrial Electronics and was funded by the Federal Highway
Administration’s Accelerating Market Readiness program.