Damage detection in prestressed concrete bridges using moving-loads

This paper focuses on the condition assessment and the early damage detection in bridges. The main objectives are to discuss the “in-service” behaviour of reinforced and prestressed concrete bridges under moving-loads and to assess the feasibility of detecting damage such as prestress- losses using moving-loads data. A reduced-scale laboratorial model of a reinforced and prestressed concrete frame was chosen as the case study. Firstly, the baseline condition, in which the structure is assumed to operate normally, is thoroughly characterized. The prestressing strands tensioning was monitored and the results are carefully analysed, and the structural response of the frame under moving-loads is discussed. Second, a 15% prestress loss has been prompted and the structural response recorded under moving-loads in this damaged condition is used to demonstrate the feasibility of detecting the structural condition change based on moving-loads data.