Structural Health Monitoring System for Ironton-Russell Bridge, Ohio and Kentucky

The monitoring of bridge structures during construction has received significant attention in recent years as accelerated construction techniques are being used more frequently. Continuous monitoring systems can verify that quality and safety are maintained during construction by minimizing construction uncertainties and aiding designers to compare the actual behavior of a structure with the design models. Additionally, the behavior of structures in different stages of construction may be important in the definition of abnormal responses (e.g., the loss or reverse of a previously measured dead load) during the life span of a bridge. This paper gives an overview of the monitoring system for substructure construction that was considered for the Ironton–Russell Bridge between Ironton, Ohio, and Russell, Kentucky, during its design and service stages. First, the sensory network of the bridge will be detailed. Second, data processing (which involves two anomaly detection algorithms) and other components of the monitoring system will be presented. Finally, some of the data collected by the monitoring system during construction will be analyzed, and a comparison between the theoretical and actual response to a major vertical posttensioning event will be made. The result showed that the actual response matched the expected response and that the newly developed algorithm has a promising potential for tracking daily thermal responses.