Advances in Vibration-Based Scour Monitoring for Bridge Foundations

Scouring around bridge foundations is one of the main factors causing structural damage of bridges. Traditional scour monitoring techniques generally require a large number of sensing devices set up underwater, which is difficult to be implemented for actual bridges. To address this issue, scour monitoring technology based on structural vibrations is paid attention gradually, because this technique can work well with less equipment and can be free from the influence of the submerged environment. This study presents a systematic summary and analysis of the selection of scour indicators, sensor deployment principles and other related research involved in scour monitoring technology based on structural vibration. On this basis, the research status of the bridge scour monitoring method based on vehicle excitation is further summarized. Finally, the prospects for the application of vibration-based bridge foundation scour monitoring technology are presented, discussing the technologies that are currently missing and urgently needed for this monitoring method and the challenges faced today.