When a new bridge is given a “100-year design life,” why add fiber optic structural health monitoring?

1. Public Safety- fiber optics are used to “see inside the structure” where the human eye cannot see to identify the slightest structural changes that could, over time,  become dangerous
2. Asset Management- this 150 million dollar asset must be protected.  An expansion joint is intended to move, but when frozen, may cause damage to adjacent bridge members.
3. Condition Alarms-fiber optic sensors are used to signal conditions during extreme events, high winds, extreme temperatures, overloading
4. Data Collection- data collected will expand fundamentally the knowledge of bridge behavior
5. Construction Aid- sensors embedded in pylons, decks, and installed on selected cable stays enhance the precision of the process

“Everyone has heard about bridge failures in the past including the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Silver River Bridge and the I-35 Bridge in Minneapolis,” says Dennis Mertz, Director of UD’s Center for Innovative Bridge Engineering.

Cleveland Electric Labs of Twinsburg ,Ohio was awarded the contract for fiber optic sensors and sensing systems for  the Indian River Inlet Bridge.