Hybrid system for bridge weigh-in-motion and long term monitoring

Principal Investigator: Dr Niamh Gibbons

The adoption of fibre optic strain sensing in the field of bridge monitoring has allowed for the collection of extremely rich data sets, both spatially and temporally, compared to conventional strain monitoring arrangements. However significant economic barriers are still in place owing to the cost of analysers /interrogators, limiting the feasibility of permanent installations. This project will integrate cheaper lower accuracy photogrammetry techniques for measuring displacements, for the purposes of bridge weigh-in-motion (BWIM), with an intermittent fibre optic based strain monitoring regime for the purposes of model updating, verification and calibration in order to provide a hybrid monitoring arrangement for both bridge weigh-in-motion and long-term monitoring purposes.