Research Project:

Remote Health Monitoring for Asset Management

Principal Investigator | Project Objective | Project Abstract | Task Descriptions | Project Period | Potential Benefits of the Project | Budget | TRB Keywords

Principal Investigator

Glenn Washer
University of Missouri – Columbia
(573) 884-0320
washerg@missouri.edu

Project Objectives

• Develop an instrumented pile capable of monitoring the thermal and seismic behavior at a bridge foundation
• Deploy an instrumented pile under simulated field conditions
• Assess the effectiveness of the remote monitoring system for asset management

Project Abstract

A key challenge to managing fixed assets such as bridges and other transportation infrastructure is monitoring their condition over time. Under typical service conditions, deterioration resulting from traffic loading and difficult environmental conditions can result in a reduction or loss of service of a particular asset, or even life threatening and dangerous failures. Extreme events such as earthquakes and floods present a still greater challenge in that the service condition of the asset may change abruptly and without warning, leaving managers without key information they need to respond to the event. The goal of this project is to develop remote health monitoring technology that will provide managers and owners with timely information on the condition of civil infrastructure assets. This will be achieved through the development of an instrumented pile that will provide real-time data on bridge scour and seismic activity, allowing for the remote monitoring of bridge conditions by key managers and engineers.

Task Descriptions

1. Literature Search
2. Develop Instrumented Pile to integrate temperature sensors and accelerometers with the (wireless) web-enabled data acquisition platform
3. Deploy the instrumented pile to monitor and evaluate its behavior under field conditions
4. Monitor system performance over several months
5. Final Report

Project Period  

May 2007 – April 2008 

Potential Benefits of the Project

• Enable widespread remote monitoring of more than 26,000 scour critical bridges in the U.S.
• Provide foundation for remote health monitoring systems for culverts, tunnels and highway bridges in general

Budget

$104,866:  $44,937 MTC / $59,929 Match ($29,919 Missouri DOT, $30,010 University of Missouri – Columbia)

TRB Keywords

Structures, Remote Health Monitoring, Asset Management, Wireless Data Transmission, Bridges