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Experimental monitoring of the Humber Bridge using GPS

Article in ICE Proceedings Civil Engineering · January 1997

DOI: 10.1680/icien.1997.29810

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Experimental monitoring of the Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs,
Civ. Engng, 1997,

Humber bridge using GPS 120, Nov., 177-182

Paper 11296

V. Ashkenazi, FICE, and G. W. Roberts Written discussion closes

15 March 1998

The global positioning system (GPS) of navigation satellites can now be

used for real-time monitoring of large-scale structures, such as reservoirs,
tall buildings and bridges. This paper describes the way in which the UK’s
Humber bridge was monitored using ‘kinematic GPS’. The results show
remarkable accuracies of the order of a few millimetres in all three direc-
tions. They demonstrate that the technique allows the collection of real-
time deflection data which could be used to determine the deformation
characteristics of the bridge and eventually provide a structural failure
alarm capability.

The Humber bridge is located across the Humber
estuary on the east coast of England. Consisting
of three sections, in an approximately
north–south direction, the bridge spans 2220 m,
supported by two towers 155·5 m high. The
bridge has been designed to withstand move-
ments of up to ±4 m.
The real-time monitoring of a bridge by ‘kine-
matic GPS’ was carried out by putting individual
global positioning system (GPS) antennas on
strategic points on the bridge deck and the sup-
port towers, and continuously positioning these
relative to a reference receiver. The latter was sit-
uated 1·5 km away from the bridge, and was con-
sidered as a fixed three-dimensional benchmark.
The equipment used for the Humber bridge
monitoring experiment consisted of two Ashtech
Z-XII dual-frequency GPS receivers, a pair of
Racal Delta Link II UHF telemetry links and a
real-time version of Ashtech’s PNAV processing
software run on a Pentium-90 laptop PC.
The analysis of the results suggests that the
bridge’s lateral movement at midspan is of a sim-
ple harmonic nature, probably due to wind load-
ing. The bridge deck also deforms in a vertical
direction, but deforms considerably less along the
length of the bridge. The paper describes these
initial tests, and illustrates the potential of kine-
matic GPS for the real-time in situ monitoring of
any large structure.
Accuracy of real-time kinematic GPS
The resolution (potential accuracy) of the kine-
matic GPS technique over short distances and
under low dynamics was determined through a
zero-baseline test. A zero-baseline test consists of
two GPS receivers attached to a single GPS anten-
na, receiving the same signals from the GPS satel-
lites. The data collected was mixed with that gen-
erated by the receivers’ own oscillators, and then
processed using the Ashtech PNAV software.
While not a measure of accuracy, because of the
cancellation of many of the systematic errors, a
zero-baseline test does give an indication of the
resolutions of the measurement system, and
hence of the ultimately achievable accuracy. The
results show that the system has a resolution of
±1 mm horizontally and ±3 mm in height.
Bridge deck real-time deformation
results
A GPS receiver was placed on the west side rail
of the bridge deck, at midspan. This location
would, theoretically, experience the greatest dis-
placement. The static reference receiver was
placed on top of the bridge’s control tower, which
had previously been positioned through static
GPS processing.
The data links for this configuration presented
no problems. The only signal loss which was
experienced was due to very high vehicles block- Vidal Ashkenazi is a
ing the signal path, which was an infrequent professor at
event. It should be noted that the data link anten- Nottingham
na at the bridge end was placed at a low height University’s Institute
for this experiment. It could easily have been of Engineering
placed sufficiently high to eliminate the problem Surveying and Space
altogether. Fig. 1 illustrates the equipment set-up Geodesy
on the Humber bridge.
The wind on 7 March 1996 was fairly low and in
a generally north-easterly direction, along the
length of the bridge. Figs 2, 3 and 4 show the
results obtained from a selected period of time
lasting for 15 min, when the wind speed was rela-
tively low and did not appear to affect the flexible
pole which attached the antenna to the bridge.
The figures correspond to the longitudinal, verti-
cal and lateral movements of the bridge respec-
tively. It will be seen in the later results that the Gethin Roberts is a
vibration of this pole contributes significantly to lecturer at the
the errors, and hence to the technique’s apparent Institute

177
 ASHKENAZI AND
ROBERTS
Fig. 1. GPS monitor-
ing equipment at
midspan of the
Humber bridge
performance on the day.
The north–south or longitudinal movement
(Fig. 2) is seen to have a much smaller value than
the others, in the region of 2–3 mm. This is
undoubtedly the ‘noise’ of the system, where the
midspan of the bridge, at this period of time, does
not move significantly in a north–south direction;
it moves only by a few millimetres. Of course, this
‘no movement’ situation of the bridge in its longi-
tudinal direction, on a fairly calm day, was to be
expected. The confirmation of these facts by kine-
matic GPS serves to demonstrate the high accura-
cy of the technique itself.
178
Figure 3 illustrates the vertical displacement,
showing that the bridge moved by up to 40 cm at
one point, possibly because of a heavy traffic load.
Most of the vertical movements are of the order
of 15 cm.
Figure 4 illustrates the east–west or lateral dis-
placements of the bridge. This suggests that the
lateral displacement is of the order of up to 14 cm,
and consists of a combination of high- and low-fre-
quency signals.
Figures 5, 6 and 7 correspond to a longer series
of tests, lasting for about 75 min. These tests
were carried out on 7 May 1996, when the wind
 MONITORING OF THE
HUMBER BRIDGE
USING GPS

424802·684

424802·682
Northings: m

424802·680

424802·678

424802·676
11:37:00 11:39:00 11:41:00 11:43:00 11:45:00 11:47:00 11:49:00 11:51:00
Fig. 2. Longitudinal
movement of the
GPS time: h:min:s
bridge deck

45·5

45·4

45·3

45·2
Height: m

45·1

45·0

44·9
11:36:00 11:38:00 11:40:00 11:42:00 11:44:00 11:46:00 11:48:00 11:50:00
Fig. 3. Vertical dis-
GPS time: h:min:s placement of the
bridge deck

502373·24

502373·22

502373·20

502373·18
Eastings: m

502373·16

502373·14

502373·12

502373·10

502373·08 Fig. 4. Lateral move-

11:37:00 11:39:00 11:41:00 11:43:00 11:45:00 11:47:00 11:49:00 11:51:00 ment of the bridge
GPS time: h:min:s deck

179
 ASHKENAZI AND
ROBERTS

424740·06

424740·04

424740·02

424740·00
Northings: m

424739·98

424739·96

424739·94

Fig. 5. Longitudinal 424739·92

movement during the 10:12:00 10:19:12 10:26:24 10:33:36 10:40:48 10:48:00 10:55:12 11:02:24 11:09:36 11:16:48 11:24:00
second trial GPS time: h:min:s

44·75

44·70

44·65

44·60

44·55
Height: m

44·50

44·45

44·40

44·35

44·30
Fig. 6. Height deflec- 10:12:00 10:19:12 10:26:24 10:33:36 10:40:48 10:48:00 10:55:12 11:02:24 11:09:36 11:16:48 11:24:00
tion during the second GPS time: h:min:s
trial

502377·97

502377·95

502377·93

502377·91
Eastings: m

502377·89

502377·87

502377·85

Fig. 7. Lateral move- 502377·83

ment during the sec- 10:12:00 10:19:12 10:26:24 10:33:36 10:40:48 10:48:00 10:55:12 11:02:24 11:09:36 11:16:48 11:24:00
ond trial GPS time: h:min:s

180

appeared to be more blustery and blowing in a
north–south direction, that is, approximately
along the length of the bridge. The GPS antenna
on the bridge was placed in a slightly different
position.
This time round, the blustery wind appears to
affect the results because of the vibration of the
pole holding the antenna to the bridge. This is
particularly evident in Fig. 5, when the longitudi-
nal movements over the period of observations
(lasting 75 min) are of the order of a few centi-
metres rather than millimetres as in Fig. 2.
Nevertheless, there is a close agreement between
MONITORING OF THE
HUMBER BRIDGE
USING GPS
Fig. 8. The GPS
antenna located on
the top of the bridge’s
northern tower
the expected movements of the bridge and those
provided by the GPS measurements, along this
direction. This, in turn, gives credence to the GPS
movements along the other two (i.e. vertical and
lateral) directions.
Indeed, the movements shown in Figs 6 and 7
are in broad agreement with those shown in Figs
3 and 4 respectively. The vertical movements
average about 15 cm, with occasional spikes cor-
responding to heavy vehicles. The lateral move-
ments are of the order of around 5 cm, and are
thought to be due to wind loading.
Finally, Figs 9, 10 and 11 show the three-dimen-
181
 ASHKENAZI AND
ROBERTS

Fig. 9 (top). North–south movement of the north-

ern support tower
425320·950

Fig. 10 (middle). East–west movement of the

425320·945 northern support tower

Fig. 11 (bottom). Vertical movement of the north-

425320·940
ern support tower
Northings: m

425320·935

425320·930
sional movements of the northern support tower
of the bridge (seen in Fig. 8) in the north–south,
425320·925
east–west and vertical directions respectively.
This last series of tests was carried out over a
425320·920 period of 15 min on 7 March 1996. They are
13:01:55 13:03:21 13:04:48 13:06:14 13:07:41 13:09:07 13:10:33 13:12:00 13:13:26 13:14:53
shown here only for illustrative purposes. In a
GPS time: h:min:s real monitoring scenario, there would be a net-
work of several GPS antennas located at strategic
points on the bridge deck and towers, observing
simultaneously.
The north–south (along the bridge) move-
502350·108 ments, of the order of 1–2 cm, and the east–west
(across the bridge) movements, of 0·5–1 cm, are
plausible. Some of these may be due to the noise
502350·108
of the GPS technique, and some to actual struc-
tural movement. However, the vertical movement
502350·108 of nearly 4 cm, over a period of 15 min, cannot be
explained in terms of GPS noise alone, and
Eastings: m

502350·108 requires further investigation. These tests were

carried out only as a feasibility study of the kine-
matic GPS technique for the in situ monitoring of
502350·108
the movements of the bridge, and not as a full-
scale experiment of structural deflection analysis.
502350·108
Conclusions
502350·108 The effect of the wind, with the resulting vibra-
13:01:55 13:03:21 13:04:48 13:06:14 13:07:41 13:09:07 13:10:33 13:12:00 13:13:26 13:14:53 tion of the pole connecting the GPS antenna to
GPS time: h:min:s the bridge deck in this experiment, presents a
problem. The vibration of this pole is of the order
of 1–2 cm, thus worsening the apparent accuracy
of the technique from a few millimetres to a cen-
timetre or two (Figs 2 and 5). Clearly, this vibra-
tion would affect the horizontal component of the
153·81 movements much more than the vertical compo-
nent, but this has yet to be determined. More
care is required in the planning and carrying out
153·80
of future tests. The use of smaller ‘patch’ anten-
nas and directly clamping the antenna to the
bridge structure should overcome this problem,
153·79
and the authors are confident that kinematic GPS
can be used successfully to monitor the three-
Height: m

153·78 dimensional movements of large structures in

real time to an accuracy of only a few millimetres.

153·77 Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Dr Richard Bingley,
of the Institute of Engineering Surveying and
153·76
Space Geodesy, and Roger Evans, bridge master
13:01:55 13:03:21 13:04:48 13:06:14 13:07:41 13:09:07 13:10:33 13:12:00 13:13:26 13:14:53
and engineer of the Humber Bridge Board, for
GPS time: h:min:s their assistance during the project.

182

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