NON CONTACT

STRUCTURAL HEALTH
MONITORING IN BRIDGES
USING INFRASOUND
Guided by Presented by
Asst.Prof.Greeshma V S Nayana R (LBT18CE038)
OVERVIEW

 Highway bridges are the critical elements of transportation infrastructure.

 Development of fatigue cracks, corrosion, malfunctioning expansion joints and
degradation of structural connections is common.
 Affects serviceability and health of bridge.
 In that cases, the structure has to be demolished or replaced.
 This might be expensive.
 Negative impact on the environment and traffic during replacement.
 So the demand for competent Monitoring techniques is currently extremely high.

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OBJECTIVES

 An Infrasound-based SHM approach is analyzed as an alternative to capture

the structural dynamic properties of bridges.
 Damage identification and disaster mitigation of Highway Bridge using SHM
 Use of Infrasound as a means of Non Contact Sensing for Bridge Health
Monitoring.
 The potential benefits, limitations and applications of the infrasound-based
SHM are examined.

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INTRODUCTION

 Due to the large uncertainty of loads, Bridges are prone to structural damage.
 To maintain highway bridges operational more effectively, their structural
integrity should be regularly assessed.
 When a significant damage to the structure is Observed, required repair may be
substantial and costly.
 So the demand for competent Monitoring techniques is extremely high.
 Visual inspection provides critical information, it offers only discrete snapshots
of bridge condition in time.

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STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING

 Vibration based Structural Health Monitoring is proposed.

 Structural Health Monitoring- Process of implementing a damage
identification strategy for aerospace, civil and mechanical engineering
infrastructure.
 Operation, Maintenance,Data Recording, Analysing and Reporting.
 Sensors to measure Environmental and Structural Responses.
 SHM includes Local Methods and Global Methods.
 Improves Safety and Functionality of Bridges.
 Structural Health Monitoring(SHM) helps in the health assessment of Bridges.

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• Improves Safety and Functionality of Bridges.

• Design Better Structure for future.

Components of SHM

• Structure
• Sensors
• Data acquisition systems
• Data management
• Data transfer
• Data interpretation and diagnosis

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 MONITORING
SETUPS

NON CONTACT NON CONTACT

LINE -OF -SIGHT NON LINE -OF -SIGHT

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INFRASOUND ANALYSIS

 Non contact, Non line-of-sight, remote bridge monitoring method.

Data can be collected without the need for physical installation of sensors onto
the bridge structure itself.
Structures like Bridges resonate.
Air Surrounding the Structure can propagate pressure variations caused due to
Structural Vibration.
These Perturbations due to resonance creates sound in Infrasonic Range.
Hence Infrasound Analysis allows remote acoustic detection of natural
frequencies.

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NON CONTACT LINE-OF-SIGHT
 Infrasound sensors are placed near to the structure to be monitored
 Distance between the sensor and the structure in this case is in the order of
metres.
NON CONTACT NON LINE-OF-SIGHT
 Infrasound sensors are placed at considerable distances from each other.
 Not in line of sight with each other.
 Distance between the sensor and the structure is in the order of kilometres.

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NON CONTACT LINE-OF-SIGHT NON CONTACT
NON LINE-OF-SIGHT

Infrasound sensors are placed near to the structure to Infrasound sensors are placed at considerable distances
be monitored. from each other.

Distance between the sensor and the structure in this Distance between the sensor and the structure is in the order of
case is in the order of metres. kilometres.

In line of sight with each other. Not in line of sight with each other.

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CASE STUDY
MONITORING SETUP : NON CONTACT NON LINE-OF-SIGHT

 Infrasound was used to detect natural modes of the structure from a distance of
2.6 km.
 Multiple arrays were Introduced.
 The study was carried out in two phases

 Infrasound data for analysis

 On-structure instrumentation (accelerometers

 Bridge Br 18-009 in NBI, Northern California is analyzed.

 3 arrays of Infrasound Sensors were placed at distances from 2.6 to 24 km.

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Figure 1. In-service highway bridge on I-91 Northbound, Meriden, Connecticut: (a) elevation view of the
Meriden Bridge; (b) microphone placement and (c) sensor layout.
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INFRASOUND BASED SHM

 Data was collected in 7 days with data sampling rate at 1000Hz.

 Five Infrasound Sensors with porous hoses attached to the four inlet pipes as
passive wind filters, two digitizers, and associated cables, connectors, batteries,
and solar panels.

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Figure 2. Location of accelerometers on Spans 21 and 22 of Br 18–0009

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ACCELEROMETER BASED SHM SYSTEM

 During this experiment, radiosondes were launched to capture the atmospheric

conditions.
 Data obtained by the radiosondes included temperature, pressure, humidity,
wind direction and speed, altitude, and GPS coordinates.
 Accelerometers are placed on the main spans of bridge.
 Accelerometer placement was chosen to capture the lowest-mode structural
vibrations.

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ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

 Data analysis by identifying infrasound signals from the Br 18–0009.

 MatSeis-InfraTool identified times of coherent signal, defined as a signal
present on at least three of five sensors in the array, across each array, with
back azimuths corresponding to Br 18–0009.

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 Results were combined with meteorological data obtained from the radiosonde
launches to improve additional analysis.

Figure 3. Conceptualized schematic of a microphone collecting dynamic

information from a bridge.

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Figure 4. Plotted range of back azimuths from FRC that aligned with Br 18–0009. 18
COMPARISON

 Both Accelerometer and Infrasound Data analysis results are similar.

 Analysis indicates the feasibility of using infrasound for noncontact, nonline-
of-sight monitoring of bridges.
 Scour could be more readily detected with the use of infrasound.
 Comparison of the frequency data from analysis of the infrasound data and the
accelerometer data showed excellent agreement.

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BENEFITS AND APPLICATION

 Microphone only needs to be securely mounted in relative proximity to the

bridge.
 Microphone sensor is relatively inexpensive and the data acquisition and
processing capabilities modest
 Not sensitive to lighting conditions.
 System is portable in nature and rapidly deployable.
 It does not require markers, paint, or preparations on the surface of the
structure
 Size of the data files is relatively small, allowing for longer periods of
continuous data collection.
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 CONCLUSION
 To ensure the safety of Highway Bridges, the structural integrity of these structures should
be monitored regularly.
 Challenges of the infrasound-based approach were also identified.
 Omnidirectional microphones capture all acoustic signals within its measurable bandwidth.
 Onstructure Instrumentation are subjected to damage from high-velocity flows, debris, ice
forces, sediment loading, severe water temperatures, and vandalism.
 As infrasound Monitoring is non contact method, these issues can be avoided.
REFERENCES

1. Lobo-Aguilar et al. 2019. “Infrasound-Based Noncontact Sensing for Bridge

Structural Health Monitoring” ,Journal of Bridge Engineering, Vol 24, No 5

2. Whitlow et al. 2019. “Remote Bridge Monitoring Using Infrasound” Journal of

Bridge Engineering Vol 24, No 5

3. Junwon Seo et al. 2016. “Summary Review of Structural Health Monitoring

Applications for Highway Bridges” Journal of Performance of Constructed
Facilities Volume 30, Issue 4

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THANK YOU

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