Sensory monitoring system of the post‐tensioned concrete bridge over the Odra River in Poland

Abstract

The paper presents the Structural Health Monitoring system installed on the posttensioned concrete road bridge over the Odra River in Poland. The bridge superstructure has a form of the 5‐span box girder with skewed supports, built using the cantilever method. During operation of the bridge (since 2010) many cracks arrived in the superstructure, mainly within the main bridge span with a length of 140 m. Therefore, as a part of a complex diagnostic process, the monitoring system were incorporated for assessment of the bridge performance and for observing further propagation of damage. The implemented monitoring system utilizes Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) technique for measuring of strains, changes of cracks width and angular displacements of concrete box girder for various operating conditions of the structure including effects of regular road traffic, environmental influences and rheological phenomena. The paper presents applied testing and measuring procedures as well as results of the monitoring. Conclusions regarding effectiveness of the applied testing method in identification of the bridge condition are formulated and discussed.