STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING

This chapter presents the authors’ firsthand experience at designing and implementing a structural health monitoring (SHM) solution for bridges. It is intended as a case of practicing the engineering approach on Internet of Things (IoT) and smart infrastructure. The chapter refers each edge sensor device as a Bridge Monitoring Unit (BMU). The BMU will be deployed directly on bridges. The system needs to be able to withstand direct exposure to all sorts of weather conditions. The BMU is required to: perform passive monitoring; support both wired and wireless connectivity; and monitor both dynamic and static parameters. Dynamic parameters include acceleration in three axes and inclination in two axes. Static parameters include water level, water velocity, and structure temperature. The BMU should be able to tolerate intermittent wireless connectivity to server, as 3G connections are known to drop often. In the case of unreliable connectivity, data transmission to server should resume when connectivity is restored.