Status of Smart Bridges in the U.S. Federal Highway System

摘要

The concept of a smart bridge has appeared widely in both popular and technical literature for over a decade and has been endorsed by both the Federal Highway Administration and the National Science Foundation. In order to evaluate the progress that has been made in applying this to the US highway system, a survey was made of the known projects. Approximately 20 bridges are in operation. The total number of sensors per bridge ranges over two orders of magnitude, up to a maximum of 640 electrical sensors. The maximum number of electronic sensors is an order of magnitude less. The types of sensors vary widely depending on the specific purpose of the monitoring installation. None of these instrumented bridge matches the description of the ideal smart bridge in terms of total number of sensors, mix of sensor types and mode of operation. The limited number of sensors and slow rate of introduction reflects the fact smart bridges are viewed as an optional R&D program, rather than an operational necessity.