BridgeMon Project Successfully Completed

The project has lasted for two years and has led to the development of a number of significant improvements in the technologies and services which are available for carrying out detailed monitoring of bridges. The capability of Bridge Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) technology to collect accurate information on traffic loading has been enhanced, with the SiWIM® system achieving class A(5) accuracy for gross weights. This represents a significant advancement in the field of Bridge-WIM, and provides evidence that Bridge-WIM technology can compete amongst the most accurate WIM technologies in the world.

A detailed monitoring campaign in the Netherlands has demonstrated how the ‘virtual monitoring’ technique can be used to estimate fatigue damage in steel bridges. In this case, Bridge-WIM technology was combined with a detailed finite element model of the structure which allowed an investigation into the remaining fatigue life of the bridge.

Finally, the Bridge-WIM technique was applied to a railway bridge in Poland in a format suitable for calculating train weights. Combining this with newly developed algorithms for identifying damage to railway bridges allows information to be obtained on the loading on a bridge along with any damage that may occur.

BridgeMon has been a great success and the results should allow the SMEs and bridge owners to avail of the latest technologies for monitoring bridges.