Smart Bridge – Way into practice
S. Dabringhaus1, and Dr. I. Hindersmann1
1
Federal Highway Research Institute, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
ABSTRACT: The current maintenance management for bridges is mainly based on visual
inspection and aims at the repair of identified damages. In the project cluster “Smart Bridge” an
adaptive system for holistic evaluation in real time is developed. The following pilot studies
show significant aspects of the Smart Bridge.
Within the research project “Digital Test Area Autobahn” a new constructed pre-stressed
concrete bridge is implemented with instrumented expansion joints and bearings, a “RTMS©”
and a sensor network. By using analytical bridge models and evaluation methods the condition
and reliability of the bridge as well as the remaining service life is determined.
In the pilot study “duraBASt” sensors for the detection of durability and structural safety as well
as data analyzing and evaluation procedures are investigated. The aim of this study is the partial
implementation of the aspects: data collection, data processing and model development for
condition assessment of the bridge.
1 SMART BRIDGE
1.1 Background
The federal highway network includes 39,499 bridges with a bridge deck area of about 30.6
million m² (BASt, 2016). Approximately 90 % of these bridges are concrete bridges. A large
quantity of these bridge structures has been built in the 1960’s and 70’s. In addition to the
ageing structures, bridges have to face further challenges such as increasing traffic load and
climatic changes. High traffic loads are caused by increasing entire traffic and
disproportionately high increasing freight traffic. A further increasing in traffic loads are
predicted for the coming decades (BMVI, 2015). In addition, the effects of the climate change
such as rising temperatures and extreme weather events affect the usability, durability and in
long term the sustainability of bridge structures (Novák et al., 2012). The mentioned future
effects are not taken into account in current maintenance management. At present, maintenance
management of bridge structures is primarily based on regular building inspections, so that
damage is only discovered when it is obvious. This procedure is damage-based and reactive.
1.2 Concept
Recently, monitoring methods have been used in order to support the maintenance management
of bridge structures. Theses monitoring systems are mostly used to monitor defects of existing
bridge structures that are determined by recalculation or in the course of bridge inspections. The
aim of the project cluster “Intelligente Brücke” (hereafter “Smart Bridge”) is to overcome the
limitations of monitoring by using an adaptive system for providing all relevant information for
the holistic evaluation of the condition of a bridge structure in real time. The system “Smart
Bridge” is modular, so that it can be individually adapted to the needs of the bridge structure.
Most components of the system “Smart Bridge” can be classified in the following groups:
intelligent sensor technology, intelligent evaluation methods as well as intelligent maintenance
and inspection strategies (Neumann et al., 2012).
By using analytical bridge models and evaluation models the condition and the reliability of the
overall bridge construction and its components as well as the remaining service life is
determined. Reliable maintenance management for real-time applications is realized by linking
prognostic models and available information from existing databases. In the context of a
network-oriented maintenance management, the condition of bridges of the same bridge type
and period of construction can be derived from the condition of the Smart Bridge. Therefore,
only a few bridges selected as Smart Bridge are sufficient to monitor bridges across the
network. Collected information is made available online to the responsible road administration.
The Smart Bridge enables reliability-oriented analyzes for quality assurance of safety-relevant
components. This results in a safety gain by early detection of safety-relevant changes.
In Germany, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure is the responsible
authority for federal highways but the road administrations of the 16 federal states carry out the
planning, construction and operation of infrastructures. In order to transfer new, unregulated
developments into practice, pilot studies are necessary in order to demonstrate the efficiency
and the benefits of the development and to promote the interest of the road administration. With
regard to the topic Smart Bridge, two pilot studies “Digitales Testfeld Autobahn” (hereafter
“Digital Test Area Autobahn”) and “DuraBASt” are carried out to make the development
available for practice and to recommend the Smart Bridge to the road administrations.
2 PILOT STUDY “DIGITAL TEST AREA AUTOBAHN”
2.1 General description of the Smart Bridge in the “Digital Test Area Autobahn”
Within the scope of the “Digital Test Area Autobahn” innovations related to mobility 4.0 on the
highway “A9” in Bavaria are tested and further developed. The research project “Digital Test
Area Autobahn” has two main focuses: automated and networked driving and intelligent road
equipment. Smart Bridge is an innovation of the focus “intelligent road equipment”. Research
projects, which dealt, inter alia, with the development of new concepts and technologies of the
"Smart Bridge" with the main focus on "monitoring of loads", "instrumented joints and
bearings" and "sensor networks" were funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital
Infrastructure’s Innovation Program. Within the scope of the "Digital Test Area Autobahn",
these developments are presented at the new constructed pre-stressed concrete bridge BW 402e
in the highway interchange Nuremberg (BAB A3/A9) and made accessible nationwide. The
bridge structure BW 402e was completed in September 2016. Before the bridge was released for
traffic in October 2016, calibrating drives with vehicles of known geometries and weights were
carried out for the entire sensor system. Further information is shown in Figure 1.
Length [m] 155.75 15.70
Road width [m] 12 1.50 3.75 3.75 0.05 2.50
Spans [m] 37.75 45.00 44.00 29.00 Lane Hard shoulder
Bridge area 2,445.30 m²
Superstructure Single-celled hollow box,
longitudinally pre-stressed 7.70 7.70
Construction Place and thrust method 15.40
Figure 1: Technical data (Autobahndirektion Nordbayern, 2016)
2.2 Components of the Smart Bridge in the “Digital Test Area Autobahn”
Within the scope of the Smart Bridge in the “Digital Test Area Autobahn” the following partial
aspects of the Smart Bridge are realized: Roadtraffic Management System (RTMS©),
instrumented bearings and expansion joints, intelligent sensor networks and analytical structural
models and evaluation methods.
2.2.1 Roadtraffic Management System
RTMS©, developed by engineering office Prof. Freundt, is a modular system for determining
the effects, resistances and the condition as well as the prognosis of the condition of a bridge
structure. The following aspects can be determined by RTMS©:
Traffic data: the number of vehicles, vehicle speeds, axis distances, dynamic axis loads per
single axis and the total vehicle weight.
Climate data: Shadow temperature, wind speed and moisture.
Bridge parameters: Deformation, displacement and elongation of concrete and steel.
The data is collected by traffic sensors, inductive displacement transducers, foil strain gauges
and resistance thermometers. Within the framework of data processing, the degree of damage
due to fatigue and the time course of the global stiffness of the bridge are determined. (Freundt
et al., 2014)
2.2.2 Instrumented bearings and expansion joints
Bridge bearings are one of the basic components of a bridge, since these allow displacements,
rotations and defined load transfer between bridge components. Usual displacements of bridge
structures are due to effects such as traffic and temperature. Permissible displacements, rotations
and load transfer of the bearing for certain directions can be realized by the choice of the
bearing type (Mehlhorn et al., 2014). Modified MSM® spherical bearings, developed by Maurer
SE, which are used in the Smart Bridge, were equipped with pressure and displacement sensors.
Expansion joints are components of a bridge construction which are used between the bridge
and the adjoining roadway in order to compensate the bridge movements due to temperature and
traffic loads. They are wear parts of a bridge because they are exposed to high dynamic effects
by direct crossing by vehicles (Mehlhorn et al., 2014). For the Smart Bridge, a modified Swivel
Joist-Expansion Joint developed by Maurer SE was equipped with strain gauges and force
sensors. The following aspects are determined by the instrumented bearings and expansion
joints:
Monitoring the functions of the bearing by detecting the bearing paths and sliding gaps.
Detection of the static load, bearing rotation and displacement.
Distribution of the load, bearing rotation and displacement in temperature- and traffic-
induced shares.
Monitoring the functions of the expansion joints by detecting the gap width.
Collection of relevant traffic data by the expansion joints: number of vehicles, vehicle
speeds, axis distances, dynamic axis loads per single axis and the vehicle weight.
Figure 2 shows an instrumented bearing and an expansion joint of the bridge structure.
Figure 2: Instrumented bearing (left), instrumented expansion joint (right)
2.2.3 Sensor network
A sensor network consists of different motes, which communicate wireless or wire-based
(Krüger et al., 2010). The sensor network passes on the acquired data to a central computer unit
for further processing. In the central computer the data are evaluated and integrated into a bridge
model. The collected information is made available online. Due to high energy consumption
during remote transmissions, a sleep-wake system was developed (Fischer et al., 2015), in
which energy is consumed significantly only during data exchange. Climate data and some
relevant bridge parameters such as incline are determined by different sensors. Time
synchronization for the different sensors is a significant task.
2.3 Current projects
Subsequently to the opening for traffic, three projects were started and another one was
launched. The aim of these projects is to show the functionality of the system “Smart Bridge”,
to evaluate not yet tested aspects and to develop the system further.
2.3.1 Investigation program
The system of the Smart Bridge is operated and analyzed in a five-year investigation program in
cooperation with the responsible road construction administration. The aim of the investigation
program is to demonstrate the functionality and applicability of the Smart Bridge for reliability-
oriented condition assessments and prognoses. For reference, traffic data are determined both by
RTMS© and by an expansion joint. Relevant climatic data such as shadow temperature, wind
speed and moisture are measured by a weather station. On the basis of the load model, climatic
data and bridge parameters, the global safety of the bridge is determined in form of a reliability
index and the remaining service life of the structure is determined.
2.3.2 Synchronization of sensors and automatic evaluation of measurement data
The System “Smart Bridge” consists of a sensor network and an information system for
analyzing and evaluating data. Both conventional and smart sensors are used in this sensor
network. The measuring frequencies of the implemented sensors vary between 1 Hz and
20,000 Hz and currently there are no data collection strategies and evaluation methods for this
wide range available. Therefore data collection strategies and evaluation methods and a time
synchronization method are to develop for systems with different measuring frequencies.
Existing bridge models are to extend to measurement-based probabilistic models and an
automatic evaluation of the data is to realize.
2.3.3 Data acquisition and processing strategies for instrumented bearings and expansion
joints
Within the scope of these projects, data acquisition and processing strategies for instrumented
bearings and expansion joints are developed to evaluate the sensor signals with regard to
environmental influences and dynamic properties of bridges. Already developed algorithms for
the manual evaluation of the measured data are further developed so that data evaluation can be
carried out automatically in the future. The data collected automatically should be included in
the bridge model to give the user information about the condition of the bridge structure relating
to the traffic data, load and temperature movements of the bridge as well as the stress on the
instrumented bearings and expansion joints. Furthermore, a concept for quality assurance has to
be developed which also includes calibration of the bearings and expansion joints in order to
ensure reliable data.
3 PILOT STUDY “DURABAST”
3.1 General description of the test area “duraBASt”
The situation of the road infrastructure in the Federal Republic of Germany will change in the
coming years caused by globalization, increasing mobility, climate change und aging
infrastructure. To find ways to respond these changes the duraBASt is built. The duraBASt is a
demonstration, investigation and reference area of the Federal Highway Research Institute
(BASt). The duraBASt gives the possibility for testing research findings on realistic, large-scale
studies before its standard implementation in the road network. The site is located on a
previously unused area at the highway interchange Cologne East (BAB A3/A4).
Figure 3: Location of the Smart Bridge at the duraBASt site (www.durabast.de)
At the duraBASt a two-span pre-stressed concrete bridge is located (Figure 3). The oblique
bridge (45 gon) was built in 1972 but never put into operation. The bridge is 66 m long, 14 m
wide and the total bridge area is about 950 m2.
During the construction of the duraBASt the bridge was maintained. The seals and parapets
were renewed and a Polyflex expansion joint was built-in at the transition. During the repair the
bridge was instrumented. Sensors for the detection of durability and structural comprehensively
parameters were installed.
3.2 Durability monitoring
3.2.1 Damage mechanism
Durability means in this regard that components made of concrete are sufficiently resistant over
the intended service life against all influence with sufficient maintenance and repair (Stark et al.,
1997).The durability of concrete can be influenced by physical, mechanical, or chemical effects.
The main physical effect is frost which can destroy the concrete if a critical degree of water
saturation exists. Abrasion is the main mechanical effect. Chemical effects are shown, when
substance infiltrate in the concrete and react with the components of the concrete. For example
the infiltration of chloride can be mentioned (Bergmeister et al., 2016). Chloride infiltration is
the main cause for damages on the concrete surface of bridges (Schnellenbach-Held et al.,
2015). The main source of chlorides on bridges is de-icing salt-solution. The infiltration of
dissolved chlorides leads to the depassivation in the concrete and subsequently to the corrosion
of the reinforced steel (Bergmeister et al., 2016).
3.2.2 Durability sensor
The main parameters to monitor the durability are moisture, temperature and corrosion effects.
The temperature is important, because all corrosion processes are temperature sensitive. These
parameters are monitored at the Smart Bridge on the duraBASt. The sensors which were
implemented in the bridge parapets and the road deck are shown in table 1.
Table 1. Corrosion, moisture and temperature sensors in the smart bridge at the duraBASt
parameter sensor Tech Measurement principle
nique
moisture CorroTec RFID The sensor detects electrical conductivity and temperature in
moisture sensor concrete. Recalculation of the measured data in percent by
(BS2 GmbH) weight moisture is possible by using concrete-specific
calibration curves.
moisture Multiring wired Moisture sensor consisting of stainless steel rings at staggered
Electrode depths to determine the moisture distribution. The AC
(Sensortec) resistance between two adjacent rings is measured and
information can be converted into moisture profile by using
concrete-specific calibration curves.
moisture moisture sensor RFID The relative humidity in the concrete is measured by moisture
(BAM*) sensors. These sensors are encapsulated to protect them.
corrosion CorroTec RFID The sensors have two special wires fixed at the outside of the
corrosion sensor sensor. If these wires are corroded, it will be detected by the
(BS2 GmbH) RFID technology.
corrosion Anode ladder wired The sensor consisting of single steel anodes at different depths
(Sensortec) for the monitoring of the time-dependent chloride ingress or
carbonation progress. Corrosion potential and corrosion current
between anodes and the titanium oxide cathode and the
temperature is measured.
corrosion corrosion sensor RFID The sensor detects the electrochemical potential between the
(BAM) reinforcement and the reference electrode.
* Federal institute for material testing
3.2.3 Experiments
Experiments for the detection of corrosion at the Smart Bridge are planned. Caused by the fact
that there is no winter service at the duraBASt chlorides are not infiltrated by de-icing salt-
solution. To simulate the normal infiltration of chlorides an impact pool on the surface of the
bridge parapets will be realized. This impact pool will be covered and filled with a NaCl
solution. The aim if these experiments are to get information about handling of the sensors, data
collection, data evaluation and different measurement principles.
3.3 Structural safety parameters
3.3.1 Structural safety
Structural safety consists of static load safety, fatigue resistance, dynamic load safety and
seismic safety. Relevant parameters on structural safety are loads and effects like traffic load,
wind load, dead load, attached load or temperature effects (Mehlhorn et al., 2014).
The parameter of structural safety can be measured in many ways. The traffic load for example
can be determined directly by special weighing equipment or indirectly by the expansion of the
bridge (Schnellenbach-Held et al., 2015).
3.3.2 Recalculation of bridges and development of FE-models
To analyze the structural safety of bridges in Germany the “directive for the reassessment on
existing bridges” (2011) is used. The bridge at the duraBASt will be reassessed by using this
directive. The aim of the recalculation is to find the deficits of the bridge. If the deficits are
known a concept to monitor these deficits can be developed.
During the repair of the bridge a first instrumentation for detecting of the structural safety was
performed. Two different techniques for the strain measurement in concrete were installed:
electrical strain gauges and temperature sensors and fiber-optic strain gauges and temperature
sensors. The deformation is detected at three webs of the box grider and the deck slab.
Also the development of a FE-model is planned. Following the results of reassessment, further
instrumentation will be designed.
3.3.3 Experiments
In the future experimental evaluation of the structural safety is planned. Load tests with defined
vehicle weight and speed will be performed. Additional instrumentation of the bridge is
necessary for these load tests. The load tests are needed for the recalculation of the FE-model
and the analysis of the implemented monitoring system.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Within the scope of the pilot studies “Digital Test Area Autobahn” and “DuraBASt”, significant
aspects of the adaptive system “Smart Bridge” for relevant information and holistic evaluation
of the condition of the bridge structure were realized for the first time and are further developed.
With regard to current challenges for bridge structures, the Smart Bridge shall enable the
optimization of maintenance and inspection management and the quality assurance of the
function of safety-relevant components. A safety gain can be achieved by reliability analyzes
and remaining service life considerations. Future tasks are the transferability of the results and
the development of conceptual approaches for different bridge types.
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