Public Abstract
 A joint research team by the University of Maryland (UMD) and North Carolina State University (NCSU) with URS Corporation will develop a scalable Integrated Structural Health Monitoring (ISHM) system with remote sensing capability, particularly suited for fatigue condition assessment of highway steel bridges with a potential to extend to evaluate other types of bridge damages, such as breaks and corrosion of steel strands of pre-stressed concrete bridges.
The ISHM system based on wireless sensor networks with self-sustained power supplies holds promise of system scalability and autonomousness in remote monitoring large complex highway infrastructures. The proposed system will integrate recent advancements in civil, aerospace, and electrical disciplines to develop a transformational system that will have high-rewards in reducing the operating and maintenance costs by providing an accurate quantification of damage and degradation at an early stage.
The novelty of the proposed ISHM system resides in the following aspects:
- (Sensor technology) Flexible piezo paint sensing dot array
- (AE diagnostics) Passive interrogation of evolving damage
- (Energy scavenging) Hybrid-mode energy scavenger
- (Wireless sensing) Multi-media wireless smart sensor
- (Prognostics) Prognostics using Bayesian nets and remote sensing data
The ISHM will be implemented on bridges at North Carolina and Maryland for field demonstration. If successful, this system will be used in other states. By advancing the state-of-the-art technology in remote infrastructure sensing, condition diagnosis and prognosis, the proposed ISHM system will reduce life cycle costs while significantly maintaining the sustainability of civil infrastructures.
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