With modern bridges, things are a little different. All over the world, civil engineers are struggling with the increasing decay of bridge structures, which often don’t survive 50 years.
Most countries now require that bridges should be designed and built to survive for 100 years. But how is that possible? How can you plan for the next 100 years?
According to Hallie Busta of ‘Construction Inside Magazine’, there are three major trends for making the bridges of the future as durable as possible:
This sounds logical at first glance – but it also shows that when we talk about the bridges of the future, we probably don’t need to expect a revolutionary new technology or construction methods. The innovation of the future is finding new ways of managing and maintaining the bridge stock – this is also the assessment of the Spanish researcher Joan Ramon Casas in his article: The bridges of the future or the future of bridges?
And this is where we can quickly make the link to measurement and monitoring technology. After all, intelligent monitoring of bridges, for example, with the help of structural health monitoring applications, is playing an increasingly important role.
The trend is toward ‘intelligent bridges’ – intelligent, networked and even interwoven with the Internet of Things. Read How IoT Is Enhancing Structural Health Monitoring (SHM).
Of course, there are also many suitable metrological answers to the various questions and tasks in bridge monitoring. At HBK, with our specialist knowledge of many domains, we also cover many of these disciplines. For example, we have a wide range of products for structural dynamics measurements, which, for example, can easily be done using accelerometers, among others. Read about HBK Structural Dynamics.
HBK products, which are more specialized in mechanical measurement quantities, are also used for numerous bridge monitoring applications. Optical Fiber Bragg (FBG) sensors are particularly popular due to their low signal losses over long distances. Read some exciting case studies on bridge monitoring.
And finally, Prenscia, an HBK brand, has software that offers the possibility to use both dynamic and static measurement data perfectly.
When it comes to the difference between dynamic and static tests on bridges, this scientific paper from Piotr Olaszek and the already cited Joan Ramon Casas provide you with in-depth and comprehensible information on the subject.
This all shows that building bridges to last 100 years is not impossible. Sure, we will still make great progress in construction technology to make bridges generally more sustainable, but the progress made in monitoring and maintenance will give us much more confidence in the structural integrity of our existing bridges.
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Accelerate your product innovation with HBK solutions in virtual, physical and in-process testing. From the electrification of mobility to the advancement of smart manufacturing, we support you throughout the entire product lifecycle, sharing your mission for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
This will bring together HBM, Brüel & Kjær, nCode, ReliaSoft, and Discom brands, helping you innovate faster for a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world.
