Bridge cables are used as critical structural components for cable-stayed bridges. It is essential to identify and monitoring the cable force of cable-stayed bridges in real time and continuously. In this paper, the design of a remote real-time cable force monitoring system including both hardware and software components are realized and the specifications of the system are also presented. The system was implemented in the Tianjin Yonghe cable-stayed bridge located in Tianjin, China, to remotely monitor the cable fore of the bridge and provide the condition assessment of the cables to the users via Internet. Experiences with this system demonstrate how effective low cost system provides a tremendous cost savings in terms of travel time, maintenance, and repair costs. This paper will also discuss the monitoring system and provides a preliminary analysis based on the data acquired from this system.

Date Published: 20 October 2009
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 7493, Second International Conference on Smart Materials and Nanotechnology in Engineering, 74933L (20 October 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.840055

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7493:
Second International Conference on Smart Materials and Nanotechnology in Engineering
Jinsong Leng; Anand K. Asundi; Wolfgang Ecke, Editor(s)