Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges | Dewesoft

Complete structural health monitoring solution for bridges and structures. Easily distribute DAQ, store to database or cloud and monitor from anywhere.

Bridge Monitoring

Overview

Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges

Dewesoft data acquisition systems are used in structural health and seismic bridge monitoring projects ranging from structural mechanics to continuous monitoring of large, complex bridge structures.

The monitoring systems provide distributed, high-channel-count and remote monitoring for highway overpasses, roads, buildings, and bridges. We provide a total solution from DAQ systems and data loggers to sensors and monitoring software.

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IEPE

Strain and Stress

Full Bridge

Half Bridge

Quarter Bridge

Voltage

Force

Video

EtherCAT

Fanless

Temperature

IP67

Main Features

TOTAL TURN-KEY SOLUTION: Dewesoft monitoring systems offer a complete solution from highly accurate signal conditioning systems, wireless data loggers, to all the necessary sensors that are used in structural health monitoring projects.
DISTRIBUTED: Dewesoft devices are designed to be distributed under any condition. EtherCAT technology allows devices to be placed near the sensors and connected with a single cable for power, data, and synchronization. The cable can span up to 100m between DAQ nodes or virtually unlimited using EtherCAT to fiber optic converters. We have instrumented the world's longest bridge - Hong Kong - Macao, spanning over 50 kilometers.
ANY SENSOR: input amplifiers offer support for any strain gauge sensor, low-frequency accelerometer sensors for seismic activity monitoring, temperature, and weather factors.
PERFECTLY SYNCHRONIZED: All data channels are synchronized well below microsecond accuracy, required for deep structural analysis.
AMAZING DYNAMIC RANGE: With dynamic ranges up to 160dB, our customers are claiming they can see fish hitting the structure.
WIDE VARIETY OF CONFIGURATIONS: From extremely rugged IP67 units with very high dynamic range to cost-effective solutions offer a tailored approach for virtually any structure with the possibility to monitor and analyze thousands of data points.
POWERFUL SOFTWARE: DewesoftX software offers real-time diagnosis, pre-processing and data reduction with powerful math. A wide variety of storage options are possible with powerful visualization choices.
OPEN INTERFACES: Using Dewesoft X3, data is available in a wide variety of formats, from exported data to live OPC UA interface or modern cloud data services.
REMOTE OPERATION: the entire system can be remotely operated offering triggered storing, alarms, and other monitoring features with capabilities to store data locally or at distant remote locations.
LIFETIME FREE SOFTWARE UPGRADES: Our data acquisition comes bundled with award-winning DewesoftX data acquisition software. The software package is always evolving and new features being added. We offer lifetime free software upgrades to all our users.

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Bridge Monitoring Instrumentation

Sensors:

1 - Acceleration and inclination measurement: Dewesoft IOLITEdiw-3xMEMS-ACC-INC a Triaxial MEMS accelerometer and static inclinometer with EtherCAT interface, 8 g measurement range.
2 - Displacement measurement: Dewesoft IOLITEdiw-3xMEMS-ACC a Triaxial MEMS accelerometer that precisely measures displacement by integrating acceleration twice.
3 - Static Strain measurement: Embedment vibrating wire strain gauge designed to be embedded into concrete structures for monitoring static strain of concrete.
4 - All in one weather station: Weather station providing a measurement of relative humidity, temperature, wind speed & direction, brightness, and twilight.
5 - Dynamic strain gauge: Bolt-on dynamic strain gauge designed to be mounted on the structure.
6 - IOLITEdiw-3xMEMS-ACC: Triaxial MEMS accelerometer with EtherCAT interface and 8 g measurement range.
7 - Asphalt temperature measurement
8 - Corrosion sensor
0 - Air temperature and humidity measurement

DAQ devices:

10 - IOLITEd - From single-channel to multi-channel distributed data acquisition devices capable to read data from accelerometers, dynamic strain gauges, thermocouples, RTDs, weather stations, potentiometers, etc.
11 - VW Wireless data logger - For reading the data from vibrating wire sensors.
12 - IOLITE LX - An embedded data acquisition system and data logger all in one.

System Architecture

Dewesoft Data Acquisition systems with their wide range of analog and digital inputs, offer support for almost any kind of 3rd party sensor used in Structural Health Monitoring.

All EtherCAT compatible devices (IOLITE, IOLITEd, KRYPTON) can be connected to the same network giving the possibility to build a virtually unlimited channel chain by using a single cable delivering power, synchronization, and data. The whole EtherCAT chain is synchronized to 1us no matter the distance. Node-node distances can be up to 100m.

All the raw data from data acquisition devices are collected and processed by measurement units running the DewesoftX data acquisition software. Processed data is sent over the TCP/IP network to the factory or cloud server. Data can be accessed and viewed on the client PC or stored in the time series database (Historian) and served to SCADA systems or Cloud Software using standard interfaces such as OPC/UA or XCP to truly support Industry 4.0 applications.

Modal Analysis Possibilities

Dewesoft provides an efficient solution for the modal test, time for setup and measurement is very short. Import or draw the geometry, perform the measurement and animate the structure.

Main Modal Analysis Features:

Multireference Modal Test
Autofill for Fast Input and Setup
Auto-generated Screens
Geometry Animation and Projection
Merge Several Data Files
Operating Deflection Shapes (ODS)
Easy Data Export into standard file formats
Advanced Modal Analysis
OMA - Operational Modal Analysis

Learn more: Modal Analysis application page.

Rugged and Distributed Data Acquisition

Dewesoft provides very rugged data acquisition units that can work flawlessly in a wide temperature range, under big stress and even in very humid and wet environments.

Data acquisition units can easily be distributed so you can place them close to the sensor placed on the structure. This means shorter sensor cabling which increases signal quality, decreases chances of cabling errors and cabling cost. DAQ systems can be distributed down to single channel.

EtherCAT protocol provides a connection with up to 100 meters between DAQ nodes. Single power is used for data, power, and synchronization. This can be further expanded using EtherCAT to Fiber Optic converters.

Remote Data Monitoring and Storage

DewesoftX software offers easy and flexible configurations for your data flow. You can store data locally near the structure itself, or use any of the standard interfaces like OPC UA to send and store data remotely in the cloud or database. There is really no restriction on how to set up your data flow.

Our flexible licensing allows you to connect an unlimited number of view clients to monitor data in real-time without any additional cost.

Dewesoft Historian - Timed-series Database Storage

The Historian software package provides a time-series database for long term data storage. The database can be either located locally, on the remote server, or in the cloud. The solution is based on the InfluxDB time-series database open source project.

Historian provides several useful features for your historic data:

Raw and reduced data: while raw data is always stored on the measurement unit for an in-depth analysis, Historian takes the role of long-term reduced data storage into the cloud database.
Data safety and retransmit: if the connection between the measurement hardware and the database is lost, the data is safely stored locally on the measurement unit and then retransmitted to the database when the connection is available.
Trending and Analysis: Historical data can always be recalled and loaded from the Historian database and used for trend analysis as well as for in-depth analysis and root cause identification.

Dewesoft Historian - Timed-series Database Storage

Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macao Bridge Monitoring

The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge (HZMB), officially the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge, is a 55-kilometre (34 mi) bridge-tunnel system consisting of a series of three cable-stayed bridges, an undersea tunnel, and four artificial islands. It is both the longest sea crossing and the longest fixed link on earth. The HZMB spans the Lingding and Jiuzhou channels, connecting Hong Kong, Macau, and Zhuhai—three major cities on the Pearl River Delta. With a total length of 55 km, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is regarded as the longest sea bridge in the world.

One part of this monument’s structural health monitoring system is the measurement of tri-axial accelerometers at the navigation spans. The purpose is to detect the occurrence of the ship impacting as well as to determine the global dynamic characteristics of the structure’s viaduct bridges.

200 highest precision acceleration channels are needed, distributed over several kilometers. These channels are clustered into six independent data acquisition subsystems. The data of each subsystem are stored locally and in parallel to a database engine running on a central server.

See the complete case study.

Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macao Bridge Monitoring

Uraya Railway Viaduct Structural Health Monitoring

A railroad bridge in Saudi Arabia was observed for around 80 hours to evaluate its structural health - the monitoring system was based on Dewesoft integrated sensing devices.

The prime objective was to acquire measurements before, during, and after the crossing of trains on the bridge. The obtained specifically quantified outputs allowed diagnostics to ensure that the bridge maintains its solid structural integrity while in use.

See the full case study - Uraya railway bridge monitoring.

Uraya Railway Viaduct Structural Health Monitoring

Vibration Analyzer for Tuned Mass Damper

Structures such as bridges, skyscrapers, staircases, stacks, and antennas can all be excited to high levels of vibration by wind, earthquakes, nearby machines, or traffic.

Low natural frequencies and low natural damping are typical of such structures. The use of GERB Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) Systems can significantly reduce these vibrations.

Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) Systems limit the displacements of structures by absorbing and dissipating vibrational energy. Generally, they are passive systems and consist of vibration masses, springs or pendulums, and visco-dampers. Each device is custom-designed for its respective application.