Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2010 Wireless Sensing System for Load Testing and Rating of Highway Bridges Yan Luo West Virginia University Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Luo, Yan, "Wireless Sensing System for Load Testing and Rating of Highway Bridges" (2010). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 3007. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/3007 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Wireless Sensing System for Load Testing and Rating of Highway Bridges Yan Luo Dissertation submitted to the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering Samir N. Shoukry, Ph.D., Chair Kenneth H. Means, Ph.D. Jacky C. Prucz, Ph.D. Mourad Riad, Ph.D. Gergis W. William, Ph.D. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Morgantown, WV 2010 Keywords: Wireless Sensor Networks, System Development, Finite Element Analysis, Bridge Load Testing and Rating ABSTRACT Wireless Sensing System for Load Testing and Rating of Highway Bridges Yan Luo Structural capacity evaluation of bridges is an increasingly important topic in the effort to deal with the deteriorating infrastructure. Most bridges are evaluated through subjective visual inspection and conservative theoretical rating. Diagnostic load test has been recognized as an effective method to accurately assess the carrying capacity of bridges. Traditional wired sensors and data acquisition (DAQ) systems suffer drawbacks of being labor intensive, high cost, and time consumption in installation and maintenance. For those reasons, very few load tests have been conducted on bridges. This study aims at developing a low-cost wireless bridge load testing & rating system that can be rapidly deployed on bridges for structural evaluation and load rating. Commercially available wireless hardware is integrated with traditional analogue sensors and the appropriate rating software is developed. The wireless DAQ system can work with traditional strain gages, accelerometers as well as other voltage producing sensors. A wireless truck position indicator (WVPI) is developed and used for measuring the truck position during load testing. The software is capable of calculating the theoretical rating factors based on AASHTO Load Resistance Factor Rating (LRFR) codes, and automatically produces the adjustment factor through load testing data. A simplified finite element model was used to calculate deflection & moment distribution factors in order to reduce the amount of instrumentation used in field tests. The system was used to evaluate the structural capacity of Evansville Bridge in Preston County, WV. The results show that the wireless bridge load testing & rating system can effectively be implemented to evaluate the real capacity of bridges with remarkable advantages: low-cost, fast deployment and smaller crew. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is almost impossible to complete this long journey without the support from my family and friends. First, I would like to thank my parents for their encouragement and support over the years, and my wife for her understanding and love during the hardest period in my life. I would like to express my deepest gratitude and respect for my advisor, Professor Samir Shoukry, for supporting my research and helping me find an area of intellectual pursuit that fit my abilities and interests well. His endless contribution of ideas and insights resulted in bettering my efforts to design the wireless bridge load testing & rating system. Having learned under his tutelage helped me to grow both intellectually and as a person. Many thanks are owed to Dr. Mourad Riad and Dr. Gergis William, who provided me with lots of selfless help and precious experiences in civil engineering and bridges. I would like to thank Professor Michael Palmer for unselfishly sharing with me his encyclopedic knowledge of printed circuit board. My thanks also go to Mr. Hermman Alcazar and Mr. Joseph Greenfeder for helping me with the field tests. I recall the great fun and experience that I gained when working with Mr. Musat Crihalmeanu. Especial thanks to my friend Joe Watring for some of the best experiences of daily life in Morgantown, WV. Lastly, I would like to thank the committee members for this research. Each of you has provided me with your valuable time and precious advices and for that I am indebted to you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES ....................................................................... 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT ..................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 DISSERTATION OUTLINE .................................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................... 7 2.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 7 2.2 RESEARCH ON WIRELESS SENSOR PROTOTYPES ............................................................................ 10 2.3 COMMERCIAL WIRELESS SENSOR PLATFORMS .............................................................................. 17 2.4 FIELD DEPLOYMENT IN CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS ........................................................... 18 2.5 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 3 WIRELESS SENSORS AND INSTRUMENTATION ............................................... 22 3.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 22 3.2 MICROSTRAIN® WIRELESS SENSING PLATFORM .......................................................................... 23 3.2.1 Power Consumption .............................................................................................................. 25 3.2.2 Power Consideration for Long Term Application ................................................................. 25 3.3 WIRELESS STRAIN SENSORS .......................................................................................................... 26 3.3.1 Pre-Wired Foil Strain Gage ................................................................................................... 26 3.3.2 BDI Strain Transducer .......................................................................................................... 27 3.3.3 Circuit and Construction of Wireless Strain Sensors ............................................................. 29 3.3.4 Validation Test ....................................................................................................................... 30 3.4 WIRELESS ACCELEROMETERS ....................................................................................................... 31 3.4.1 Selection of Accelerometers .................................................................................................. 31 3.4.2 Circuit and Construction of Wireless Accelerometers ........................................................... 33 3.4.3 Validation Tests ...................................................................................................................... 35 3.4.3.1 Laboratory Validation Test ............................................................................................................. 35 3.4.3.2 Field Validation Experiment ........................................................................................................... 36 3.5