Resilient Monitoring of the Structural Performance of Reinforced Concrete Bridges using Guided Waves

Abstract

Structural Health Monitoring of the deflections of a reinforced concrete bridge deck strengthened with Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP) or composite materials can help towards obtaining predictions of fail-ures. Data regarding spam deflection, FRP debondings or failures and concrete crack patterns, acquired by guided waves on interfaces of concrete substrate and FRP measures are used in order to represent the damage propagation of the strengthened bridge deck over time. The failure indexes of the interfaces help towards a strategy for maintenance and asset management based on potential risk that derives from structural data. This resilient strategic monitoring of interfaces is a practical, expedient, long-distant tool to estimate the efficiency of the interfaces (Interface Efficiency Indices-InterFeis) and the risk level of the asset with no disruption of traffic or in nonapproachable areas. The monitoring of the time history of data concerning the structural integ-rity, assesses the structural performance of the bridge against critical loads, combined phenomena, extreme events, climate change or other uncertainties of design or of its life-cycle and can be integrated in bridge design guidelines towards infrastructural safety and resilience of the transportation network, saving valuable time and resources