Development of an integrated remote monitoring technique and its application to para-stressing bridge system

Bridge monitoring system via information technology is capable of providing more accurate knowledge of bridge performance characteristics than traditional strategies. This paper describes not only an integrated Internet monitoring system that consists of a stand-alone monitoring system (SMS) and a Web-based Internet monitoring system (IMS) for bridge maintenance but also its application to para-stressing bridge system as an intelligent structure. IMS, as a Web-based system, is capable of addressing the remote monitoring by introducing measuring information derived from SMS into the system through Internet or intranet connected by either PHS or LAN. Moreover, the key functions of IMS such as data management system, condition assessment, and decision making with the proposed system are also introduced in this paper. Another goal of this study is to establish the framework of a para-stressing bridge system which is an intelligent bridge by integrating the bridge monitoring information into the system to control the bridge performance automatically.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Development and Practical Application of a Bridge Management System (J-BMS) in Japan

This paper presents a new bridge management system (J-BMS). It is integrated with a concrete bridge rating expert system that can be used to evaluate the serviceability of existing concrete bridges. The proposed J-BMS not only evaluates the performance of bridges, but also offers a rehabilitation strategy based on a combination of maintenance cost minimization and quality maximization. In this system, the genetic algorithm (GA) technique was used to search for an approximation of the optimal maintenance plan. This was constructed using Visual Basic and the C language. Furthermore, this paper examines the results of applying this system to some in-service bridges and the results of questionnaire surveys of experts. A comparison of these results shows that this system can accurately predict optimal maintenance planning, as well as bridge rating

Frequency slice algorithm for modal signal separation and damping identification

The present study examined in case of papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC) whether there consists a correlation between kind and number of the cytogenetic changes and clinical progress, in order to win conclusions of the prognostic relevance of the cytogenetic. Material and methods: Between 1988 and 1997 altogether 31 pRCC of 30 patients were cytogenetically analyzed by short time cultures. The histomorphologic grading oriented itself at the classification of Thoenes et al. (1991) and at the WHO classification for epithelial RCC (Mostofi 1997). In 24 cases the samples have been preparated by radical nephrectomies, in 6 cases by partial resection and in one case the tissue originated from a lymph node. The follow-up data ended in 2001. Results: The cytogenetic dressing showed that both primary and secondary aberrations were clearly presented.. The chromosomes 4 and 10 were involved in no case of the 31 pRCC. There has been no remarkable association of the tumor size and aberration of certain chromosomes. Some authors describe a correlation between trisomy 16 and a higher malignant tendency of the tumor. This could not be verified in this study. With two exceptions all patients with well differentiated pRCC showed complete remission independent from the tumor size. In one case a local lesion after enukleation was observed. Seven of the 30 patients died, 2 of them reliably because of the pRCC. Nine of the 30 patients developed a malignant second desease. Discussion: The aberrations followed a chronological sequence, but did not present a correlation between tumor-size, quantity or quality of the aberrations and the clinical progress. The difficulty to evaluate the progress consisted of the fact that the patients immediately after diagnosis have been treated by surgery. This examination did not demonstrate that the cytogenetic obtains prognostic relevance

Frontier of continuous structural health monitoring system for short & medium span bridges and condition assessment

It is becoming an important social problem to make maintenance and rehabilitation of existing short and medium span(10-20 m) bridges because there are a huge amount of short and medium span bridges in service in the world. The kernel of such bridge management is to develop a method of safety(condition) assessment on items which include remaining life and load carrying capacity. Bridge health monitoring using information technology and sensors is capable of providing more accurate knowledge of bridge performance than traditional strategies. The aim of this paper is to introduce a state-of-the-art on not only a rational bridge health monitoring system incorporating with the information and communication technologies for lifetime management of existing short and medium span bridges but also a continuous data collecting system designed for bridge health monitoring of mainly short and medium span bridges. In this paper, although there are some useful monitoring methods for short and medium span bridges based on the qualitative or quantitative information, mainly two advanced structural health monitoring systems are described to review and analyse the potential of utilizing the long term health monitoring in safety assessment and management issues for short and medium span bridge. The first is a special designed mobile in-situ loading device(vehicle) for short and medium span road bridges to assess the structural safety(performance) and derive optimal strategies for maintenance using reliability based method. The second is a long term health monitoring method by using the public buses as part of a public transit system (called bus monitoring system) to be applied mainly to short and medium span bridges, along with safety indices, namely, “characteristic deflection” which is relatively free from the influence of dynamic disturbances due to such factors as the roughness of the road surface, and a structural anomaly parameter.Peer reviewe