Delaware's first long term instrumented bridge: A prototypical instrumentation and installation plan

Bridges are vital links in transportation systems, and represent a tremendous economic investment for their owners. Therefore, it is necessary to have a reliable process for maintaining them and ensuring their reliability. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) awarded a contract to the University of Delaware's Center for Innovative Bridge Engineering (CIBrE) to develop specifications for a long-term bridge performance program (LTBPP). The LTBPP is intended to create a quantitative database of bridge condition and performance that can be used to understand why bridges deteriorate. The program will use structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies to collect some of the desired data. These SHM technologies will be implemented on hundreds of permanently instrumented bridges throughout the country. The research presented in this thesis describes Delaware's first permanently instrumented bridge, a potential prototype for the LTBPP. The SHM system used on this bridge will also serve as a prototype for a more extensive SHM system that is being planned for the 1,000 foot Indian River Inlet Bridge.; The SHM system developed consists of sixty one sensors and was installed on a three-span continuous slab on girder composite bridge on I495 in New Castle County, Delaware. The thesis presents the planning that led up to the actual instrumentation, including diagnostic static and dynamic tests used to establish baseline behavior, design details of the SHM system, and programming aspects related to the data acquisition system. An extensive finite element model of the bridge was also created and calibrated based on the diagnostic test data. Detailed cost and labor summaries associated with the instrumentation are also discussed. Finally, recommendations for remaining work are presented.