IoT-based sensor nodes for structural health monitoring of bridges

Abstract

The road infrastructure represents a strategic area for the planifica-tion and development of urban and rural environments. In this context, essential facilities such as bridges are subject to damages mainly due to the daily load that represents the vehicular traffic, the environmental conditions and also due to the natural degradation of the structural elements. Therefore, it is fundamen-tal performs a continuous evaluation about the state of an infrastructure. Fol-lowing, this purpose, this paper presents an architecture for the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) focused on bridges. The proposal solution involves the application of emerging technologies such as MEMS accelerometers, IoT devices and the deployment of a Wireless Sensor Network topology. Particular-ly, the architecture implemented consists of a set of ten sensor nodes which are management and synchronized by means of a central station. Furthermore, an additional node with capacity of capture and video recording was implemented Therefore, this last node provides to the system with a visual option for identi-fying the connection between the accelerations values and the vehicular traffic. In order to evaluate the system, the architecture was deployed along a bridge characterized by a heavy traffic load. Results on the scenario reveals the system allows for determining the main parameters related to state of the structure (i.e., acceleration values, load distribution and the fundamental frequencies of vibra-tion). Consequently, the proposal architecture contributes significantly in the development of solutions focused in the analysis and early detection of damages on essentials structures or facilities.