11/2007 Route 56 over Raquette River

Route 56 over Raquette River – Colton, NY – November 2007
To facilitate spatially dense ambient vibration monitoring of multi-span structures without relying on multiple reference-based tests, the channel count capabilities of the WSS platform were expanded by employing synchronous networks operating at adjacent RF carrier frequencies. An additional ten wireless sensor nodes were physically prototyped prior to this testing to demonstrate the new flexibility in system channel count expansion. The structure in this study was a three-span concrete deck on steel girder design supported by elastomeric bearings.

In this case study, thirty dual-axis accelerometers were installed on the girders across the 360 foot bridge span. Forty of the sensor channels were conditioned, acquired, and transmitted in real-time across the a star network operating on the 2400MHz carrier frequency with the remaining channels facilitated simultaneously on a secondary star network operating on the 2480MHz carrier frequency. Operational modal analysis was facilitated through the ambient vibration testing and modal parameters were reconstructed for 21 mode shapes.

Associated Journal Papers
Whelan, M.J., Gangone, M.V., Janoyan, K.D., and Jha, R. (2011) “Operational Modal Analysis of a Multi-Span Skew Bridge Using Real-Time Wireless Sensor Networks,” Journal of Vibration and Control (Published online ahead of print)

Whelan, M.J. and Janoyan, K.D. (20xx) “Assessment of Simplified Linear Dynamic Analysis of a Multi-Span Skew Bridge on Steel-Reinforced Elastomeric Bearings,” Journal of Bridge Engineering (Accepted for Publication)