Streicker bridge: Assessment of structural health condition through static and dynamic monitoring

Streicker Bridge is a new pedestrian bridge built on the Princeton University campus. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is applied with the aim of transforming the bridge into an on-site laboratory for various research and educational purposes. The research focuses on addressing some general SHM challenges, but it includes specific studies in the domain of monitoring approaches, methods, and instrumentation as well. Two fiberoptic sensing technologies are currently permanently deployed: discrete long-gage sensing technology based on Fiber Bragg-Gratings (FBG) and truly distributed sensing technology based on Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis (BOTDA). The sensors were embedded in concrete during the construction. The post-tensioning of each part of the bridge was performed about one week after the pouring. A two-year overview of the project is presented including: monitoring systems, applied monitoring strategy, and comparison of numerical model with monitoring results: bridge behavior at early age and post-tensioning, under temperature load, and under various static and dynamic load tests. The results showed that the selected monitoring strategy was suitable for monitoring of this complex bridge, and that the selected monitoring systems were able to capture the main features related to the real structural behavior of the bridge (e.g. early age cracking, post-tensioning etc.). Comparison with numerical model confirmed that the bridge is in very good condition.