Structural health monitoring method for curved concrete bridge box girders

Curved concrete bridge girders have very complex internal forces, stress and strain distribution. As a consequence of their shape, not only the usual bending moments and shear forces are generated, but also important torsion moments are created. These moments "rotate" the axes of principal tensional stresses increasing the risk of cracking. Post-tensioning can prevent the cracks, but the added compression forces introduced in different directions increase the complexity of stress and strain fields. Therefore, the curved post-tensioned concrete girders must be particularly designed and carefully constructed. However, the real structural behavior should be verified, and risks and uncertainties related to structural design and quality of construction minimized. Structural health monitoring is a natural solution for these issues. Structural health monitoring method, based on the use of fiber optic interferometric technology including long-gage sensors and inclinometers, is presented in this paper. A 36 meters long curved post-tensioned bridge box girder is equipped with so-called parallel and so-called crossed sensor topologies, and inclinometers, in order to monitor axial strain, both horizontal and vertical curvature changes, torsion, average shear strain and rotations in both vertical plans. Important parts of structure life such as construction, post-tensioning and first years of service are registered, analyzed and presented.