Structural health monitoring of Delaware's Indian River Inlet Bridge: year one update

Construction of the new Indian River Inlet Bridge (IRIB) in Delaware was completed in 2012 and the bridge opened in time for the heavy summer beach resort traffic. A comprehensive Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system was installed on the bridge during construction. The fiber-optic-based system includes more than 140 sensors to measure strain, acceleration, tilt, displacement, chlorides, and wind speed and direction on the bridge. Since the bridge opened, data has been collected automatically. Three controlled load tests have been conducted that will provide baseline data on the bridge response for the future. The test data has also been used to develop and calibrate live load models of the bridge.