Establishment and Initial In-Site Testing for the Structural Healthy Monitoring System of the Kinmen Bridge in Taiwan

Abstract

The newly-constructed Kinmen Bridge is the first cross-sea bridge for the daily commuting and medical support issues between Kinmen Island and Leiyu Island (socalled Little Kinmen Island) in Taiwan. In order to well understand the initial state and following operation conditions, a tailored-made structural healthy monitoring (SHM) system is suggested and established for the bridge. This article, in detail, describes the planning and installation of this SHM system, including cable tension force, structural behavior, and environmental monitoring, as shown in Figure 1. Subsequently, a series of onset structural condition tests on the bridge are triggered as the force inspection of cable tension, ambient testing, loading testing, and analysis of characteristics during both static and dynamic states. The experimental outcomes effectively optimize and calibrate the relative parameters and boundary conditions in the structural model of the bridge. It is expected that the following scenario simulation could provide predictions on pretension loss, temperature effect, overloading, and earthquake effect on this bridge in future. Moreover, the several critical thresholds in the calibrated numerical model could be settled, and contingent alarms will be in-time announced to the bridge management unit. This joint structural analysis and SHM-based in-situ testing could achieve the aim of real-time monitoring and diagnosis for the Kinmen Bridge.