Development and application of a relative displacement sensor for structural health monitoring of composite bridges

This paper proposes a relative displacement sensor developed to measure directly the relative slip between slab and girder in composite bridges for assessing the health condition of shear connections. The structure, design principle, features, and calibration of the developed relative displacement s...

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Main Authors: Li, Jun, Hao, Hong, Fan, K., Brownjohn, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 2015
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE140101741
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41089
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author Li, Jun
Hao, Hong
Fan, K.
Brownjohn, J.
author_facet Li, Jun
Hao, Hong
Fan, K.
Brownjohn, J.
author_sort Li, Jun
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper proposes a relative displacement sensor developed to measure directly the relative slip between slab and girder in composite bridges for assessing the health condition of shear connections. The structure, design principle, features, and calibration of the developed relative displacement sensor are presented. The design of the sensor ensures that there are no voltage outputs for the tension, compression, bending, and torsion effects, but only for the relative displacement between the two connecting pads of the sensor. The accuracy of the developed sensor in measuring the relative displacement response and using it for monitoring the conditions of shear connectors was tested on a composite bridge model in the laboratory. Shear connection condition was monitored under ambient vibrations, then static load tests were conducted to introduce cracks into the composite bridge. Both the vertical deflections and relative displacements were used for the crack detection. Experimental studies demonstrate that the developed sensor is very sensitive to the relative displacement and has a decent performance for the structural health monitoring of composite bridges.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T09:05:59Z
publishDate 2015
publisher John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-410892022-09-06T04:46:52Z Development and application of a relative displacement sensor for structural health monitoring of composite bridges Li, Jun Hao, Hong Fan, K. Brownjohn, J. This paper proposes a relative displacement sensor developed to measure directly the relative slip between slab and girder in composite bridges for assessing the health condition of shear connections. The structure, design principle, features, and calibration of the developed relative displacement sensor are presented. The design of the sensor ensures that there are no voltage outputs for the tension, compression, bending, and torsion effects, but only for the relative displacement between the two connecting pads of the sensor. The accuracy of the developed sensor in measuring the relative displacement response and using it for monitoring the conditions of shear connectors was tested on a composite bridge model in the laboratory. Shear connection condition was monitored under ambient vibrations, then static load tests were conducted to introduce cracks into the composite bridge. Both the vertical deflections and relative displacements were used for the crack detection. Experimental studies demonstrate that the developed sensor is very sensitive to the relative displacement and has a decent performance for the structural health monitoring of composite bridges. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41089 10.1002/stc.1714 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE140101741 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. fulltext
spellingShingle Li, Jun
Hao, Hong
Fan, K.
Brownjohn, J.
Development and application of a relative displacement sensor for structural health monitoring of composite bridges
title Development and application of a relative displacement sensor for structural health monitoring of composite bridges
title_full Development and application of a relative displacement sensor for structural health monitoring of composite bridges
title_fullStr Development and application of a relative displacement sensor for structural health monitoring of composite bridges
title_full_unstemmed Development and application of a relative displacement sensor for structural health monitoring of composite bridges
title_short Development and application of a relative displacement sensor for structural health monitoring of composite bridges
title_sort development and application of a relative displacement sensor for structural health monitoring of composite bridges
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE140101741
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41089