• Cable Health Monitoring Technology.

Bridge Technology Consulting is pioneering the application of health monitoring technology to remotely track degradation in bridge cables. Since 2005, Bridge Technology has been pursuing different sensor technologies to remotely report corrosion rate, strain degradation, temperature and humidity levels inside a bridge cable. Recently, Bridge Technology Consulting led the first known installation of a corrosion sensor in a cable of one of the major suspension bridges in the northeast U.S.

The following summarizes the sensor system installation procedures:

  • Corrosion sensors were embedded in the bridge cable within the window of inspection while the cable was wedged.
  • Each corrosion sensor is connected to a flex tape whose other end is connected to a data acquisition box, which in turn is connected in the vicinity of sensor location.
  • Care was exercised during the rewrapping and compaction of the cable at the location where sensors were embedded in the cable to avoid damaging the flex tape.
  • A data communication wire was extended down to the deck level to allow easy access and download of data.
  • Currently, Bridge Technology Consulting is downloading data from the data acquisition box and conducting analysis of the data.
  • Sensor data is used in the BTC Method to update the cable strength.