Bridge Condition Monitoring Using Low-Cost Accelerometers

The aim of Structural Health Monitoring is to guarantee the safety and integrity of infrastructure by providing real-time data on their structural health, enabling prompt maintenance and repair actions. This paper presents the development of a cost-effective Bridge Structural Health Monitoring system, featuring a low-power MEMS accelerometer sensor unit, without additional instrumentation, to detect bridge oscillations induced by heavy vehicles. In particular, it shows reliability in detecting heavy vehicle crossing events, delivering initial crucial insights into the deformation behavior of the bridge examined in the presented case study.