Dynamical testing of a cable-stayed bridge model using wireless sensor network

Emerging wireless technologies have the promise of improving the centralized cable-based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system performances. Recently, a smart sensor network is introduced, and application to the next generation of SHM is proposed. In this study, the performance of the latest version of the "mote", called Imote2, is experimentally investigated through dynamic testing of an in-house cable-stayed bridge model. This paper focuses on the verification of wireless sensor network integration technologies and their application on determination of bridge structural dynamic properties. Three wireless sensors are used to measure bridge model dynamical responses excited by a vibration generator. The dedicated experimental system including the multi-functional wireless nodes, base station, LabVIEW visualization software, and computer is designed for experiment evaluation. The performance the wireless system is compared with wired instrumentations. Frequency Domain Decomposition (FDD) method is then used to identify structural modal parameters from bridge model responses. A finite element (FE) model is also developed to assist the analysis of dynamical characteristics of the bridge model. The testing results, combined with the FE analysis results, demonstrate the feasibility of wireless sensing technology in civil engineering structure health monitoring application.