Utilizing Moving Vehicles as Sensors for Bridge Condition Screening – A Laboratory Verification

Health condition monitoring of bridge structures is attracting considerable attention, conventionally relying on visual inspection, and measurement-based methods which involve sensors installed directly on bridges. In recent years, drive-by monitoring methods that treat moving vehicles as moving sensors have been proposed as alternatives; these methods aim to be low-cost, mobile, and target fast bridge condition screening. This study addresses the current lack of sufficient experimental verification of such methods. Laboratory experiments were conducted using a test vehicle system equipped with accelerometers in order to verify the practical feasibility of three drive-by methods: (1) bridge-frequency extraction using the Fourier spectrum of a vehicle’s dynamic response, (2) damage detection using the change in a vehicle’s spectral distribution pattern, and (3) roadway surface profile identification.