Self powered wireless sensor network for structural bridge health prognosis: A 5-year research and development project for infrastructure sustainability

This paper outlines the salient aspects of the technical plan of a five-year cross-disciplinary research and development project aimed at developing a novel system capable of: a) continuously monitoring the structural health of concrete and steel bridges using wireless sensors that "harvest" power from structural vibration and wind energy; and b) assessing and predicting structural health via data assembly and interpretation on the basis of damage assessment and reliability-based algorithms. The project is funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the aegis of the new Technology Innovation Program (TIP), which was created to support transformational, high-risk, high-reward research in areas of critical national need where the government has a clear interest because of the magnitude of the problems and their importance to society. The proposed research addresses the critical need accruing from the large portion of the national bridge infrastructure that is reaching or has already reached the end of its service life, and suffers from the substantial lack of efficient and sustainable technical means to monitor structural integrity and to prioritize maintenance. The project team includes Physical Acoustics Corporation (hardware/software development, civil infrastructure monitoring) as the leading entity, University of Miami and University of South Carolina (steel and concrete bridge analysis and testing, structural monitoring and prognostics), and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (energy harvesting, low-power electronics).