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. 2024 Jan 12;24(2):469.
doi: 10.3390/s24020469.

An IoT-Based Road Bridge Health Monitoring and Warning System

A R Al-Ali  1 , Salwa Beheiry  2 , Ahmad Alnabulsi  1 , Shahed Obaid  1 , Noor Mansoor  1 , Nada Odeh  1 , Alaaeldin Mostafa  1
Affiliations

An IoT-Based Road Bridge Health Monitoring and Warning System

A R Al-Ali et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Recent earthquakes worldwide have led to significant loss of life and structural damage to infrastructure, especially road bridges. Existing bridge monitoring systems have limitations, including restricted detection capabilities, subjectivity, human error, labor-intensive inspections, limited access to remote areas, and high costs. Aging infrastructures pose a critical concern for organizations and government funding policies, showing signs of decay and impending structural failure. To address these challenges, this research proposes an IoT-based bridge health status monitoring and warning system that is wireless, low-cost, durable, and user-friendly. The proposed system builds upon engineering standards and guidelines to classify bridge health status into categories ranging from excellent to collapse condition. It incorporates deflection, vibration, temperature, humidity, and infrared sensors, combined with IoT and a fuzzy logic algorithm. The primary objective is to reduce bridge maintenance costs, extend lifespans, and enhance transportation safety through an early warning system via a mobile application. Additionally, a Google Maps interface has been developed to display bridge conditions along with real-time traffic video. To validate the proposed system, a 3-D prototype model was constructed and tested. Practical testing of the fuzzy logic algorithm aligned with the simulation outcomes, demonstrating expected accuracy in determining bridge health status.

Keywords: UNSDGs; fuzzy logic; intelligent transport systems; internet of things; resilient infrastructure; smart road bridges; structural health monitoring systems.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proposed system use-case diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proposed system design.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Proposed hardware architecture.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Measurement of inner deflection between two points.
Figure 5
Figure 5
MPU5060 sensor’s locations.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Bridge deflection values at the sensor locations (X are the sensors location, L are the distance between any two sensors).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Traffic count algorithm (green boxes are the boundaries of the detected cars, the red dot is the center of each bounding box, the In and Out horizontal lines are used to make sure that each vehicle is detected only once).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Road bridge health monitoring system fuzzy model.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Fuzzy system crisp inputs. (a) Deflection. (b) Temperature. (c) Wind Speed. (d) Vibration.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Fuzzy system crisp output.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Mobile application dashboard.
Figure 12
Figure 12
System block diagram.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Testing bridge prototype.
Figure 14
Figure 14
System simulation testing results.
Figure 15
Figure 15
System actual testing results: (a) test case 1, (b) test case 2, (c) test case 3, (d) test case 4.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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