Remote health monitoring for asset management

This project investigated the development of an instrumented pile that could provide real-time data on bridge scour, allowing for the remote monitoring of bridge conditions by key managers and engineers. The developed technology has the potential to identify hazardous conditions at a bridge site, such that managers and owners can be notified automatically and appropriate actions can be undertaken. The instrumented pile monitors the temperature along the length of a pile embedded in the soil in a river bed. Monitoring the temperature profile along the length of the pile shows the thermal variations that exist in the water and in the soil, as a means of estimating where the soil / water interface exists. If a scour hole develops in the area of the pile, the depth of the soil / water interface is consequently changed, and this change is detected by thermal variations detected along the length of the pile. This technology provides a practical means of managing a bridge asset by reporting on potentially dangerous scour conditions such that mitigation strategies can be employed. This report documents the development of an innovative sensor array technology and initial field implementation.