Date of Award:

5-2015

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Marvin W. Halling

Committee

Marvin W. Halling

Committee

Joseph A. Caliendo

Committee

Paul J. Barr

Abstract

The highways and bridges that make up the nation’s infrastructure are becoming older and need replacement or maintenance. In order to determine the best use of funds, bridges are being monitored and studied. This paper was part of a long term study with the goal of monitoring multiple bridges for several years in order to develop an extensive network of bridge information. This particular study was on a bridge in Utah that was instrumented with permanent measurement and monitoring devices. Monitoring of bridges provides information on how the temperature and weather cause the bridge to move, change and age. It also provides information on how traffic affects the bridge; from the amount of traffic to the weights of the vehicles.

Weigh-in-motion (WIM) stations can weigh vehicles as they pass over them, without requiring the vehicles to stop. Bridge weigh-in-motion (B-WIM) systems use bridges as scales to weigh and count vehicles. The amount the bridge deforms, or strains, is correlated to vehicle weights. B-WIM techniques are accurate but they require extensive systems in order to be processed. Rainflow histograms use a very simple algorithm to count strain cycles the bridge experiences, which characterizes the amount of movement the bridge experiences. This type of data has been used to monitor fatigue but not to weigh and count vehicles. This paper develops a technique to use rainflow histograms as a B-WIM to weigh and count vehicles. This allows the data to be analyzed simply, freeing computational capabilities for other types of analyses and facilitating data management. The bridge studied was located near a port of entry equipped with a WIM station, which allowed the new technique’s accuracy to be compared.

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