USC Gets Sensor Grant to Monitor Aging Bridges

USC has won a $4 million grant to develop new sensors that can be installed on bridges to monitor them for possible cracks or corrosion.

The sensors will be wireless and self-powered and will be able to give the state DOT or bridge owners specific information about any problems.

The information will help prioritize repairs and maintenance.

Dr. Paul Ziehl, a professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at USC and the lead investigator on the USC research, says a lot of South Carolina’s bridges were built 50 years ago, with many of them having a life expectancy of about 50 years.

“What we learn will help us to more quickly determine the health of a bridge and the length of time that it can be used,” he said.

USC is working on the research with Virginia Tech, the University of Miami and Physical Acoustics Corp., with the overall grant being $14 million.

There are strain sensors available now to monitor bridges, but this research is to develop sensors that are much more sensitive. Dr. Ziehl says a currently-available strain sensor will register a crack right where it’s located but not one that’s several feet away. The sensors USC will develop will be able to locate cracks and corrosion from farther away and also give engineers data on the severity of the damage.

According to the Lee Floyd, bridge maintenance engineer for the SCDOT, South Carolina has 1,024 bridges that are structurally deficient. That doesn’t mean they’re dangerous, he says, only that one or more parts of the bridge have deteriorated to the point that they may cause problems. If the state had a pot of money to be able to replace all the structurally deficient bridges and those that are too narrow for their current traffic volume, it would cost about $1.9 billion.

Map of structurally deficient bridges in the state