The National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) yesterday unveiled what it described as the world’s first early warning system for bridge collapses, which uses a set of underwater sensors to assess the status of a bridge and employs a cloud-based database to analyze the information.
The NARL has developed a waterproof and collision-resistant underwater sensor that can be placed as deep as 20m below bridge abutments, NARL researcher Lin Yung-bin (林詠彬) said.
The sensor is able to provide real-time data, such as the deep flow velocity of a body of water, the amount of sediment around a bridge’s abutment, water levels, bridge vibration and live images.
The data is transmitted to a cloud computing database in Hsinchu and a precipitation forecast for upstream areas is taken into account, enabling a warning alert to be issued six hours ahead of any potential collapse, Lin said.
The database is connected to the traffic control system allowing unstable bridges to be immediately shut down, he said, adding that the system has been installed on four large bridges on a trial basis.
Following the collapse of Houfeng Bridge (后豐橋) in Taichung in 2008 and of the Shuangyuan Bridge (雙園大橋) connecting Kaohsiung and Pingtung in 2009, the NART decided to develop a system to prevent similar catastrophes, Lin said.
A bridge is closed if the water level rises to 1.5m below the bridge, but water levels are not always a reliable indicator of a bridge’s stability, as Houfeng Bridge collapsed after flooding caused by Typhoon Sinlaku had receded, Lin said, adding that it is the degree of scour that should be monitored, which could not be accurately measured before the advent of the NARL system.
There are about 20,000 bridges in the nation and the system is expected to be widely adopted to assess the structural integrity of those bridges, in addition to elevated structures such as MRT systems, he said, adding that the NARL system could also be applied to earthquake detection and used in a compound disaster response.
The Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) Deputy Director Hsia Ming-sheng (夏明勝) said that the DGH would be among the first to adopt the system, as the NARL system can provide real-time monitoring data, while existing equipment can only perform periodic assessments.
A set of sensors for a bridge costs about NT$1 million (US$30,361), Lin said, adding that he expects the system to be well received in the global disaster prevention market — worth about US$20 billion per year.
The system has acquired patents in the US, Japan and China, and the NARL is being approached by US disaster prevention authorities, who have expressed interest in it, he said.
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