Development and Implementation of a Fully Customised System for Monitoring a Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridge Undergoing Rehabilitation Works

This work explores the key capabilities of emerging sensing technologies in the context of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructures, aiming at contributing to the research on integrated and intelligent systems for more accessible and efficient monitoring solutions. As a case study, this study focuses on analysing the static and dynamic behaviour of the Edgar Cardoso stay-cable Bridge during its rehabilitation, recurring to a fully customized transducers and equipment. The developed system integrates sensors capable of measuring accelerations, displacements and temperature, which are connected to an autonomous data acquisition and transmission network. A digital interface was also developed to store, process and visualize the collected data, allowing remote access for later interpretation and analysis. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the developed system, which enabled the identification of the dynamic properties of the structure in terms of natural frequencies and vibration modes. The effects of traffic loads, as well as the correlations between temperature and structural displacements were also identified. Furthermore, the estimation of the axial forces in the stay cables permitted to study the influence of wind actions and traffic loads in these elements. The results demonstrate the potentialities of customized sensing solutions as effective tools for the management, maintenance, and long-term preservation of strategic infrastructures.