Along with flying cars and instantaneous teleportation, smart bridges, roads and subway lines that can send out warnings when they’re damaged are staples of futuristic transportation systems in science fiction.
桑迪亚国家实验室（Sandia National Laboratories）与总部位于英国的结构性健康监测传感器制造商结构监测系统PLC合作了15年以上，将这种科幻小说变成了科学事实。他们配备了一个由八个实时传感器网络的美国桥梁，当他们发现裂缝或裂缝达到需要维修的长度时，能够提醒维护工程师。
下周，桑迪亚高级科学家丹尼斯·罗奇（Dennis Roach）将在第九届桥梁维护，安全和管理国际会议上介绍他的团队的工作。他的演讲将包括有关此试验桥的数据，对所使用的传感器的一般评估以及他关于如何使结构健康监测在运输基础设施中更多常规的建议。
The goal of structural health monitoring is to increase supervision of critical areas, extend the lifetime of structures and ultimately reduce operating costs and improve safety. In order to assess the condition of a bridge or another kind of transportation infrastructure, sensors are mounted on the structure and their data needs to be properly analyzed.
In 2016, more than 54,000 bridges in the U.S. were classified as “structurally deficient” by the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory. This means about 9 percent of U.S. bridges need regular monitoring. “Areas that are difficult to access or things that are remotely located like bridges, pipelines and other critical structures present significant challenges to properly monitoring the health of the structure or equipment,” said Roach. “A network of structural health monitoring sensors could be a solution, or at least help ensure the necessary vigilance over these components.”
Recently, Sandia and Structural Monitoring Systems, which has a significant presence in North America, worked together with Delta Air Lines Inc. and the Federal Aviation Administration to get the Comparative Vacuum Monitoring sensors industry certified for crack detection on commercial aircraft. Roach’s work with structural health monitoring for commercial aircraft began in 2001 through the FAA’s Airworthiness Assurance Center, which has been operated by Sandia for the FAA since 1990.
‘Foolproof’ Comparative Vacuum Monitoring sensors
试验桥的结构健康监测系统包括八个比较真空监测传感器，一个真空泵，形成真空的真空泵，一个控制系统，用于打开真空泵并定期检查传感器和无线传输设备以自主呼叫或发短信维护工程师如果传感器检测到裂缝。整个系统由锂离子电池提供动力，该电池由太阳能电池板充电。
传感器沿着悬架桥上的甲板上方100英尺或平坦的道路表面100英尺的桁架上的几个焊接放置。
The Comparative Vacuum Monitoring sensors produced by Structural Monitoring Systems are made of thin, flexible Teflon and have rows of little channels, called galleries. They can be stuck onto critical joints or welds or placed near other places cracks are likely to form. When the metal is whole, the pump is able to remove all of the air out of the galleries, forming a vacuum. When a tiny crack forms in the metal underneath the sensor, it can no longer form a vacuum, similar to how a vacuum cleaner stops working when the hose has a leak. These sensors can detect cracks smaller than the thickness of a dime.
传感器可以以许多不同的形状生产，具体取决于需要监测的区域，例如在长焊缝上或一系列螺栓周围。甚至可以将它们放在微小裂缝前的系列中，以查看它是否生长，如果是这样，则有多快。每个传感器都有许多控制画廊和监视硬件，因此可以判断传感器或连接管是否有问题。由于这些控制画廊，传感器实际上是万无一失的。
结构监测系统工程师亨利·克罗克（Henry Kroker）在桥梁监测项目中发挥了关键作用，他说：“比较真空监测传感器为不断调查关键组件提供了优雅的“绿灯，红灯”方法。在多年的试验和在航空中的永久使用中，这些传感器没有产生任何错误的呼吁。”
Future of structural health monitoring
智能基础设施团队的工作开始于2005 through a Sandia-sponsored Laboratory Directed Research and Development project. The project explored using mounted sensors and wireless data transfer to continuously monitor a wide array of civil structures ranging from heavy mining equipment to railway systems and bridges. These sensors can monitor the health of structures and mechanical devices by detecting the presence of corrosion and cracks and even the condition of critical moving parts.
Roach和他的团队还使用压电传感器，光纤和印刷的涡流传感器进行结构健康监测。印刷的涡流传感器是一种桑迪亚抚养的技术，可以安装在弯曲的表面上，并在磁场中使用更改来检测裂缝。另一方面，一个压电传感器网络可以监视较大区域，而不仅仅是几个补丁。每个传感器轮流通过其他传感器收到的基础材料发出振动。传感器网络中的裂纹或其他损坏改变了这些振动的“音高”。但是，这些音高变化比真空监视器的“是”或“否”结果更为复杂。比较真空监测已准备就绪并获得商业用途的认证，其他技术仍处于实验室和现场测试的不同阶段。
Tom Rice, the mechanical test engineer in charge of testing various structural health monitoring systems, said “In 15 years of testing Comparative Vacuum Monitoring sensors, they have achieved a tremendous track record for producing dependable structural health monitoring. Once they get incorporated into more systems, in areas of concern, it’s just going to make aircraft, trains and bridges safer as time goes on.”
Structural health monitoring is especially good for hard-to-reach or remote areas, but it’s not a panacea for all inspection needs, Roach said. “There’s still plenty of times when you want a human in there with a flashlight or other inspection equipment, reasoning it out.” With that caveat, he added “Structural health monitoring is only beginning to scratch the surface of the varied types of infrastructure it could be used for.”
铁路和铁路、轮船、风力涡轮机、战俘er plants, remote pipelines, storage tanks, vehicles, even buildings could benefit from real-time, remote structural health monitoring. “The civil infrastructure industry is becoming more aware of the benefits structural health monitoring can provide and is now interested in using them,” said Roach.
提交以下：Infrastructure
