Date of Award

Spring 2010

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Civil Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Erin Santini Bell

Abstract

Bridge inspectors have historically relied on previous inspection reports and photographs to assess bridge health. The inclusion of instrumentation including sensors such as strain gauges, tilt sensors, LVDTs, or accelerometers can greatly enhance bridge management. This instrumentation and data interpretation is classified under a new field of study called Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). A relatively new application called Digital Image Correlation (DIC) can be deployed for SHM of civil structures. DIC uses multiple digital cameras to capture sequenced images of a target object and provide displacement information. This research has sought to incorporate DIC systems into bridge inspection and eventually a long-term SHM program. Several experiments were conducted as part of this research in both the laboratory and the field to determine the physical limits of the DIC system. The research provided insight into these limits and illuminated several key areas which require further testing.

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