Improving bridge collapse detection and on-site emergency alarms: A case study in Taiwan

During the past decades in Taiwan, numerous scour problems have led to the collapse of bridges. Such accidents have caused severe economic losses and killed many people. Although Taiwanese government agencies have mitigated this relationship between natural hazards and bridge collapse, two problems still exist at bridge sites: the lack of convenient mechanisms for bridge collapse detection and the lack of active mechanisms for on-site emergency alarms. Therefore, based on an approach consisting of mixed collapse detectors (i.e., bi-axial tilt sensors, electronic circuits) and compounded wireless networks (i.e., low-rate wireless personal area network, wireless local area network, worldwide interoperability for microwave access), this study proposes a bridge safety monitoring information system. While the mixed collapse detectors identify the status of various bridge elements, the compounded wireless networks streamline the information transmission between on-site bridges and off-site headquarters. This research is composed of two-year tests on six bridges. After 382 earthquakes and 13 typhoons, this study confirmed that the stability of the bridge safety monitoring information system achieved the anticipated results. Thus, this study provides a sound reference for similar applications in bridge and disaster management.