A New, Improved Method for Detecting and Measuring Bridge Damage

The rating systems worked out and developed by a group of Kansas State University scientists could prevent bridges from the risk of collapsing and make them so much safer, as a result of the introduced technology.
The group of civil engineers have been collaborating in the attempt to better detect and measure damage risk in concrete bridges. The researchers were successful at creating a rating system that is more accurate in describing the level of damage in a bridge. Such “bridge health index” can be also applied to other structures including dams, gas pipelines, buildings and airplanes. What an amazing discovery invented to the benefit of  construction  industry!
The collaboration between the researchers and engineers resulted in developing methods of taking bridge measurements and then using finite element analysis and neural network modeling to calculate things back and detect bridge damage. The problem may arise when the cracks in the bridge have indeed been measured, but there are no objective ways to calculate to what extent it is damaged.
At present, the researchers, supported by some graduate students have been building and training the health index system using synthetic bridges, which are able to simulate the way a bridge acts under specific conditions. As a result, a network based on thousands of simulations has been built. Hopefully, some final solution will be arrived at soon, the more so Kansas Department of Transportation provides some financial support for the research to continue.