Large scale monitoring of a highway bridge with remote sensing and distributed fiber optic techniques during load tests

Many bridges in western countries are at the end of their lifetime and hence Structural Health Monitoring is vital to ensure their safe operation. Load test are one way to assess the utilization grade and to decide if actions have to be taken. We report on a comprehensive monitoring campaign of load tests of a large highway bridge on the Brenner highway. The Brenner highway is the main alpine truck crossing passage from Germany to Italy. Several different remote sensing techniques like full dome and profile laser scanning as well as robotic total station measurements were used to determine displacements of the bridge deck and girders. Strain changes and strain rates were observed with various distributed fiber optic sensing. We demonstrate how the different measurement techniques complement but also verify each other to ensure a solid foundation for further decisions.