Alaska University Transportation Center

Washington State University

INE/AUTC # 12.09

Tech Report

Alaska

Final; 8/3/2007-4/30/2011.

Alaska University Transportation Center

NTL-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION-Bridges and Structures ; NTL-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT-Environment Impacts ;

What if every time a bridge on a lonely road got icy, it automatically notified the local DOT to begin ice-control safety measures? What if a bridge could tell someone

every time an overloaded truck hit the decking, or when the trusses under it began to weaken? This project, a partnership of Washington State University, the University

of Alaska Fairbanks, and Kansas Structural Composites, Inc. takes the first steps to develop, manufacture, test, and implement Smart Honeycomb Fiber-Reinforced

Polymer (S-FRP) sandwich materials for transportation projects. This material integrates advanced composite materials with sensors and actuators. So far, researchers

have tested an S-FRP sandwich deck panel, evaluated several S-FRP sandwich beams in cold temperatures, and developed effective structural-health monitoring

strategies. Dynamic tests of the S-FRP sandwich deck panel with and without damage continue, and structural-health monitoring strategies for cold temperature exposures

will be developed. A combined experimental, theoretical, and numerical approach will result in new techniques for structural-health monitoring and damage identification

of thick sandwich deck panels. It is anticipated that, with wireless communication technologies, the developed structural-health monitoring strategies will be capable of

remotely monitoring and assessing the structural integrity of sandwich bridge decks in cold regions.

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US Transportation Collection