Smartphone Prospects in Bridge Structural Health Monitoring, a Literature Review

Abstract

Bridges are critical components of transportation networks, and their conditions have effects on societal well-being, the economy, and the environment. Automation needs in inspections and maintenance have made structural health monitoring (SHM) systems a key research pillar to assess bridge safety/health. The last decade brought a boom in innovative bridge SHM applications with the rise in next-generation smart and mobile technologies. A key advancement within this direction is smartphones with their sensory usage as SHM devices. This focused review reports recent advances in bridge SHM backed by smartphone sensor technologies and provides case studies on bridge SHM applications. The review includes model-based and data-driven SHM prospects utilizing smartphones as the sensing and acquisition portal and conveys three distinct messages in terms of the technological domain and level of mobility: (i) vibration-based dynamic identification and damage-detection approaches; (ii) deformation and condition monitoring empowered by computer vision-based measurement capabilities; (iii) drive-by or pedestrianized bridge monitoring approaches, and miscellaneous SHM applications with unconventional/emerging technological features and new research domains. The review is intended to bring together bridge engineering, SHM, and sensor technology audiences with decade-long multidisciplinary experience observed within the smartphone-based SHM theme and presents exemplary cases referring to a variety of levels of mobility.