Taylor Bridge, Headingly, Manitoba
The Taylor Bridge, the world’s longest span bridge using carbon fiber reinforced polymer, is located on Provincial Road 334 over the Assiniboine River in Headingly, Manitoba. The total length of the bridge is 165 metres; it is divided into five equal spans with each span consisting of eight 1.8-metre deep I-shaped precast prestressed concrete girders. Known as a “smart” structure, the Taylor Bridge is instrumented with fiber optic sensors coupled with conventional electric strain gauges embedded in the bridge girders, deck slab and barrier wall. Data are transmitted through two telephone lines from continuous monitoring of the bridge under traffic loads and extreme environmental conditions. A camera also provides synchronized video information.
Esplanade Riel Pedestrian Bridge, Winnipeg, Manitoba
The Provencher Pedestrian Bridge is Winnipeg’s first cable supported structure. Performance of the bridge is continuously monitored and evaluated using IHM structural sensing technology. Wardrop designed the IHM system with a network consisting of various sensors and a central DAQ system. Several types of sensors are used, including eighteen fibre optic sensors, thirty electric strain gauges, thirty thermocouples, nineteen unidirectional and four tri-axial accelerometers, a wind monitor, fourteen electronic inclinometers and a web camera. The DAQ system resides in the west abutment and is connected to the Internet via a high-speed cable modem.
The cable-stayed pedestrian bridge is five metres wide and 200 metres long with a 57-metre-high pylon in the middle. The bridge also features a 370-square-metre semicircular centre plaza around the main support pylon; this area is covered by a roof that is supported off the pylon and the surrounding ring beam. The bridge deck and pylon are made of reinforced concrete, while the stay cables are made of high strength steel strands. The cable-stayed structure, which features a large plaza at the pylon for commercial activities, has become a landmark in Winnipeg’s cityscape.
TransCanada Highway (TCH) No.1 East Bridge
The Trans Canada Highway No. 1 East Twin Bridges stretch across the Manitoba Floodway, which was originally build after the Manitoba flood in1950. The Floodway is currently being expanded to accommodate a one-in-700 year flood event, which requires changes to the 12 existing bridges that presently cross the Floodway. The new twin bridges use the second-generation Steel Free Deck (SFD) slab system, which is free of internal steel reinforcement, and contains nominal non-metallic and corrosion resistant Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars. The deck slab is supported by Nebraska University (NU) pre-cast pre-stressed concrete girders, 2.0 m deep spanning 43.5 m. This is the first time NU pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete girders have been used in Manitoba.
To monitor the performance of the SFD system, an IHM system was installed on one of the twin bridges to diagnose the condition of the deck slab and ensure it was performing as planned. The SFD system makes the bridges less susceptible to corrosion and increases their load-carrying capacity, while the IHM system helps ensure that safety and integrity are not compromised.
The sensors that provide measurements of engineering data are located on or within the bridge superstructure. Wires leading from each of the sensors are located within electrical conduit and all lead wires are terminated within an electrical enclosure found in close proximity to the bridge site. Inside the electrical enclosure is the PC that processes the software required to operate the DAQ and an uninterrupted power source.
The DAQ is connected to the PC, which is connected to the internet via a wireless internet service provided to the enclosure. A data storage and web page server is located at Wardrop’s Winnipeg office. Data from each of the sensors is logged to the bridge site DAQ and published where it awaits a subscription or call for data from the data storage server. Once the data server has requested the data from the bridge site DAQ, it is transferred to the data storage server via the Internet.
