SBIR Phase I: Portable Rapid Bridge Safety Inspection System for Earthquake and Other Natural Caused Damages (PORBSIS)

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9860117 This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is to investigate, develop and validate Portable high tech sensors for use in a post earthquake Rapid Bridge Safety Inspection System (PORBSIS). The present practice of visual safety inspection of bridge and large structure is both subjective and unreliable. Instrument methods, though more reliable, are plagued by the lack of accurate and fast data processing method in the case of using vibration characteristic, and the lack of adequate view field in the case of other visual equivalent. This project is addressed to a rapid inspection method for the structures under a transient live loading. The novelties of this investigation are the use of the newly developed Hilbert Huang Transform (Huang, et al., 1998) and the basic Nondestructive Instrument Bridge Safety Inspection System (NIBSIS, Huang, 1998). The advantage of the transient load is to have the test load visit every point of the structure. The NIBSIS, designed to analyze nonlinear and non-stationary time series, will enable the severity and location of the defects to be identified. Furthermore, this method requires short inspection time, and small number of sensors. Thus it offers a rapid inspection for bridge after a destructive earthquake. To maintain the effective and safe use of civil lifeline infrastructure, a rapid inspection of bridge after earthquake and natural disasters is critical. This portable rapid inspection method offers a unique alternative for fast decision making; therefore, it would be very marketable.