Response to bridge impact
Collisions to bridges by vehicles cause disruptions and require a swift response to ensure that public safety is maintained and there is minimal road disruption. Damage by floating debris in flood events can be equally damaging and demand similar attention.
For concrete bridges, this can involve hammer tap survey or ultrasonic investigation for crack mapping. For steel or iron structures we recommend ACFM (alternating current field measurement), in which eddy currents are used to measure extents and depth of cracks and laminations without removing paint. Many other techniques are also available and their relevance can be assessed for the specific conditions.
JF Strainstall also has a range of monitoring solutions, known as BridgeStrike, which constantly check in real time the bridge deck for sudden movements that suggest an impact. Our cameras can record images of the vehicle before, during and after impact, which assists with bridge management as well as perpetrator prosecution.
Other monitoring options from JF Strainstall can detect over-height, over-width and/or over-weight vehicles, which then activate warning signs pre-empting and avoiding impact. We can detect even fine over-height aerials which could conflict with electrified railway overhead line equipment (OLE).
Other services available
- Review of previous impact damage and testing conducted
- Emergency visual inspections
- Dimension surveys for assessment
- Broad range of non-destructive testing including ultrasonic and ACFM
- Review of impact severity and recommendations
- BridgeStrike monitoring for impact records and imagery
- Impact magnitude recording for future enhanced response
- Over-height, over-width and over-weight vehicle detection to activate warning signs
