A Study on the Ubiquitous Wireless Tilt Sensors's Application for Measuring Vertical Deflection of Bridge

In this study, a new method to estimate the bridge deflection is developed by using Wireless Tilt Sensor. Most of evaluations of structural integrity, it is very important to measure the geometric profile, which is a major factor representing the global behavior of civil structure, especially bridges. In the past, Because of the lack of appropriate methods to measure the deflection curve of bridges on site, the measurement of deflection had been done restrictly within just a few discrete points along the bridge. Also the measurement point could be limited to locations installed with displacement transducers. So, in this study, the deflection of the structure was measured by wireless tilt sensor instead of LVDT(Linear Variable Differential Transformer). Angle change of tilt sensor shows structural behavior by the change of the resistor values which is presented to voltage. Moreover, the maximum deflection was calculated by changing the deflection angle which was calculated as V(measured voltage) F(factor) to deflection. The experimental tests were carried out to verify the developed deflection estimation techniques. Because the base of tilt measuring is the gravity, uniform measurement is possible independent of a measuring point. Also, measuring values were showed very high accuracy.