Structural health monitoring systems-SHMs of the long span bridges in Turkey

Abstract

The existing suspension bridges in Turkey, the Bosphorus and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges and the ongoing bridge projects, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (the 3rd Bosphorus Bridge) and the Izmit Bay Bridge, are the main transportation connections between Europe, Asian and Africa. Due to continuously increase in population of Marmara region, the importance of these bridges raises increasingly. In particular, Istanbul city of intersections has a crucial role in this region with the population of 18 million. In this study, general properties of the bridges are given on the basis of Structural Health Monitoring considerations. The specifications of the SHM systems of both the existing and the bridges under construction are given in detail. Besides, the recent developments in these SHM systems are presented. Based on the growing interest in long span bridge projects in Turkey, the need for a general large center for the SHM systems of all long span bridges in Turkey is stated in this study. This large SHM center also provides opportunity to implement the Structural Identification concept St-Id to the bridges in Turkey. © 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.