Public-participant quick cable force investigation method using smartphone for bridges in disaster area

Abstract

Numerous infrastructures, especially the bridge, require some safe inspection and assessment at the soonest when hit by a disaster like catastrophic earthquake. However, plenty of bridges within disaster area and limited resources for inspections may lead to the traffic delays and hampering the quick post-disaster assessment and rebuilt. In this article, a public-acceptant method, where cable force of bridges can be investigated quickly based on ubiquitous smartphones, was proposed to raise the efficiency of inspection and assessment in post-disaster emergency. First, public-participant post-disaster emergency disposal system was supported by the developed mobile software Orion-CC. Second, the lab’s comparison experiment was conducted with the mature wireless monitoring method, which verified the feasibility of the above-mentioned method. Third, the field experiment in totally three bridges in Dalian including Hualu Bridge which used three iPhones demonstrated the feasibility, practicability, high efficiency, and stability of the novel method, and showed its huge potential for the application in bridges’ quick health investigation. Besides, utilizing the smartphone-based cable force investigation method as the breakthrough, the data collection network and the framework of public-participant post-disaster emergency disposal system were preliminary established.