Pedestrian bridge vibration monitoring using a wireless MEMS accelerometer board

In recent years, growing interest has been aroused by the possibility of monitoring wirelessly the dynamic response and the state of aging infrastructures. Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) based equipment has revealed to be an emerging technology for vibration monitoring of large-sized civil structures such as bridges and buildings. Once problems related to the MEMS-based sensors resolution at very low-frequency and low-amplitude vibrations were solved, they have provided a lowcost and small alternative to the traditionally used wire-based devices. In this study, a newly designed wireless, MEMS-based, accelerometer board (Acceleration Evaluator, ALE) is used as stand-alone sensor for carrying out a vibration analysis on a pedestrian deck-stiffened arch bridge. Through an extensive series of quasi-static and dynamic tests, it is proved that the developed sensor board can be used as reliable devices to obtain measurements comparable with those obtained when equivalentaccuracy devices (i.e. Integral Electronics PiezoElectric (IEPE) accelerometers) are used for modal frequencies and dynamic parameters change analyses and damage detection.