Assessment of an Automation Algorithm for TDR Bridge Scour Monitoring System

Abstract

Bridge scour is the number one cause of bridge failures. There are high risks associated with scour-induced damages due to their catastrophic nature. Developing real time bridge scour monitoring systems is a pressing task for the research community. Such systems need to be accurate, rugged, and field worthy. Implementing automatic signal interpretation is important to ensure the success of a long term scour monitoring instrument. This paper is part of the efforts to develop a TDR system to monitor the development of scour and sedimentation process. The focus of this paper is on an automation algorithm for TDR signal analyses. It discusses the theoretical foundation of this TDR algorithm for scour depth estimation. The influence of different types of sediments and the conditions of river (including the salinity and the effects of high air entrainment and suspended sediments) on the accuracy are assessed. The study indicates that the scour monitoring algorithm based on extending a physics-based general design equation is accurate under these different conditions. This will help implement a robust algorithm to automate the TDR bridge scour monitoring system.