Design, analysis, manufacturing and testing of a composite smart-bridge

A Smart-Bridge was developed for the 7 th Annual SAMPE Super Light-Weight Composite Bridge Building Contest. Design, manufacturing and analysis efforts for this bridge are discussed herein. A structural health monitoring system consisting of piezo-ceramic disks embedded into a Kapton Smart-Layer was utilized to monitor damage occurring along the top surface of this bridge. Results from this monitoring system show steadily increasing values of the damage index folio-wing the steadily increasing load. Initial and ultimate failures exhibited in the load displacement curve for this bridge are indicated in the values for the damage indexes obtained through the monitoring system. Using values for the damage index for each path within the sensor/actuator network, an imaging algorithm was utilized to provide near real-time images of the damage occurring in the bridge throughout the test. The results from this imaging algorithm indicate the approximate location of ultimate bridge failure.