Monitoring Zeeland Bridge: Assessment of dynamic behavior using DAS, OMA and FEM

This paper presents the results of a pioneering application of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology for assessing the dynamic behavior of the Zeeland Bridge, a 5 km long cantilever balanced prestressed concrete bridge. Utilizing existing single-mode telecom fibres running through ducts within the bridge structure, spatially high-resolution dynamic measurements were performed to assess the bridge's structural behavior. Measurements were carried out under two conditions: during a controlled bridge closure with a test vehicle running over the deck, and during normal operational traffic. The DAS system successfully captured vibration signatures induced by both controlled and ambient loads, demonstrating the viability of leveraging pre-installed telecom fibres for structural monitoring. This paper compares the results from DAS to those obtained with conventional acceleration measure-ments during operational conditions. The measurement results are interpreted through comparison to dynamic simulations using Diana FE modelling. In our field lab DAS has been selected as one of the technologies to generate input for identification of spatial variation of bridge behavior. With this study we aim to identify the potential of DAS for continuous, dis-tributed, and minimally invasive monitoring of large-scale civil infrastructure, and demon-strate how discrete sensor data and finite element models can enhance interpretation of DAS results.