forces in motion

MAURER Monitoring Systems monitor MAURER products by controlling functionality, identifying wear and detecting damages.

Monitoring of bridge bearings is executed by detection of:

• Sliding path
• Sliding gap
• Deformation or tilting, respectively

For sliding bearings, the height of the sliding gap is a direct indicator for the load on the sliding material. When a threshold value is exceeded, the operator will get a warning message. The sliding path is an indicator for the exploitation of the bearing capacity and, as accumulated sliding path, also an indicator for the load on the sliding material. Continuous detection of the accumulated sliding path combined with the sliding gap enables a prognosis for the service life and economically efficient coordination of structural maintenance management.

For elastomeric bearings and pot bearings the monitoring of buckling, deformation, and tilting is relevant for the exploitation of the bearing. The monitoring of changes in stiffness adjusted by temperature influences captures state, service life and possible bearing damage.

Monitoring of expansion joints/roadway expansion joints is executed by detection of:

• Structural gap
• Gap spacing of the lamellas
• Vibration behavior of the expansion joint

For single profile and modular expansion joints as well as finger joints the load is determined by means of relative (longitudinal and transverse) and accumulated structural gap. Functionality is monitored by observation of individual lamella spacing. The determination of the vibration behavior enables identifying damages at an early stage.

Monitoring of seismic isolators is executed by detection of:

• Deformation and tilting
• Displacement

Besides the sensors integrated in the component, for this purpose a seismograph has to be integrated in the measuring system to clearly identify an earthquake and to temporarily measure the reaction of the isolator with a high sampling rate. Exploitation and load on the isolators are monitored.

Monitoring of the hydraulic seismic dampers and cable dampers is executed by detection of:

• oil pressure in the piston and piston displacement

Monitoring of tuned mass dampers is executed by detection of:

• Relative movements between TMD and structure as well as structural vibrations

Generally it is recommended to combine product monitoring and measurement of the structural or ambient temperature in order to adjust the measurement results of temperature effects.

MAURER Monitoring Systems also provide information regarding behavior and state of the structure. Particularly spherical bearings with load measurement and measurement of translations and rotations provide data on dead weight, stiffness and thermal behavior. Changes in the stationary values of dead weight, bearing twist and bridge stiffness are indications for a system modification of the bridge, e.g. through constructional measures, placement of pillars, or changes in force transmission of the prestressing steel.

MAURER Monitoring Systems also provide information about impacts when capturing the measuring signals of high-frequency signals and evaluating them with complex algorithms.

• Seismic impacts on the structure
• Detection of traffic through bridge bearing system with load measurement (bridge bearing system –several bearings equipped, maybe combined with traffic detection at expansion joint)
• Traffic classification and axial load detection through expansion joint equipped with instruments