Bridge deflection real-time monitoring based on inclined angle measurement

Deflection monitoring is an important aspect of health monitoring system,and by inclined angle measurement the structural deflection can be acquired precisely and in real-time(RT).The relation between inclined angle and deflection was deduced in the case of cantilever or simply supported beam.The inclined angle was fitted and then integrated to obtain the diflection with the help of MATLAB and the result was compared with that by direct deflection measurement in the test of a steel beam under loads.A health monitoring engineering project was introduced to show the inclinometers' application in deflection monitoring.The analysis shows that the deduced relationship between incliner angle and deflection is reasonable,while the boundary conditions should be considered with regard to different structures.The deflection obtained though inclined angle integration is nearly identical with the deflection measured.If inclinometers are used in the health monitoring system,then the RT deflection and deflection at any time point of the structures can be obtained.