Smart rock technology for real-time monitoring of bridge scour and riprap effectiveness - design guidelines and visualization tool.

PDFTech ReportOASRTRS-14-H-MSTOASRTRS-14-H-MSTScourRiprapRemote sensingReal time informationUnited StatesUnited States. Dept. of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and TechnologyChen, G. D.Tang, Y.Chen, Z. C.Guo, C. R.Bao, Y.Fan, L. T.Hu, X. Y.Klegseth, M.Li, Z. C.Missouri University of Science and TechnologyMissouri. Dept. of TransportationCalifornia. Dept. of TransportationUnited States. Dept. of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and TechnologyUS Transportation CollectionThis study aims to further develop and demonstrate the recently-proposed smart rock technology forscour depth and protection effectiveness monitoring. A smart rock is one or two stacked magnets encasedin a concrete sphere with a specially-designed rotational mechanism. Design guidelines, rotationalmechanisms, remote measurement tools and localization algorithms of smart rocks were developed andvalidated at three bridge sites. The effect of steel reinforcement in bridge piers/deck on the orientation ofgravity-controlled magnets was negligible. The localization accuracy with a single smart rock met ageneral requirement of less than 0.5 m in engineering applications. The spherical smart rock placeddirectly on the riverbed of the Roubidoux Creek successfully demonstrated its movement to the bottomof scour hole during the December 27, 2015, flood. Those deployed in the Waddell Creek and theGasconade River were washed away and thus replaced with smart rocks embedded in deposits such thattheir top is in flush with the riverbed for improved stability under water current. For rip-rap effectivenessmonitoring, polyhedral smart rocks are recommended to increase their interlock with other natural rocks