By Bryan Eneas

Real time load sensors ready to go

Dec 7, 2017 | 3:44 PM

Load sensors installed on the Diefenbaker Bridge in the fall are now calibrated and ready to use.

Drivers needed to pause for a few moments to allow a truck loaded with sand to drive across the bridge in both directions a number of times. The Ministry of Highways is testing stress on the beams underneath the Diefenbaker Bridge. The data will be analyzed to determine if the bridge can still sustain weights of 63,500 kilograms.

“This will help actually show how much deflection, based on the weight of the vehicle, and it should help determine what should be the maximum gross weight over the bridge,” Wes Hicks the manager of capital projects said. “It may lower or raise the ultimate overweight permits.”

The calibration of the sensors caused slight delays along Highway 2 on Dec. 7, however the sensors are now sending data to the Ministry to study the Diefenbaker Bridge.

“The only way you can calibrate them, is to not have any loads on the bridge. Each time a vehicle drives over it, there’s a vibration,” Hicks said. “Today we conducted the load ratings.”

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Hicks explained the sensors detect “waves” which are created by vibrations of vehicles driving across the bridge. 

Once enough data is collected, meetings between the Ministry and structural engineers will take place to figure out where to go next. If load ratings are showing the bridge is solid, Hicks said the limit could be increased. If there is too much deflection, the weight limit will have to be decreased.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas