Bridge Cable Testing Project Launches

Leaders of the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics have launched a unique corrosion-testing project on one of the largest cables ever built in a laboratory. In the Carleton Laboratory at The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, Professor Raimondo Betti (in lower left photo), called the project the beginning of a new era of infrastructure testing.

“It’s a magnificent piece of work,” he said.

The cable mock-up is 20 feet long, 20 inches thick and made of nearly 10,000 galvanized bridge wires, with two strands pre-corroded for blind tests and 76 sensors embedded inside. It is enclosed in an environmental chamber to simulate aggressive weather conditions to accelerate deterioration.

 

“It’s more than just a cable,” he said. “It’s an example of careful research.”

The project’s goal is to develop a state-of-the-art corrosion monitoring system to be used in main cables of suspension bridges. Betti, below left, ran a brief test for the audience that lasted a few minutes that simulated heat, rain and cold weather conditions.

“It is the most innovative system you can have,” he said. “It gives us a glimpse of what future bridges could look like.”

Professor Rene Testa, director of the Carleton Lab, said the six-month testing project would have implications for existing and future bridges.

 

“It is a research project with practical applications, the kind we engineers love to be involved in,” he said.

 

The project is a collaboration between Columbia University, Parsons Transportation and Physical Acoustics, and was made possible with a grant from the Federal Highway Administration.