Ice Force Monitoring on Large Ocean Bridge

Weir-Jones installed IceForce™ panels with strain gauges on a bridge's support pylons to measure ice impact forces, ensuring they didn't exceed design limits. The monitoring revealed that, despite significant ice loads, the bridge's integrity remained uncompromised.

The Problem

The client had a large, ocean straight spanning, bridge. The support pylons of the bridge endure significant ice impact and loading on a seasonal basis. The client needed a way to measure the forces being applied to the bridge in order to ensure they did not exceed the design limits of the structure.

The Procedure

Weir-Jones provided IceForce™ panels and data acquisition for the pylons of concern. The panels are specially designed with a semi-hollow core composed of crush rings instrumented with strain gauges; this allows the measurement of force applied to the face of the panel. The panels were installed on the pylons at water level and each pylon had a dedicated data acquisition and communications module capable of reporting back to the client’s office.

The Conclusions

The IceForce™ instrumentation project demonstrated that while the ice loads were significant, they were not great enough to compromise the bridges integrity, nor were they enough to be a concern.