ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: The structural monitoring, using new sensing/processing and modelling/ identification techniques, is a field with enormous potential to be applied in civil infrastructures. The access to continuous and structured information on the behaviour of structural systems permits new insights and deeper knowledge, pointing out new ways of assessing the design, construction and maintenance of civil engineering structures. In Portugal, the LABEST as other research groups is stepping up the application of the novel monitoring concepts to bridges and other civil structures. The present paper describes some aspects of the work developed in the field of structural monitoring of bridges. The benefits of structural monitoring are here appraised through the presentation of short term monitoring examples. The pioneer work of implementing a permanent optic based monitoring system in the centenary Luiz I Bridge is also described.
