ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: In recent years much experience has been gained with continuous acoustic monitoring of monostrands in flat slab buildings and cables of cable stayed bridges. On the other hand there is little experience with monitoring of post-tensioned bridges with bonded tendons due to the complexity of the structures and the lower energy released in a wire break. To evaluate the diagnostic performance of acoustic monitoring taking of bonded tendons the monitoring system SoundPrint has been installed on a small road bridge with two spans of 30 m length each. This bridge, the Ponte Moesa was built in 1952 and is one of the first prestressed concrete bridges in Switzerland. In the longitudinal direction it is prestressed with 84 continuous tendons and 21 additional tendons at the middle support. Insufficient grouting and de-icing salts among other causes have led to deterioration and wire breaks.
