Malkia Bridge

The Malkia bridge is 315 m long and it is part of the development project of the motorway between Lappeenranta and Imatra. Main Road 6 is one of the most important thoroughfares and is also one of the most popular traveling routes in Finland. The project will be completed at the end of 2010. The design has been developed to minimize construction times while ensuring that the canal traffic continues undisturbed. The prefabricated elements minimize the construction time and make the demanding schedule possible. Canal Bridge A will be built side by side with Bridge B at the start of 2009.

Aim of monitoring:

The most interesting part to measure is the steel girders and temperature evolution between themselves. The temperature will change a lot on top of the canal which causes some strain changes to the steel structures. On the concrete deck, measurements will take notions of the strain changes of the concrete itself during the lifetime of the bridge. On pillar T3 Smartec SOFO sensors will measure the behaviors of the foundations. The bridge is a remotely monitored structure by using the SOFO Bee reading unit.

Main results:

The steel girders are measured from three different locations over the canal of Saimaa. The monitored pillar T3 situates on the other side of the canal. SOFO Bee unit is installed permanently to monitor bridge behaviors remotely. The data is transferred to a remote office by using wireless internet access.

Please contact us for more information regarding our sensor technology for bridge monitoring applications and read through our other case studies from Smartec and our sister company Roctest.