Monitoring System for a Cable-Stayed Bridge in Plock

Not so long ago, a pretty bridge was completed in Poland, over the Vistula River, near the city of Plock. The bridge is made of steel. It is a cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 375 m. The bridge is subjected to permanent structural control by what we will call a ‘monitoring system’.

This system monitors the following factors: force in the stays, inclination of the pylons, strains in the structure, wind load. The following gauges were employed: load cells, inclinometers, strain gauges, anemometers. The conclusions were divided into four groups: remarks concerning the operation of the system, remarks on the safety of the bridge, knowledge-building observations on the behavior of cable-stayed structures and data on real environmental effects on bridges. The conclusions drawn after the first two years of data acquisition are reassuring. The behavior of the bridge is not unexpected and the parameters measured are within the foreseen limits.