As the highlight of a $1.8-million, four-year federally funded research program, academic and industry researchers have begun testing multiple types of bridge-cable sensors in a chamber generating real-world-based corrosive conditions at Columbia University in New York City. The six-month test, launched on Dec. 23, has the world’s only cable mockup tested under 1.2-million lb of tension, say Columbia officials.
The 20-ft-long mock suspension-bridge cable has a diameter of 20 in. and is made of nearly 10,000 steel wires, each 5 millimeters in diameter. Researchers will expose the cable to the equivalent of decades of outdoor exposure in six months. If the sensors survive the test, they will be installed on a New York City suspension bridge.