Wow, pretty interesting here. 500 sensors on the 35W bridge. In some sense not that many sensors for that size. So, what do they measure? Mainly, the bearing of individual parts of the bridge: the angle, the displacement, things like that. Overall the researchers studying the information say its “pretty boring” as I would paraphrase it. For sure they haven’t seen any concerning signs of failure. Also, all changes observed are very slow: it is rare to see any significant change over the course of a week. Therefore, the researchers can concentrate on more subtle aspects, like which minor design decisions work well and which ones did not work so well, so that future bridges can be even better built.
20180817/http://www.fox9.com/news/hundreds-of-sensors-give-u-of-m-officials-valuable-data-about-the-35w-bridge
Now wouldn’t it be interesting if a similar system were installed to monitor the studs and beams in a house when it was built? Yeah, that would be interesting, but chances are the picture would be even more boring. Why? Well, in the case of the bridge, the expanding and contracting happens mostly due to temperature changes. However, in the case of a house, thanks to climate control, there would be even less thermal expansion and contraction observed, thus rendering the data even more boring. Suffice it to say, the climate control within a home preserves it and increases its longevity, compared to bridges that are full outdoor structures exposed directly to the harsh natural climate.