New technology aims to make bridges safer

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. (WMTV) -- A UW-Platteville professor has developed technology that she said could prevent bridge collapses, using medical technology.

Dr. Hanwan Jiang had the idea several years ago. If medical ultrasounds could find problems inside the human body, she thought, why not inside a bridge?

Jiang has been an engineering professor at UW-Platteville for three years, but she started her career in China as a bridge engineer.

"I used to travel quite a bit, like travel over 200 days a year, to do the bridge inspection," Jiang said.

While in China, she kept asking herself if there was a better way to inspect and evaluate bridges.

"Bridge evaluation still heavily [relies] on visual inspection and some traditional techniques," she said.

Jiang wanted a way to see what was happening inside the bridges.

"The cracks and those damage[s] initiated from inside the bridge," Jiang said.

About six years ago, Jiang came up with a solution: ultrasound technology. She said she liked how direct and effective medical ultrasounds could be, and she wanted to apply that to bridges.

Jiang's technology uses dozens of sensors that she can attach to a portion of a bridge.

Jiang then runs signals through those sensors, and using that data, a computer generates an image of what that section of the bridge looks like on the inside.

"The red color means there'll probably be the cracks inside the bridge," Jiang said, pointing to a computer-generated image with small slivers of red.

Jiang has been working on her research for seven years, and with the help of students, she has spent several years perfecting her technology.

"It's pretty much ready to go, but there is still room to improve the efficiency of the calculation," she said.

Jiang hopes that her system can prevent future disasters.

"We're actually able to detect those images in the very, very early stage, before, way before the bridge fails," Jiang said.

Jiang is in the process of patenting her technology. Her next step will be getting her product out on the market so inspectors and engineers can use it.