• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.145-164
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• 2015

Bridge scour is the predominant cause of overwater bridge failures in North America and around the world. Several sensing systems have been developed over the years to detect the extent of scour so that preventative actions can be performed in a timely manner. These sensing systems have drawbacks, such as signal inaccuracy and discontinuity, installation difficulty, and high cost. Therefore, attempts to develop more efficient monitoring schemes continue. In this study, the viability of using optical dissolved oxygen (DO) probes for monitoring scour depths was explored. DO levels are very low in streambed sediments, as compared to the standard level of oxygen in flowing water. Therefore, scour depths can be determined by installing sensors to monitor DO levels at various depths along the buried length of a bridge pier or abutment. The measured DO is negligible when a sensor is buried but would increase significantly once scour occurs and exposes the sensor to flowing water. A set of experiments was conducted in which four dissolved oxygen probes were embedded at different soil depths in the vicinity of a mock bridge pier inside a laboratory flume simulating scour conditions. The results confirmed that DO levels jumped drastically when sensors became exposed during scour hole evolution, thereby providing discrete measurements of the maximum scour depth. Moreover, the DO probes could detect any subsequent refilling of the scour hole through the deposition of sediments. The effect of soil permeability on the sensing response time was also investigated.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.33-42
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• 2023

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a crucial parameter for assessing environmental conditions in aquatic ecosystems. However, commercial in situ dataloggers for oxygen optodes can be relatively expensive and limited in their specifications. In this paper, we present a novel design for a DO datalogger system based on the control boards family with RP2040 MCU chipset. Our design includes two types of dataloggers: a simple logging system and a programmable system for sampling rates via magnetic switches underwater for divers. We provide detailed descriptions of the system, including the MicroPython source code and drawings to aid in construction. We also discuss the various applications of our DO datalogger system in monitoring dissolved oxygen concentration in coastal waters and assessing the benthic metabolism of aquatic ecosystems. Our DO datalogger system provides an affordable and flexible option for researchers to accurately monitor DO concentrations in aquatic environments, and thereby improve our understanding of these complex ecosystems.