Wireless sensor network in civil engineering application

Abstract

Strain is one of the important physical quantities used to judge the health of a structure; conventional strain sensors have limited measuring capability and not necessarily optimized for civil infrastructure applications. Therefore this proposed project is to develop an application of real time Vibrating-Wire Strain Gauge Network for remote wireless monitoring of both Civil and offshore structures. With this proposed system, users can monitor buildings from any place in the world, as long as there is available internet access.

The primary working principal of this project is to develop a system which after the installation of vibrating wire strain gauges onto a building, structural strain behavior of the building could be captured and sent to the datalogger. Of which the datalogger will transmit the data via GPRS to the base station in real time. This monitoring station will receive the data and initiate the analyzing process. Finally, this processed data will be launch to the web for the view of the client.

The methodology of this project is to set up 2 monitoring points, where 2 vibrating wire strain gauges will be mounted on a lab test model, while another 2 conventional strain gauges mounted in parallel with these vibrating wire strain gauges. During the loading process on the lab test model, efficiency and accuracy check tests will be conducted to determine the functionality of the vibrating wire sensor system.

This report will demonstrate the concept of improvising modern communication technology with the latest geotechnical monitoring instruments in support of efficient operation and maintenance of civil infrastructure. Towards the end of the project, this new improvised system is incorporated into the live monitoring of a shipyard offshore structure; this is to test the genuineness of introducing this system to the civil industry.