• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.151-167
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• 2015

Instrumentation on structural health monitoring system imposes critical issues for applying the structural monitoring system to real world structures, for which not only on the configuration and geometry, but also aesthetics on the system to be monitored should be considered. To illustrate this point, two real world structural health monitoring systems, the structural health monitoring system of Shenzhen Vanke Center and the structural health monitoring system of Shenzhen Bay Stadium in China, are presented in the paper. The instrumentation on structural health monitoring systems of real world structures is addressed by providing the description of the structure, the purpose of the structural health monitoring system implementation, as well as details of the system integration including the installations on the sensors and acquisition equipment and so on. In addition, an intelligent algorithm on stress identification using measurements from multi-region is presented in the paper. The stress identification method is deployed using the fuzzy pattern recognition and Dempster-Shafer evidence theory, where the measurements of limited strain sensors arranged on structure are the input data of the method. As results, at the critical parts of the structure, the stress distribution evaluated from the measurements has shown close correlation to the numerical simulation results on the steel roof of the Beijing National Aquatics Center in China. The research work in this paper can provide a reference for the design and implementation of both real world structural health monitoring systems and intelligent algorithm to identify stress distribution effectively.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제5권4호
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• pp.469-482
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• 2009

The emerging sensor-based structural health monitoring (SHM) technology has a potential for cost-effective maintenance of aging civil infrastructure systems. The author proposes to integrate continuous and global monitoring using on-structure sensors with targeted local non-destructive evaluation (NDE). Significant technical challenges arise, however, from the lack of cost-effective sensors for monitoring spatially large structures, as well as reliable methods for interpreting sensor data into structural health conditions. This paper reviews recent efforts and advances made in addressing these challenges, with example sensor hardware and health monitoring software developed in the author's research center. The hardware includes a novel fiber optic accelerometer, a vision-based displacement sensor, a distributed strain sensor, and a microwave imaging NDE device. The health monitoring software includes a number of system identification methods such as the neural networks, extended Kalman filter, and nonlinear damping identificaiton based on structural dynamic response measurement. These methods have been experimentally validated through seismic shaking table tests of a realistic bridge model and tested in a number of instrumented bridges and buildings.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.51-69
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• 2016

Monitoring the performance and estimating the remaining useful life of aging civil infrastructure in the United States has been identified as a major objective in the civil engineering community. Structural health monitoring has emerged as a central tool to fulfill this objective. This paper presents a review of the major structural monitoring programs that have been recently implemented in the United States, focusing on the integrity and performance assessment of large-scale structural systems. Applications where response data from a monitoring program have been used to detect and correct structural deficiencies are highlighted. These applications include (but are not limited to): i) Post-earthquake damage assessment of buildings and bridges; ii) Monitoring of cables vibration in cable-stayed bridges; iii) Evaluation of the effectiveness of technologies for retrofit and seismic protection, such as base isolation systems; and iv) Structural damage assessment of bridges after impact loads resulting from ship collisions. These and many other applications show that a structural health monitoring program is a powerful tool for structural damage and condition assessment, that can be used as part of a comprehensive decision-making process about possible actions that can be undertaken in a large-scale civil infrastructure system after potentially damaging events.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.511-531
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• 2013

Recent advances in low-cost remote monitoring systems have made it possible and practical to perform structural health monitoring (SHM) on a large scale. However, it is difficult for a single remote monitoring system to cover a wide range of SHM applications due to the amount of specialization required. For the remote monitoring system to be flexible, sustainable, and robust, this article introduces a new cost-effective, advanced remote monitoring and inspection system named DuraMote that can serve as a next generation supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system for civil infrastructure systems. To evaluate the performance of DuraMote, we conduct experiments at two representative counterpart sites: a bridge and water pipelines. The objectives of this article are to improve upon the existing SCADA by integrating the remote monitoring system (i.e., DuraMote), to describe a prototype SCADA for civil engineering structures, and to validate its effectiveness with long-term field deployment results.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제3권2호
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• pp.39-46
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• 2004

Development and application of structural health monitoring system in Korea have become active since the early 1990's. In earlier applications, health monitoring systems were installed in several existing bridges in order to collect initial field data by full scale load capacity test for design verification and subsequently monitor long-term performance and durability of the bridge as part of an inspection and maintenance program. Recently, modem and integrated monitoring systems have been introduced in most of the newly constructed long-span bridges since the design stage. This paper outlines the progresses and applications of monitoring systems in Korea for both existing and newly constructed bridges and describes their aims and characteristics.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제2권4호
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• pp.357-382
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• 2015

This paper provides an overview of the use of different Distributed Optical Fiber Sensor systems (DOFSs) to perform Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) in the specific case of civil engineering structures. Nowadays, there are several methods available for extracting distributed measurements from optical fiber, and their use have to be according with the aims of the SHM performance. The continuous-in-space data is the common advantage of the different DOFSs over other conventional health monitoring systems and, depending on the particular characteristics of each DOFS, a global and/or local health structural evaluation is possible with different accuracy. Firstly, the fundamentals of different DOFSs and their principal advantages and disadvantages are presented. Then, laboratory and field tests using different DOFSs systems to measure strain in structural elements and civil structures are presented and discussed. Finally, based on the current applications, conclusions and future trends of DOFSs in SHM in civil structures are proposed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제1권4호
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• pp.325-338
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• 2005

Utilizing robotic based reconfigurable nodal structural health monitoring systems has many advantages over static or human positioned sensor systems. However, creating a robot capable of traversing a variety of civil infrastructures is a difficult task, as these structures each have unique features and characteristics posing a variety of challenges to the robot design. This paper outlines the design and implementation of a novel robotic platform for deployment on ferromagnetic structures as an enabling structural health monitoring technology. The key feature of this design is the utilization of an attachment device which is an advancement of the common magnetic base found in the machine tool industry. By mechanizing this switchable magnetic circuit and redesigning it for light weight and compactness, it becomes an extremely efficient and robust means of attachment for use in various robotic and structural health monitoring applications. The ability to engage and disengage the magnet as needed, the very low power required to do so, the variety of applicable geometric configurations, and the ability to hold indefinitely once engaged make this device ideally suited for numerous robotic and distributed sensor network applications. Presented here are examples of the mechanized variable force magnets, as well as a prototype robot which has been successfully deployed on a large construction site. Also presented are other applications and future directions of this technology.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.209-228
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• 2012

Structural health monitoring with wireless sensor networks has received much attention in recent years due to the ease of sensor installation and low deployment and maintenance costs. However, sensor network technology needs to solve numerous challenges in order to substitute conventional systems: large amounts of data, remote configuration of measurement parameters, on-site calibration of sensors and robust networking functionality for long-term deployments. We present a structural health monitoring network that addresses these challenges and is used in several deployments for monitoring of bridges and buildings. Our system supports a diverse set of sensors, a library of highly optimized processing algorithms and a lightweight solution to support a wide range of network runtime configurations. This allows flexible partitioning of the application between the sensor network and the backend software. We present an analysis of this partitioning and evaluate the performance of our system in three experimental network deployments on civil structures.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.209-233
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• 2013

With an annual growth rate of about 30%, wind energy systems, such as wind turbines, represent one of the fastest growing renewable energy technologies. Continuous structural health monitoring of wind turbines can help improving structural reliability and facilitating optimal decisions with respect to maintenance and operation at minimum associated life-cycle costs. This paper presents an integrated monitoring system that is designed to support structural assessment and life-cycle management of wind turbines. The monitoring system systematically integrates a wide variety of hardware and software modules, including sensors and computer systems for automated data acquisition, data analysis and data archival, a multiagent-based system for self-diagnosis of sensor malfunctions, a model updating and damage detection framework for structural assessment, and a management module for monitoring the structural condition and the operational efficiency of the wind turbine. The monitoring system has been installed on a 500 kW wind turbine located in Germany. Since its initial deployment in 2009, the system automatically collects and processes structural, environmental, and operational wind turbine data. The results demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach not only to ensure continuous safety of the structures, but also to enable cost-efficient maintenance and operation of wind turbines.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.541-553
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• 2015

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems can provide valuable information regarding the safety of structures during and after ground motions which can be used by authorities to reduce post-earthquake hazards. Strain gages as a key element play an important role in the success of SHM systems. Reducing the number of required strain gages while keeping the efficiency of SHM system not only can reduce the cost of structural health monitoring but also avoids storage and process of uninformative data. In this study, a method based on performance based seismic design of structures is proposed for ideal placement of stain gages in structures. The robustness and efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated through installation of strain gages on an Airport Traffic Control (ATC) Tower. The obtained results show that the number of required strain gages decrease significantly.