278 results about "Structural monitoring" patented technology

The invention relates bridge structure safety evaluation technology by means of combining vibration measuring and structural model analysis techniques for bridge erosion evaluation and pre-warning monitoring applications. This technology can also be applied for long-term bridge structure monitoring and safety evaluation as well as judgment and evaluation of rail structure abnormality.

Method and system for monitoring structures such as bridges includes arranging sensors on the structure, obtaining data via the sensors, analyzing the data to determine the presence of a non-optimal condition relating to the integrity of the structure and transmitting the data or a signal indicative of the analysis with an identification or location of the sensors and the structure to a remote monitoring facility. Transmission of the signal may be performed via satellite and / or the Internet to the monitoring facility which can schedule maintenance or repair of the structure. The monitoring facility would receive the identification or location of the structure to know where maintenance is required and the location of the sensor(s) reporting the condition which give rises to the need for maintenance and thus can accurately direct the personnel to the damaged area of the structure.

Disclosed is a bridge construction and maintenance whole-process intelligent monitoring, assessment, alarming and decision-making system and method. The bridge construction and maintenance whole-process intelligent monitoring, assessment, alarming and decision-making system is composed of an intelligent collecting module and an intelligent assessment, alarming and decision-making module, wherein the intelligent collecting module integrates laser radar three-dimensional high-precision scanning technology, building information model technology and wireless intelligent sensing technology and intelligently collects multi-source heterogeneous multi-dimensional high-precision information during a bridge construction and maintenance whole process such as environment monitoring information, structure monitoring information and project process quality safety management information; the intelligent assessment, alarming and decision-making module integrates big data processing technology, cloud computing technology, artificial neural network algorithms and virtual reality technology and structures multi-stage safety alarming indexes and emergency decision-making database to perform online, real-time, high-precision, visual and intelligent assessment analysis, alarming and decision-making on structure and traffic safety performance of the bridge construction and maintenance whole process.The bridge construction and maintenance whole-process intelligent monitoring, assessment, alarming and decision-making system covers the bridge construction and maintenance whole process and has the advantages of being high in efficiency and precision, visualized, intelligent and the like.

The invention provides increased structural monitoring systems that have sensitive continuous coaxial cable sensors. A preferred embodiment sensor cable of the invention includes an inner conductor, a dielectric jacket, and an outer conductor that is configured to passively deform responsively to strain in an associated structure. The deformation can be aided by the physical structure of the dielectric jacket, the outer conductor, or a combination of both. The deformation translates strain into a measurable change in a reflection coefficient associated with the outer conductor.

A method and system for monitoring the integrity of a structure such as a building or a bridge includes taking accelerometer readings using an accelerometer and taking inclinometer readings using an inclinometer. The accelerometer and inclinometer each take readings in at least one axis, with one coincident axis between the two. The accelerometer readings are preferentially sampled at a higher rate than the inclinometer readings. Accelerometer readings verify inclinometer readings, and vice-versa. Using acceleration readings, it can be determined whether, when, and at what frequency inclination readings should be taken. The inclinometer can be powered down as long as accelerometer readings indicate that the environment would strain the inclinometer. Inclinometer readings can also be modified and corrected using inclinometer readings. Data accuracy and reliability are enhanced, and the overall integrity of a structure is dynamically monitored even as the structure and its environment change over time.

A method and apparatus for monitoring a structure using an optical fiber based distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) extending along the length of the structure. The DAS is able to resolve a separate acoustic signal with a spatial resolution of 1 m along the length of the fibre, and hence is able to operate with an acoustic positioning system to determine the position of the riser with the same spatial resolution. In addition, the fiber can at the same time also detect much lower frequency mechanical vibrations in the riser, for example such as resonant mode vibrations induced by movement in the surrounding medium. By using vibration detection in combination with acoustic positioning then overall structure shape monitoring can be undertaken, which is useful for vortex induced vibration (VIV) visualisation, fatigue analysis, and a variety of other advanced purposes. The structure may be a sub-sea riser.

The embodiment of the invention provides a subway subgrade structure monitoring method and device based on foundation InSAR. The method comprises the steps of using a radar sensor for repeatedly observing a target area on a linear scanning slide rail, and obtaining a synthetic aperture radar SAR image in about 10 seconds; matching image elements representing the same object in the target region inthe two SAR images to the same position, carrying out image registration; subjecting an interference image pair after image registration to conjugate multiplication (as shown in the description) to obtain an interference phase graph; carrying out noise filtering processing on the obtained coherent graph gamma; carrying out phase unwrapping on the coherent graph gamma subjected to noise filteringprocessing; carrying out atmospheric correction on the coherent image gamma subjected to phase unwrapping to obtain a deformation graph of the target area; carrying out geocoding on the deformation graph of the target area under the radar coordinate system, projecting to the geographic coordinate system, and obtaining a geographic coded deformation graph. High-precision and continuous deformationmonitoring of the whole area of the subway elevated and roadbed structure can be implemented under the extreme weather conditions or long distances (4Km) range.

The present invention provides the capability of ascertaining, through a quick and simple measurement, locations on a structure that may have experienced damage that could result in reduced structure lifetime, strength, or reliability. The sensing element is a connectorized section of polarization maintaining (“PM”) optical fiber, where a length of PM fiber represents a fully distributed sensor array. Stress-induced changes to the sensor are measured through white-light Polarimetric interferometry. The output of the measurement is a data array representing the stress concentration magnitude at an array of locations along the length of the sensor. In an application, the knowledge of the optical fiber position on the structure, coupled with the measurement of stress locations along the fiber length, allows the user to determine locations on the structure with large stress concentrations. These locations may signify structural damage. This knowledge would allow the user to employ a more sophisticated system, albeit a larger and slower one, to fully characterize and evaluate that area of potential damage and take appropriate action.

System for monitoring a structure includes at least one monitoring arrangement attached at a respective location to the structure, each monitoring arrangement having at least one inertial measurement unit (IMU) that measures acceleration and / or angular motion in any direction and rotation about any axis, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver that determines its location, and a wireless communication system that transmits information derived from acceleration and / or angular motion measured by the IMU and a location determination by the GNSS receiver. Further, each monitoring arrangement may include a microphone, chemical sensor, a visual or IR light sensor, a radiation sensor, a magnetic sensor, and / or a strain sensor. As an alternative, the monitoring arrangements may include only IMUs or only GNSS receivers.

An internal structural monitoring system for a structure that includes a sensor mounted within the structure to measure at least one of strain experienced by the structure and vibration experience by the structure. It includes a first system support mounted and second system support mounted in the structure, where the first system and the second system support are mounted in the structure such that the sensor is between the first system support and the second system support to hold the sensor in position so that the sensor senses at least one of strain and vibration. It includes a wireless communication unit mounted within the structure, the wireless communication unit connected to the sensor to receive data from the sensor and transmit the data to a receiver outside the structure. It includes a power supply mounted within the structure to supply necessary electrical power to the sensor and the communication unit.

The embodiment of the invention discloses a machine vision-based building structure crack detection and repair method, which includes: (1) building structure image acquisition by machinery equipment; (2) image feature value extraction; (3) monitored building stress analysis; (4) intelligent monitored building repair. The invention introduces machine vision into structure health monitoring to establish a real-time and high-efficiency intelligent detection and repair measure. The method can make up for certain deficiencies in structure health monitoring and promote the development of the structure health monitoring and repair field toward intelligentization, and the wavelet analysis method is used for extracting crack feature values. By carrying out finite element analysis on the extracted feature values, such as width and distribution range, the method can find out the relation between cracks and structure health and quantitatively classify the cracks, thus increasing the intelligentization degree of structure monitoring, and the method has profound significance for the development of building disaster prevention and mitigation and civil engineering toward intelligentization.

The invention discloses a cable structure monitoring method based on long gauge optical fiber grating sensors. The method comprises the following steps that a healthy monitoring system on the cable structure is laid out by utilizing a cable clamp, wherein the healthy monitoring system is composed of a plurality of long gauge optical fiber grating sensors arranged on the cable structure, and a strain signals monitored by the healthy monitoring system is collected through a signal collection system; an exciting hammer is adopted to hammer the node position where the cable structure lays out the long gauge optical fiber grating sensors; the signal collection system collects an impact signal and a long gauge strain time history in a vibration test; a system array based on an identification algorithm of a subsystem is identified, and multi-layered parameters of the cable structure is further identified; identification on cable force is conducted by utilizing identified frequency, and damage of the cable structure is identified and located according to identified formation and flexibility. According to the cable structure monitoring method based on the optical fiber grating sensors, the optical fiber grating sensors are applied to health monitoring of an inhaul cable, and thus stable and reliable monitoring means and method are provided for long-term monitoring and performance evaluation of the cable structure.

The invention provides a BIM-based steel structure engineering real-time monitoring and early warning method. The system comprises a BIM model processing subsystem, a structure analysis and service center subsystem, a communication network subsystem and a data acquisition equipment terminal. Based on a building structure finite element model based on a BIM data model and real-time sensor data provided by a data network, the structure is accurately simulated and analyzed, any existing or potential structure problems are judged, early warning information is sent out, and problem components are clearly identified in the BIM model through different colors; meanwhile, structural deformation data, external environment data and the like transmitted by the equipment terminal are collected and automatically added to the BIM informatization model, and the model is synchronously adjusted and changed according to structural deformation. According to the invention, high-precision steel structure engineering health monitoring is realized, and the authenticity of structure monitoring and the accuracy of risk analysis are improved through continuous self-adjustment of the BIM model.

The invention relates to a composite structure (11) formed by a plurality of layers (13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23) including an optical fiber (25) for structural monitoring purposes which is at least partly embedded in a surface layer (13) of said structure (11), and insulation means of the optical fiber (25) areas susceptible to repair with respect to the surface layer (13) in which they are integrated, particularly a protective cover (27) and top and bottom separating films (31, 33), and a process of repairing said areas comprising the following steps: removing the protective cover (27) and the top separating film (31), extracting the area, repairing the optical fiber, relocating the area and providing a new protective cover (27).

System for assisting the driving of a ship, configured to estimate the structural loads of the ship due to the direct wave excitation, and structural loads of the ship due to the whipping effect caused by the wave slamming. The system includes at least one reference sensor (40') adapted to provide an indication of a motion or stress magnitude at a predetermined point of the ship structure, and is further configured to calculate an estimate of said magnitude at the predetermined point in the ship structure, compare said indication of magnitude with the estimate of said magnitude so as to determine an offset value, and correct the estimates of the structural loads and / or the estimate of said magnitude on the basis of said offset value.

The invention discloses a method for paving internal concrete distributed sensing fibers, which comprises the following steps: A) checking and cleaning a fiber conduit embedded in the concrete; B) blowing the sensing fibers into the fiber conduit through a fiber gas blowing port; C) selecting a grouting section, injecting slurry into a grouting port of the grouting section, closing a slurry outlet of the grouting section after the slurry is full of the grouting section, and keeping the slurry in the grouting section for 3 to 5 minutes under the pressure of between 1.0 and 1.5MPa so as to fix the sensing fibers in the fiber conduit; and D) circularly operating the step C) till the grouting of all the grouting sections is finished. The method achieves quick and lossless pavement for the long-distance distributed sensing fibers, solves the difficult problem that the structure monitoring field cannot embed the distributed sensing fibers into the concrete, ensures the distributed fiber sensing technology to monitor the structural strain and temperature more effectively, and realizes structural long-term and stable healthy survey.

A non-destructive testing method to evaluate the structural integrity of pre-stressed concrete railroad ties in track to identify deterioration and the eventual loss of bond between the reinforcing wires and the surrounding concrete. The application of an impact echo system to the end of each railroad tie will identify ties that have deteriorated to the extent that structural cracks have formed. The method includes employing a tool having a plurality of transducers and a single impinger to impart sound waves through a top surface of the railroad tie and to receive and evaluate the echoes of the sound waves to determine if the tie is structurally sound or structurally unsound.

The invention relates to a composite structure (11) formed by a plurality of layers (13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23) including an optical fiber (25) for structural monitoring purposes which is at least partly embedded in said structure (11), incorporating a protective cover (27) in those areas of its embedded part susceptible to needing repair, and to a process for repairing said embedded optical fiber comprising the following steps: identifying the optical fiber area in need of repair, removing material until reaching the cover (27), extracting said area, removing the protective cover (27), repairing the optical fiber (25), relocating the repaired area in the structure and returning the removed material.

The invention relates to a piezoresistive / piezoelectric interlayer material and preparation and application methods thereof, and an interlayer type sensor and preparation and application methods thereof, used for engineering structure monitoring. The piezoresistive / piezoelectric interlayer material comprises a tenacious substrate, 5-50 self-assembly film piezoresistive perception function layer double-layers, i.e., top / bottom electrode layers, and a piezoelectric perception elastic core sandwich function layer which is prepared by a nanometer ZnO / PDMS or PVDF / PDMS and can comprise a stainless steel spring. After integral packaging, an interlayer type sensor pasted to the surface of an engineering structure or an embedded interlayer type sensor is obtained, the sensor has the advantages of good flexibility, high piezoresistive / piezoelectric perception sensitivity covering a full traffic frequency domain, good linearity, high stability and the like, and basic functions of such a structure itself are not affected.

A improved method of monitoring a structure by mounting a sensor within a cavity of the structure to measure at least one of strain experienced by the structure and vibration experience by the structure. Mounting a wireless communication unit mounted within the structure and connecting the wireless communication unit to the sensor to receive data from the sensor and transmit the data to a receiver outside the structure. Mounting a power supply within the structure and connecting the power supply to the sensor and the wireless communication unit to supply necessary electrical power to the sensor and the communication unit.

A wearable defibrillator system includes a support structure with one or more electrodes in an unbiased state. A monitoring device monitors, for the long term, a parameter of the person that is not the person's ECG; rather, the monitored parameter can be the person's motion, a physiological parameter, or both. When a value of the monitored parameter reaches a threshold, such as when the person is having an actionable episode, the electrode becomes mechanically biased against the person's body, for making good electrical contact. Then, if necessary, the person can be given electrical therapy, such as defibrillation. As such, the electrodes of the wearable defibrillator system can be worn loosely for the long term, without making good electrical contact. This can reduce the person's aversion to wearing the defibrillation system.

The invention provides an ultrasonic wave based underground personnel positioning and structure monitoring integrated method. The method is characterized in that ultrasonic wave positioning nodes discover personnel objects by monitoring frequency band ultrasonic wave signals and achieve communications with mobile terminals via the ultrasonic wave signals with communication frequency bands after discovering the objects; the mobile terminals send corresponding identification codes to the ultrasonic wave positioning nodes in response operating processes; the ultrasonic wave positioning nodes send the identification codes to an upper computer after receiving the identification codes; and the upper computer completes positioning and identification of the underground personnel according to the established positions of the ultrasonic wave positioning nodes and the identification codes. The method has the beneficial technical effects that monitoring, positioning and identification of the underground personnel are achieved by utilizing the ultrasonic wave signals, thus solving the problem that electromagnetic wave based positioning systems have low positioning precision; and meanwhile, the structure deformation online monitoring functions are integrated, and synchronous positioning and real-time monitoring of multipoint personnel and structures are supported.

A wind turbine blade (1) incorporating an optical fibre (4) configured for structural monitoring of the turbine blade. The optical fibre comprises at least one strain sensor (5). One end of the optical fibre (4) is an output point, which is connected to a data processing device (3) configured to process signals from the strain sensor (5). The other end of the optical fibre is an alternative output point, which is also connectable to the data processing device, such that in the event of a breakage in the optical fibre, signals from the strain sensor are available from at least one of the output points.

The invention discloses a bridge disease inspection management system, and relates to the technical field of bridge structure monitoring. The system comprises RFID tags installed to positions of bridge members; a mobile inspection terminal, for entering basic information for the bridge members and inspection information, and for identifying the RFID tags on the bridge members; and a server, connected with the mobile inspection terminal, provided internally with a backstage management module, and used for storing and analyzing the basic information of the bridge members and the inspection information that are uploaded by the mobile inspection terminal. According to the invention, the mobile inspection terminal identifies and inspects the RFID tags and uploads the inspection information to the server, the server stores and analyzes the uploaded inspection information, the intelligent, informationized and standardized inspection of bridge diseases is achieved, and the mobile inspection terminal is simple in structure, easy to carry and easy to operate.

The invention discloses a stratum digital twin modeling method and system based on a multi-platform structure, and the method comprises the steps: building a preliminary geological model on a GIM modeling platform through geological survey data and a design scheme at the initial stage of construction, building a preliminary tunnel model on a BIM modeling platform, and setting model monitoring points; performing model integration to obtain an integrated GIM + BIM model, and uploading the integrated GIM + BIM model to a network platform; arranging a monitoring system corresponding to the model monitoring points, establishing a monitoring database, and hooking a network platform; in construction, correcting the integrated GIM + BIM model through advanced geological prediction before excavation; and after the tunnel is excavated and the stratum is exposed, determining the actual stratum situation surrounding the tunnel, correcting the GIM + BIM model again, and pre-judging the stratum situation of the next excavation section. Multi-platform integration of forming a three-dimensional geologic model, a structure monitoring model and a monitoring data database at a network end is realized, and a GIM + BIM data comprehensive platform concept is provided.

A system for the structural monitoring of blades 1 on a wind turbine. Each blade 1 has respective optical fibre bragg grating sensors 5. The system has a number of input connectors, which connect to the strain sensors 5 of respective blades 1. A single output connector connects to a data processing device 3 which processes signals from the strain sensors 5. The input connectors each have a signal path to the output connector that is different in length to the signal path from the other input connectors, such that signals from a given blade 1 can be identified at the data processing device 3 by the time of arrival of the signals. The system has the advantage that the each of the blades 1, including the sensors attached to it or embedded within it can be identical and therefore interchangeable.