ECE Seminars::
Introduction:
Introduction:
The collapse of the World Trade
Center (WTC) has reminded us of the importance of structural integrity Monitoring for improving
disaster preparedness and response.
A real-time system based on GPS and optical fiber sensors for monitoring
structural integrity of the skyscraper has been proposed. In the designed
system, there are 4 RTK GPS receivers atop the skyscraper on the vertices and 4
groups of several strings of optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors deployed
along the 4 edges of the perimeters. The GPS sensors are used to measure the 3D
positions of the vertices so that strain, tilt and rotation of the skyscraper can
be determined.
The vibrations of the skyscraper can be measured directly if an
external reference GPS receiver is used together with the rover receivers atop
the skyscraper at high sampling rate. The optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG)
sensors are used to measure both strain and temperature. The conceptual design
of the combined system of GPS and optical fiber sensors was based on the
dimensions of the WTC. The system proposed here may also prove to be useful for
the monitoring of other structures.
