Buildings Structural Health Monitoring Systems

High-rise buildings, arena/stadium as well as historical monuments are complex structures. They are made of multiple elements and components that are stressed and interact with one another when exposed to external phenomena. Buildings vary widely in size, geometry, structural system, construction material, and foundation characteristics. These attributes influence how a building performs when overcharged or when under stress of natural events.

Being built many years ago, using old techniques and being exposed to environmental conditions for very long times, the heritage structures can show different degrees of malfunctioning. Without appropriate management, the structure may partially or entirely collapse, which would not create safety and economic issues, but will also create an irreversible cultural loss.

Structural Health Monitoring allows rapid assessment of a building’s state of health and such approach is becoming recognized as a proper mean to increase the safety and optimize operational and maintenance activities of complex buildings. The data resulting from the monitoring program are used to improve the operation, the maintenance, the repair and the replacement of the structure based on reliable and objective data. Detection of ongoing damages can be used to discriminate deviations from the design performance. Monitoring data can be integrated in structural management systems and increase the quality of decisions by providing reliable and unbiased information.

Structural Health Monitoring aims to provide more reliable data on the real conditions of the structure, observe its evolution and detect the appearance of new degradations. Concrete cracks and creeps, steel oxidizes and may crack due to fatigue loading. The degradation of materials is caused by mechanical (loads higher than theoretically assumed) and physical-chemical factors (corrosion of steel, penetration of salts and chlorides in concrete, freezing of concrete etc.). By permanently installing a number of sensors, continuously measuring relevant parameters to obtain a real-time picture of the building’s state and evolution

Structural monitoring using SMARTEC solutions represents a valuable method to increase the knowledge and assessment on the structural performance and integrity of complex buildings. Also, in the long term, static monitoring requires accurate and very stable systems, able to relate measurements often spaced over long periods of time and so to preserve integrity and safety of the building.

Benefits of SMARTEC's Integrated Building Health Monitoring Solutions

1 - Integrated Solutions SMARTEC provides Integrated Structural Health Monitoring Solutions for high-rise buildings, arena/stadium, historical buildings based on advanced fiber optic technologies and conventional sensors. We also integrate local corrosion sensors and other third party transducers for additional information. All sensing technologies are seamlessly integrated into a single database and user interface.

2 - SHMLive Through the SHMLive service, SMARTEC offers a comprehensive solution for buildings monitoring. This includes the design of the system, its delivery and installation, maintenance and operation, web access to the data and data analysis by experienced engineering partners, all for a fixed monthly fee.

3 - Ensure integrity of people, nature and property Early detection of performance degradation can save lives and property in-time by stopping exploitation of the structure. Collapse of certain structures, may also provoke serious ecological pollution. SMARTEC monitoring systems are perfectly suited to collect permanent and reliable monitoring data from a structure, which helps to guarantee the safety and integrity of the building and its users.

4 - Extend the lifetime of ageing structures Many structures are in much better conditions than you expect or observe by visual inspection alone. In these cases, monitoring will allow you to increase the safety margins without any intervention on the structure. Take advantage of better material properties, over design and synergetic effects to extend the lifetime or load-bearing capacity of your structures.
Structural health monitoring is also a recognized tool to help preserving the cultural heritage, by providing real-time information about any degradation that might affect an historical monument.

5 - Add technological credits and prestige to your building SMARTEC state of the art fiber optics monitoring systems provide to the building an added-value of high-tech design and most up-to-date instrumentation technology.

6 - Reduce insurance and maintenance costs Implementing a SMARTEC monitoring system with high grade of accuracy, reliability and robustness can decrease the insurance premiums and maintenance costs that are allocated for refunding possible liabilities and damages on people and properties caused by unexpected structural failures.

7 - Assessing building safety immediately following a major event Understand and assess possible damages and failures caused by extraordinary events such as earthquakes, impact, strong wind, storms or explosion. This ability allows a building manager or consultant to make a preliminary assessment of whether the safety of the building has been seriously compromised.

8 - SMARTEC: your dependable partner for instrumentation project management SMARTEC will support you in all phases of the project, from the system design, to installation, commissioning and training. Through our experience and commitment, we guarantee the satisfaction of your monitoring needs.
The Roctest group has been instrumenting critical structures for more than 60 years. We will be here to support your project for at least the next 60. Our worldwide network of system integrators provides a competent local support for your project.
All our systems come with a 10 year warranty on the availability of spare parts.

Solutions

The following packages are the most widely used for Building monitoring. However each projects has specific requirements and needs that can be addressed by a tailored system. SMARTEC has developed a 7-step methodology to design and implement a optimal SHM system for your building.

Selected References

Palace in Angola - SOFO (Angola, 2008 - 09)
Hyundai Building Seul (Korea, 2006)
Halifax Metro Centre (Canada, 2006)
Riga Dome Monitoring (Latvia, 2006 - 07)
Annunciation Cathedral Kremlin (Russia, 2004 - 05)
Building concrete columns (Singapore, 2001)
Villa Reale Monza (Italy, 2000)
Gandria Church  (Switzerland, 1997)

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