SMTS: Structure Monitoring system for high performance Transportation Systems
Safe and cost-effective operation of transportation structures is an issue of considerable importance. An increasing maintenance effort is required to operate transportation structures for increasingly long service-lives. Use of high-performance structures made from light-weight composite materials has also intensified research in damage mechanics and damage prevention.
Development of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are pursued at academic research institutes and in industry. Current developments essentially show their feasibility for damage detection on structural elements under laboratory conditions. SHM systems continuously or intermittently assess structural integrity or damage accumulation under applied service loads. The information can be used to improve safety and for optimization of maintenance.
SHM systems generically consist of units for sensing, signal transmission, data acquisition and signal processing and evaluation. SHM of transportation structures requires integration of the monitoring system into the structure. The present project will develop the main components (transducers, signal transmission and data processing and analysis) to a level ready for integration into a real application. To this end, the internationally recognized expertise of research and development laboratories in sensor design and characterization, in electronics for signal transmission and in processing software capable of discriminating noise and environmental effects from relevant structural information is combined. The project is based on extensive previous research at the applicants. institutions.
The main problems to be solved are (1) the development of transducer networks for large-scale structures that have sufficient sensitivity to defects or damage and allow for localization of relevant damage sites, (2) electronic modules for signal pre-processing, storage and wire-less transmission to a central data acquisition unit, as well as for the control of the sensor network, and (3) algorithms for automated signal processing, analysis and evaluation that indicate in the end whether maintenance or other actions are required. The performance of the SHM system crucially depends on the optimal combination and adaptation of the different components. The expected benefits are several: Even though transportation structures are at the focus of the project, the SHM system can be adapted to other types of structures, including infrastructure. Implementation and use of the SHM system will reduce the maintenance cost for transportation systems. This opens additional opportunities for companies manufacturing, operating or maintaining transportation structures. Certain components, such as wire-less modules, may become useful for other signal transmission applications, e.g., in biomedical monitoring. More wide-spread use of the system or of its components may become economically
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