Damage

Identification and
Health Monitoring of
Existent Masonry
Structures

Rafael Aguilar, Luís F. Ramos and Paulo B. Lourenço

University of Minho, Department of Civil Engineering, Guimarães,
Portugal

3rd Alβan Conference – Porto 2009

3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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R. Aguilar, L. Ramos and P. B. | 2
Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
Lourenço

The civil engineering community knows that buildings, bridges

and, in general, the whole structures are getting damage over
time...

... but how much?

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3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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apresentação autor
R. Aguilar, L. Ramos and P. B. | 3
Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
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This research gives an overview of the efforts carried out in

the structural dynamic monitoring area, to increase the
knowledge of ancient buildings.

 General perspective of structural

health monitoring

 Equipments involved

 Efforts for implement SHM in

Existent Historical Constructions

 Conclusions

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 3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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R. Aguilar, L. Ramos and P. B. | 4
Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
Lourenço

SHM is the process of implementing a damage detection strategy

for aerospace, civil and mechanical engineering infrastructures.

Offshore Structures
(70’s and 80’s) Highway Bridges
(Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong
Kong approx. $16 million)
Aerospace applications

Source: Farrar, Ch., 2008

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3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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apresentação autor
R. Aguilar, L. Ramos and P. B. | 5
Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
Lourenço

The SHM includes four sub processes.

1. Operational Evaluation
- What and where to measure?
- What instruments are needed?
2. Data acquisition
- Conventional sensors or,
- Wireless sensors + MEMS

3. Feature extraction
e.g, Modal Parameters

4. Damage Identification (Ritter Hierarchy)

- Damage Detection
- Damage Location
- Damage Assessment
- Damage Prediction

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3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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apresentação autor
R. Aguilar, L. Ramos and P. B. | 6
Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
Lourenço

Equipments used for Structural Monitoring.

- LVDTs
- GPS
- Humidity Sensors
- Temperature Sensors Static Monitoring
- Tilt meters
- Corrosion Sensors
- Crack Meters

- Accelerometers Dynamic Monitoring

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3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
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For dynamic structural monitoring, wired based sensors are

traditionally used.

Remote connection

Data Acquisition
System
Measurement
Sensors

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3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
Lourenço

The fact that conventional sensors use wires, represents to the

monitoring systems high costs, difficulties in the maintenance
and, sometimes, impossibility of the location in the field.

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3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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R. Aguilar, L. Ramos and P. B. | 9
Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
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The big development of the wireless systems and the Micro-

Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) makes these technologies
very attractive for being applied in structural monitoring.

Remote connection

Base Station

Measurement
Units

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 3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
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In this work, wireless with embedded MEMS platforms are

being used for laboratory tests.

Wireless unit

Conventional sensor

Previous results were published by Aguilar, Ramos and Lourenço (2009)

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3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
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… but also conventional sensors are being used for field tests
in real monuments …

2.56 Hz 2.76 Hz 7.15 Hz

Mogadouro’s Clock Tower (Portugal) 8.86 Hz 9.21 Hz

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 3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
Lourenço

… current works in real monuments using both kind of sensors

Saint Torcato’s Church

(Portugal)

Previous results were submitted by Ramos, Alaboz and Aguilar (2009)

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3rd Alβan Conference - Damage Identification and Health
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Monitoring Existent Masonry Structures
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Conclusions
• Structural Health Monitoring to historical constructions is a powerful tool to know
the behavior of the structures over time.

• Conventional sensors are being used in a successfully way for ambient

monitoring purposes. However, nowadays a new technology based on wireless
systems and MEMS is becoming interesting for SHM.
• The new technology seems to be very attractive as a tool to be used in
monitoring issues due to the fact that the sensors involved are very cheap,
use low powering boards and are very easy to use in field tests.

• In this work, laboratory and field tests for modal analysis are being carried out
using conventional and wireless technology.

• Further studies in hardware development and processing tools are also part of
this work.

Thank you

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