Executive Summary : | Every Physical structure will have an inevitable phase during its service time which is deterioration and this becomes one of the most important challenges faced by the engineering departments of our country. Thus, it becomes necessary to assess the structural performance of existing infrastructure to produce evidence that it will function safely over its intended lifetime and would be safe for the public. Thus, structural health monitoring is a process of implementing a damage detection and characterization strategy of engineering structures. This implementation is proposed to be developed on the Cauvery Bridge, located in Trichy city, Tamil Nadu. This system would provide valuable data about related to the durability and long-term response of the bridge through sensor technology.
The development, implementation and accuracy of the monitoring system will be performed in three stages:
I: The geometric features [Total length, width of the carriageway, footpath width], Structural details [Type of the load-carrying system], Foundation details, and Material properties would be studied in detail in order to create a finite element model of the structure so that a theoretical estimate of the dynamic responses are obtained.
II: Development of integrated monitoring system and its implementation on the bridge structure using reliable sensors such as accelerometers, GPS, load cell, Acoustic emission (piezoelectric) sensors and strain gauges with the help of a multidisciplinary team. The physical, chemical and dynamic parameters measured will be sent through a wireless communication network to a centre of monitoring, where the signals can be processed and analysed.
III: Knowledge extraction and decision–making system based on the data obtained from the installed sensors. Lower and upper bound values of various parameters would be included in the code for a decision support system, so that in real-time when the process of degradation starts the protection protocol could be followed by sending sound and visual signal.
The monitoring process is achieved by analysing the received measurements successively, particularly in the case of dynamic parameters. Based on the extensive literature Survey, it is found that the majority of health monitoring systems involve exhaustive conventional methods of monitoring. Here, it is proposed to adopt a combination of physical and geodetic methods for analyzing structure. The final outcome of the project would be to develop a low-cost sensor system, mainly, an IoT-based Health Monitoring system, which is a new vision towards smart structures. The proposed technology would prove to be helpful for Government Agencies concerned with the maintenance of the structure, help to provide warnings of structural distress in fracture-critical bridges, help to prevent bridge collapse and keep public safe. |
Co-PI: | Dr Ezhilarasi D, Associate Professor, Dr Sivakumaran Natarajan, Professor, Dr Kasinathan Muthukkumaran, Professor, Dr Natarajan C, Professor, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Tiruchirappalli |
