Development of low-cost sensors for structural health monitoring applications
(English) There is increasing interest in developing low-cost sensors for economical structural health monitoring of civil engineering infrastructures. In addition to their price, they have the additional benefit of being easily connected to low-cost microcontrollers such as Arduino. A reliable data...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2022 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | CBUC, CESCA |
| Repositorio: | TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/687350 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10803/687350 https://dx.doi.org/10.5821/dissertation-2117-379464 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil i ambiental 621.3 624 |
| Sumario: | (English) There is increasing interest in developing low-cost sensors for economical structural health monitoring of civil engineering infrastructures. In addition to their price, they have the additional benefit of being easily connected to low-cost microcontrollers such as Arduino. A reliable data acquisition system based on Arduino technology can further lower the cost of data collection and monitoring, enabling long-term monitoring at an affordable cost. This thesis proposes the following four high-precision low-cost monitoring systems.Firstly, to correctly measure structural responses, a Cost Hyper-Efficient Arduino Product (CHEAP) has been developed. CHEAP is a system made up of five synchronized accelerometers connected to an Arduino microcontroller that works as a data collecting device. CHEAP is a uniaxial MEMS accelerometer with a sampling frequency of 85 Hz. To validate its performance, laboratory experiments were carried out and the results were compared with those of two high-precision accelerometers (PCB393A03 and PCB 356B18).Secondly, a unique low-cost inclinometer is presented, the Low-cost Adaptable Reliable Angle-meter (LARA), which measures inclination through the fusion of different sensors: five gyroscopes and five accelerometers. LARA combines a microcontroller based on Internet of Things technology (NODEMCU), allows wireless data transmission, and free commercial software for data collection (SerialPlot). To confirm the precision and resolution of this device, its measurements under laboratory conditions were compared with the theoretical ones and with those of a commercial inclinometer (HI-INC). Laboratory results of a load test on a beam demonstrate LARA's remarkable accuracy. It is concluded that the accuracy of LARA is sufficient for its application in detecting bridge damage.Thirdly, the effect of combining similar range sensors to investigate the increase of the accuracy and mitigation of the ambiental noises, is also elucidated. To investigate the sensor combination theory, a measuring equipment composed of 75 contactless ranging sensors controlled by only two microcontrollers (Arduinos), was built. The 75 sensors are 25 HC-SR04 (analog), 25 VL53L0X (digital), and 25 VL53L1X. (digital). In addition, the impact of various environmental conditions on the standard deviation, distribution functions, and error level of these sensors (HC-SR04, VL53L0X, and VL53L1X) is determined.Finally, a novel remote versatile data acquisition system is presented that allows the recording of time with microsecond resolution for the subsequent synchronization of the acquired data of the wireless sensors located at various points of a structure. This functionality is what would allow its application to static or quasi-static load tests or to the modal analysis of structures. The system developed has a noise density of 51 g/Hz and a sampling frequency of 333 Hz. This device was used to identify the eigenfrequencies and modal analysis of several structures (polvorín footbridges in Barcelona and Andoain Bridge, Donostia-San Sebastian). The comparison of the modal analysis of the Andoain Bridge using the acquired data of the developed accelerometer and data acquisition equipment with those of commercial accelerometers (PCB 607A61) were satisfactory.The low-cost accelerometer, inclinometer and data acquisition system developed and validated in this thesis can make SHM and infrastructure damage detection a reality at low cost, long term and remotely. |
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