The Mega-Structure Diagnostic and Prognostic System developed by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has won the Special Prize and Gold Medal for its application in the Guangzhou New TV Tower at the 37th International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products in Geneva in early April. This is yet another international recognition of PolyU's outstanding research achievements.

Being the landmark of the city, the Guangzhou New TV Tower will become the highest TV tower in the world with a total height of 610m, comprising a main tower of 454m and a 156m-high antenna. Designed with functions for sightseeing, TV transmission and cultural entertainment, the Tower comprises a Ferries wheel, observatory decks, ceremony hall, 4D cinemas, revolving restaurants, open-air skywalk, etc. To ensure safety during construction and operational performance during typhoons and earthquakes, an advanced monitoring system has been implemented for the first time in the supertall structure of the Tower by experts of the PolyU Department of Civil and Structural Engineering.

"The Mega-Structure Diagnostic and Prognostic System, making use of the fusion of technologies from different disciplines, such as sensing, communication, information technology, signal processing, data management, system identification, etc., provides structural monitoring, control, maintenance and management for mega-structures and performs a complete health monitoring throughout its life-cycle. The System does not only allow early identification of structural deterioration and damage for avoiding catastrophic structural failure, it also enables the assessment of structural safety immediately after unexpected disasters. The monitoring system can be applied to mega-structures like high-rise buildings and long-span bridges," said Dr. Yi-qing Ni, Principal Investigator of the monitoring system and Associate Professor of PolyU Department of Civil and Structural Engineering.

[PRLog]

Roctest announces new orders for fiber optic sensors

Roctest Ltd, a leading manufacturer of sensors for civil engineering and industrial

applications, today announced Smartec, the Company’s subsidiary for structural health monitoring (“SHM”) recorded $1.3 million in new orders for projects in the civil engineering sector and infrastructure monitoring, including $220,000 to instrument one of the tallest communication towers in the Middle-East. 

Roctest Press Release [Roctest]

Roctest Introduces New SensCore System

Roctest Ltd. announced the introduction of the new SensCore product line, dedicated to the monitoring of corrosion in reinforced concrete structures. The SensCore system is a wireless sensor network, designed to detect and predict the onset of steel corrosion in concrete. The system consists of sensors, dataloggers and a measurement hub that concentrates the data from several dataloggers and transmits it to a central database, where it can be accessed by the authorized users. The sensors are able to measure several parameters, which are critical to evaluate the present and future risk of rebar corrosion in concrete. In particular the corrosion current and the concrete humidity are measured at several depths between the concrete surface and the rebar depth, to analyze the progression of the corrosion front as well as evaluate the performance of hydrophobic coatings.

The sensors are extremely simple to deploy and can transmit their data wirelessly to the measurement hub, thus eliminating the need to install any wiring in the structure to be monitored. Because of its modular design, this system is adapted to structures of all sizes, from a small overpass to a long tunnel and can be installed in both new and existing structures. The SensCore system integrates seamlessly with all present Roctest, Télémac and SMARTEC product lines, based on electrical, vibrating wire or fiber optics technologies. It is therefore possible to combine several technologies in order to implement an optimal monitoring network for any type of structure, being it a bridge, a building, a tunnel, a dam or any other concrete structure. The SensCore System ties into Roctest’s SDB database system, providing a unified

display and interface to all monitoring data, regardless of the underlying sensing technologies.

The SensCore system has been developed in cooperation with a leading Swiss University and has already being deployed on tens of structures, including the I35 St. Antony Falls Bridge in Minneapolis recently instrumented by Roctest. “Corrosion is one of the leading concerns in reinforced concrete structures and often limits their durability” said Daniele Inaudi, Roctest’s CTO, “it is therefore advantageous to complement the current monitoring strategies with a direct measurement of the corrosion progression”.

“The SensCore system ideally expands our growing toolbox of sensing systems” added François Cordeau, Roctest’s CEO, “further positioning our Company as the leading provider of Structural Health Monitoring solutions”.

Roctest Press Release [Roctest]

Popular Mechnics Special Report on Rebuilding Aamerica

Popular Mechanics published a series of interesting articles on rebuilding America's Infrastructure.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/rebuildingamerica/

Stories include:

5 Engineering Lessons From the New, Reopened Minnesota Bridge
Bridge's Sensors Scan Tragedy Before It Strikes
Green Tech Plans Hide Obama-McCain Disparity on Infrastructure
How to Fix American Infrastructure
4 Big Reasons the D.C. Area's New Super Bridge Took One of America's Top Engineering Honors
For Hard-Charging Innovators, Rebuilding America Means Making Deals With the Government 
10 Expert Solutions for a Smarter, Cleaner U.S. Electric Grid
10 Expert Solutions for a Better American Water Supply
New Minnesota Bridge’s Super Sensors Scan Tragedy Before It Strikes: First Look New Minnesota Bridge Is America's Smartest Yet
6 Questions for Intelligent Bridge Geek Jerome Lynch
Engineers Go Gonzo to Bombproof U.S. Bridges
Building the Earthquake-Proof Bay Bridge
10 Expert Solutions for Harder, Better, Faster and Stronger Buildings and Bridges
5 Questions for Geologist Jeff Mount on California’s Crumbling Delta Levees
Sacramento Delta Tops Experts List of 5 to Fix
The Lessons of Hurricane Katrina
6 Questions for Port of Los Angeles Chief Geraldine Knatz
5 Questions for Lillian C. Borrone on Boosting Efficiency in America's Ports
The 10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now
5 Disasters Coming Soon If We Don't Rebuild U.S. Infrastructure
Report Sees Dire Future for Warming's Impact on U.S. Transport
First Look: New Minnesota Bridge Plans Arise as Bad Plates Fingered in Collapse
Minn. Bridge Collapse Reveals Brittle America
Will Longest U.S. Underground Expressway See the Light?
SPECIAL REPORT: Highway of the Future
Mega Engineering: Building the World's Toughest, Strongest, Biggest Projects
Special Report: The Lessons of Hurricane Katrina
3 Ways to Re-Engineer the Gulf and Stop Katrina 2.0

SHM at Keo University

Here's an interesting page summarizing research on SHM at the MITA Laboratory at Keio University in Japan.

http://www.mita.sd.keio.ac.jp/publications/international.html.

Included articles focus in particular on software applications to analyze monitoring data form different types of structures and sensor networks.

Halifax Metro Center Monitoring

The Halifax Metro Center has been instrumented with Fiber Optic sensors and a robotic Laser distance meter to monitor its deformations under snow loads and during concerts that require hanging of equipment under the roof.

The monitoring system is permanent and provides data in quasi-real time.

The project is a cooperation between SMARTEC SA and the MacDonnel Group in Halifax.

More details about the project can be found here:

IABSE Annual Meeting 2008

The IABSE congress on

"Creating and Renewing Urban Structures Tall Buildings, Bridges and Infrastructure"

will be held in Chicago, USA, on September 17-19, 2008.

The Congress covers the following topics:

1. Design Challenges

Adaptive reuse and sustainability of structures
Affordable urban environments and infrastructure
New techniques for analysis, design and construction
Progressive failure, robustness, security, seismic retrofitting, and serviceability

2. Learning from Experience

Techniques for evaluating structures
Strengthening and upgrading
Forensics/failures and lessons learned
Criteria for assessment and risk management

3. Creative Design and Construction Processes

Role of building information modeling and I.C.T in design and construction
New materials and technologies for design and construction
Engineering ethics
Means and methods (ways and means) of construction

4. Engineering as a Global Profession

Codes and standards
Economic effect on design and construction
Post-disaster response
Educational approaches in a dynamic world

Important Dates

30 November 2007: Deadline for receipt of abstracts
31 December 2007: Notification of acceptance of papers
29 February 2008: Deadline for receipt of papers
31 March 2008: Mailing of Final Invitation
31 May 2008: Notification of acceptance of papers
1 July 2008: Close of early registration and notification of type of presentation
14-16 September 2008: IABSE Annual Meetings
17-19 September 2008: IABSE Congress

Monitoring a large building fleet

More than 2000 fiber optic sensors have been installed in the framework of a building fleet monitoring project, which is probably the largest worldwide. SMARTEC and SOFOTEC have been working together since September 2000 as partners for structural health monitoring projects for public housings in Singapore.

Singapore is a cosmopolitan city-state often described as a gateway to Asia with a city landscape of tall buildings. The Singapore's public housing authority has an impressive record of providing high standard public housing for Singaporeans through a comprehensive building program. As part of a continual improvement program for the newly build residential buildings, long-term structural health monitoring has been initiated. The monitoring is to be performed during the whole lifespan of the buildings, from construction and throughout the service life. The aims of monitoring are:

1. to increase the knowledge concerning the real structural behavior,


2. to control the construction process,


3. to increase the safety during the service,


4. to enhance maintenance activities


5. to evaluate the structural condition after events such as tremor, unexpected weather conditions or terrorists acts.

“It is the first time that the SOFO® fiber optic sensor systems have been used for life cycle monitoring of a large-scale park of high-rise buildings. Besides providing the sensors, SMARTEC also contributed by developing a complete monitoring program, including engineering solutions, data analysis and the software for data interpretation” said Nicoletta Casanova, CEO of SMARTEC. “Our fiber optic systems will contribute to everyone’s safety and peace of mind by monitoring and detecting any anomalies or degradation of the buildings. After a dramatic event, such as an earthquake, people can rapidly be reassured about the safety of their homes and return to their normal lives. We expect this technology to be used on many other buildings worldwide”, she added.
“The top priority of SOFOTEC business philosophy is to fulfill our customer’s needs. We aim not just to provide a system, but a solution to our customers. We have been working very closely together with our customers to resolve any obstacles”, said KP Kwan, Sales & Marketing Director of SOFOTEC and he further emphasized that the foresight and continual efforts of the public housing authority in providing quality housing by exploiting latest building technologies plays a vital role. “Together with the committed supports from SMARTEC, we will jointly make our structural health monitoring application for residential buildings in Singapore a landmark project in the world”, he added.

The main objectives and initial results of this large project can be found in this paper: "Long-term monitoring of high-rise buildings using long-gage fiber optic sensors", B. Glisic, D. Inaudi, J.M. Lau, Y.C. Mok, C.T. Ng,7th International conference on multi-purpose high-rise towers and tall buildings, Dubai, UAM, December 10-11'(2005)