Monitoring a steel building using GPS sensors

To assess the performance of a structure requires the measurement of global and relative displacements at critical points across the structure. They should be obtained in real time and in all weather condition. A Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) could satisfy the last two requirements. The American Global Position System (GPS) provides long term acquisitions with sampling rates sufficient to track the displacement of long period structures. The accuracy is of the order of sub-centimetres. The steel building which hosts the authors` laboratory is the reference case-study within this paper. First a comparison of data collected by GPS sensor units with data recorded by tri-axial accelerometers is carried out when dynamic vibrations are induced in the structure by movements of the internal bridge-crane. The elaborations from the GPS position readings are then compared with the results obtained by a Finite Element (FE) numerical simulation. The purposes are: i) to realize a refinement of the structural parameters which characterize the building and ii) to outline a suitable way for processing GPS data toward structural monitoring.

[1]  S. Sumitro,et al.  Sustainable structural health monitoring system , 2005 .

[2]  Mehmet Çelebi,et al.  GPS in Dynamic Monitoring of Long-Period Structures , 2000 .

[3]  L. Xu,et al.  TIME–FREQUENCY ANALYSIS OF A SUSPENSION BRIDGE BASED ON GPS , 2002 .

[4]  Jer-Nan Juang,et al.  An eigensystem realization algorithm for modal parameter identification and model reduction. [control systems design for large space structures] , 1985 .

[5]  Alan Dodson,et al.  Detecting bridge dynamics with GPS and triaxial accelerometers , 2007 .

[6]  Dionissios T. Hristopulos,et al.  Using GPS for monitoring tall-building response to wind loading: filtering of abrupt changes and low-frequency noise, variography and spectral analysis of displacements , 2007 .

[7]  Stathis C. Stiros,et al.  Experimental Assessment of the Accuracy of GPS and RTS for the Determination of the Parameters of Oscillation of Major Structures , 2008, Comput. Aided Civ. Infrastructure Eng..

[8]  Yukio Tamura,et al.  Full-scale structural monitoring using an integrated GPS and accelerometer system , 2006 .

[9]  Kai-Yuen Wong,et al.  Instrumentation and health monitoring of cable‐supported bridges , 2004 .

[10]  Ahsan Kareem,et al.  Experimental Verification and Full-Scale Deployment of Global Positioning Systems to Monitor the Dynamic Response of Tall Buildings , 2006 .

[11]  Maria Tsakiri,et al.  Evaluation of dynamic response and local soil effects of the Evripos cable-stayed bridge using multi-sensor monitoring systems , 2005 .

[12]  T. Chmielewski,et al.  Application of GPS technology to measurements of displacements of high-rise structures due to weak winds , 2002 .

[13]  Y. Tamura,et al.  Measurement of Wind-induced Response of Buildings using RTK-GPS , 2001 .

[14]  S. Stiros,et al.  Potential of Global Positioning System (GPS) to measure frequencies of oscillations of engineering structures , 2008 .

[15]  Yi-Qing Ni,et al.  Technology innovation in developing the structural health monitoring system for Guangzhou New TV Tower , 2009 .

[16]  A. Seco,et al.  Assessing building displacement with GPS , 2007 .

[17]  Stathis C. Stiros,et al.  Monitoring dynamic and quasi-static deformations of large flexible engineering structures with GPS: Accuracy, limitations and promises , 2006 .

[18]  C. Fuggini,et al.  Engineering vibration monitoring by GPS: long duration records , 2009 .