Development of a generally valid system identification for structural dynamic monitoring

 

Contact Person: S. Klinkel, R. Lins

Many everyday situations, such as rail or road traffic, construction sites, ringing church bells, wind or machine-induced vibrations and extraordinary effects due to earthquakes lead to dynamic effects on structures. Depending on their intensity and frequency, these dynamic effects can lead to considerable damage and restrictions on the use of structures.

This problem is further exacerbated by architecturally slender and more complex modern construction methods, an aging building stock and growing requirements due to highly sensitive production technology in the industrial sector. Stronger impacts, e.g. due to traffic infrastructure or climatically induced storm events, make vibration measurements or vibration forecasts necessary for a steadily growing number of buildings. In Germany, there are more than 80,000 structures (bridges, industrial halls, towers, production plants, etc.) that experience regular dynamic loading and have a structure-related susceptibility to dynamic loading.

Today, if structural dynamic investigations are carried out, they are often performed on a situational basis and usually only after damage has already occurred or use has been restricted. These investigations represent short-term measurements, which are carried out by highly specialized experts. These examinations represent only a tiny section in the lifetime of a structure (50-100 years) and are usually evaluated and summarized in a single report.

The aim of the project is to develop a digital method for continuous structural dynamic monitoring of existing and new buildings by coupling sensor systems and condition recording with BIM. This will enable continuous monitoring that automatically records the dynamic condition of structures over a long period of time. Special algorithms will be used to simulate buildings dynamic conditions (e.g., vibrations or oscillations) in near-real time based on the measurement data. The near-real-time, continuous evaluation will make it possible to directly detect changes in the structure of the building caused by dynamic effects so that targeted remediation measures can be implemented at an early stage.

The data evaluation is to be automated in such a way that, on the one hand, a continuous documentation of the structure condition can be carried out by coupling with BIM and, on the other hand, an information flow for condition evaluation to the stakeholders (e.g. owner, structure management, …) can take place. The particular challenge in the project is to minimize the number of sensors in a structure based on simulations while maximizing the data generated by them. The innovative part of the project consists in the development of a generally valid system identification for the determination of the ideal sensor position in arbitrary building structures. With as few sensors as possible, the dynamic behavior of an entire structure is to be recorded - in near real time.