Development of wireless smart sensor network for vibration-based structural health monitoring of civil structures

Abstract

This paper introduces a wireless smart sensor network to meet the requirements for measuring low-amplitude ambient and sudden event monitoring of civil structures. The developed sensor platform consists of a high-sensitive sensing component for high-fidelity vibration measurements and a reliable event detection switch through a trigger accelerometer to detect and record sudden events. Particularly, the hardware of the sensor nodes was designed to provide high resolution and sensitivity, low noise, low power consumption, and the ability to measure the structural vibration in ultralow-power in long term to record sudden events. Also, the software architecture of the smart nodes was implemented to provide accurate time synchronisation and reliable event-triggered sensing with high resolution. To test the sensor performance, a series of experimental and field tests was conducted on a bridge model using shake table and an in-service highway viaduct. Also, the dynamic performance of the viaduct was assessed using its modal parameters. The results showed that the wireless smart sensor node is able to detect and record sudden events and provide high-fidelity structural responses and synchronised wireless network for structural condition monitoring. In addition, it was observed that the overall dynamic condition of the viaduct has no significant changes.