Real-Time Monitoring for Monolithic Movement of a Heritage Curtilage Using Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Since monolithic movement is considered a promising technology to relocate historical buildings, corresponding real-time monitoring is of great interest due to the buildings’ age and poor structural integrity. However, the related paperwork and practical applications are still limited. This paper describes a wireless sensor network (WSN)-based strategy as a non-invasive approach to monitor heritage curtilage during monolithic movement. The collected data show that the inclination of the curtilage is almost negligible. With the aid of finite element simulation, it was found that the crack displacement curves changed from −0.02 to 0.07 mm, which is affected by moving direction while the value is not enough to cause structural cracks. The deformation of the steel underpinning beam, which is used to reinforce masonry walls and wooden pillars, is obviously related to the stiffness in different directions. Additionally, the strain variations of the steel chassis, which bear the vertical loads from wooden pillars and masonry walls, are less than 0.04%. This indicates that they are kept within the elastic range during monolithic movement. This work has proved that the WSN-based approach has the potential to be applied as an effective route in real-time monitoring of the monolithic movement of an historic building.