Automatic Deformation Monitoring System

An automatic deformation monitoring system is a group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent software and hardware elements forming a complex whole for deformation monitoring

Deformation monitoring

Deformation monitoring is the systematic measurement and tracking of the alteration in the shape or dimensions of an object as a result of stresses induced by applied loads...

that, once set up, does not require human input to function. Automatic deformation monitoring systems provide a critical function for the customer. In many cases an automatic deformation monitoring system saved lives and prevented the loss of millions of dollars in infrastructure and income.

Automatic deformation monitoring system components

Automatic deformation monitoring systems include:

Consulting
Sensors
Communication
Data acquisition software and data management
Deformation analysis

Consulting

The consulting of the automatic deformation monitoring system covers a number of service activities that range from the first on site visit to sound out the situation and collect the requirements to the detailed project engineering with the selection of a suitable combination of measuring devices, mounting, power, communications, data center location and data acquisition software to the installation, operation and maintenance of the system.

Sensors

To cover all applications an automatic deformation monitoring system must support any geodetic and geotechnical measuring device (sensor) that is required by the monitoring application.

Geodetic measuring devices measure georeferenced displacements or movements in one, two or three dimensions. It includes the use of instruments such as total station
Total station
A total station is an electronic/optical instrument used in modern surveying. The total station is an electronic theodolite integrated with an electronic distance meter to read slope distances from the instrument to a particular point....

s, levels
Dumpy level
A dumpy level, builder's auto level, leveling instrument, or automatic level is an optical instrument used to establish or check points in the same horizontal plane...

and global navigation satellite system receivers.

Geotechnical measuring devices measure non-georeferenced displacements or movements and related environmental effects or conditions. It includes the use of instruments such as extensometer
Extensometer
An extensometer is a device that is used to measure small/big changes in the length of an object. It is useful for stress-strain measurements and tensile tests. Its name comes from "extension-meter". It was invented by Dr. Charles Huston who described it in an article in the Journal of the...

s, piezometer
Piezometer
A piezometer is either a device used to measure static liquid pressure in a system by measuring the height to which a column of the liquid rises against gravity, or a device which measures the pressure of groundwater at a specific point...

s, rain gauge
Rain gauge
A rain gauge is a type of instrument used by meteorologists and hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of liquid precipitation over a set period of time....

s, thermometer
Thermometer
Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles. A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer (from the...

s, barometer
Barometer
A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather...

s, tilt meters
Inclinometer
An inclinometer or clinometer is an instrument for measuring angles of slope , elevation or depression of an object with respect to gravity...

, accelerometer
Accelerometer
An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration, also called the four-acceleration. This is not necessarily the same as the coordinate acceleration , but is rather the type of acceleration associated with the phenomenon of weight experienced by a test mass that resides in the frame...

s, seismometer
Seismometer
Seismometers are instruments that measure motions of the ground, including those of seismic waves generated by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other seismic sources...

s etc. Or refer to geotechnical sensors
Sensor
A sensor is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an instrument. For example, a mercury-in-glass thermometer converts the measured temperature into expansion and contraction of a liquid which can be read on a calibrated...

for more detail.

Other techniques e.g. radar measuring devices
Slope stability radar
The Slope Stability Radar is a new application for the monitoring of slope stability at open-cut mines. It is a system currently in use across the global mining and civil industries....

.

Communication

Between measuring devices and the data acquisition software a broad range of communication alternatives are possible depending range, data rate and cost.

Transmission cable (RS232, RS485, fiber optics)
Local area network (LAN
Local area network
A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...

)
Wireless LAN (WLAN
Wireless LAN
A wireless local area network links two or more devices using some wireless distribution method , and usually providing a connection through an access point to the wider internet. This gives users the mobility to move around within a local coverage area and still be connected to the network...

)
Mobile communication (GSM, GPRS, UMTS)
WiMax
WiMAX
WiMAX is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas. The 2005 WiMAX revision provided bit rates up to 40 Mbit/s with the 2011 update up to 1 Gbit/s for fixed stations...

Data acquisition software including data management

The software is the heart of the monitoring system because of its key roles in acquiring data from the attached sensors, computing meaningful values from the measurements, recording results, visualising the changes and alarming responsible persons should threshold value be exceeded. Whilst the software is the heart of the system, the operator is always the brains because they have the sufficient skills and expertise to make considered decisions on the appropriate response to the movement, e.g. independent verification though on-site inspections, re-active controls such as structural repairs and emergency responses such as shut down processes, containment processes and site evacuation.

Deformation analysis

Deformation analysis is concerned with determining of a measured displacement is statistically significant. The analysis can be done visually through the use of time line, scatter, vector and other plots and numerically. Numerical deformation analysis is directly related to the science of network adjustment.

Papers & Examples of automatic deformation monitoring systems

Companies that are providing automatic deformation monitoring systems

External links

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