A technology for measuring the structural integrity of buildings in real-time has been introduced into Australia.
STRAAM (STructural Risk Assessment And Management) uses non-destructive ground monitors to measure the vibrations that occur in buildings in response to environmental factors.
The inventor, Dr Alan Jeary, describes the method as a Structural Cardiograph (SCG), likening a building's response to external vibrations as its heartbeat and the SCG as a measure of the health of the beat.
Jeary said he has been working on the technology for over 40 years, starting with problems in British cooling towers caused by wind excitation. That piqued his interest in structural dynamics and he began to "shake" buildings, measuring the movement of the building and the frequencies of that movement. From that research, he was able to "see the characteristics that were occurring" and develop a model for what was happening in the structure as it vibrated.
The most difficult part was calculating the damping effects and, he says, it wasn't until he picked up on some work being done at Imperial College in London on fracture mechanics modelling that helped him identify how damping would change under different circumstances.
"This nonlinear characteristic suddenly became predictable," he said."We've done all sorts of things now in New York City. We've seen various things going on in structures. And it's very clear that the fracture mechanics model is a good one. It's very robust."
The system uses highly-sensitive accelerometers to measure the sway of buildings. These measurements are transmitted to a data centre in the United States which crunches the data to identify the dynamic signature of the building.
Ground engineering specialists Mainmark have introduced STRAAM to Australia and Mainmark COO Tim Pope believes it can be used to improve asset management and make communities and buildings more resilient to natural disasters.
"Real-time structural analysis can indicate causes of structural damage, likely risk of further damage and overall structural stability," said Pope.
[A STRAAM kit with accelerometers and data logger. Photo: Mainmark]
Infrastructure will be a major topic of discussion at the Australian Engineering Conference 2016 in Brisbane on November 23-25.