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Star Type Wireless Sensor Network for Future Distributed Structural Health Monitoring Applications

Meech, James; Crabtree, Christopher; Rácz, Zoltán

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Authors

James Meech

Zoltán Rácz



Abstract

A star type wireless sensor network based on nine-axis micro-electromechanical inertial motion sensors with the potential to include up to 254 sensor nodes is presented, and an investigation into the mechanical and structural effects of bell ringing on bell towers is presented as a possible application. This low-power and low-cost system facilitates the continual monitoring of mechanical forces exerted by swinging bells on their support and thus helps avoid structural degradation and damage. Each sensor measures bell rotation, and a novel method utilising only the instantaneous rotational angle is implemented to calculate the force caused by bell ringing. In addition, a commonly used, however, previously experimentally unconfirmed assumption that allows great simplification of force calculations was also proven to be valid by correlating predicted theoretical values with measurement data. Forces produced by ringing a 1425 kg bell in Durham Cathedral were characterised and found to agree with literature. The sensor network will form the basis of a toolkit that provides a scalable turnkey method to determine the exact mechanisms that cause excessive vibration in mechanical and architectural structures, and has the potential to find further applications in low-frequency distributed structural health monitoring.

Citation

Meech, J., Crabtree, C., & Rácz, Z. (2019). Star Type Wireless Sensor Network for Future Distributed Structural Health Monitoring Applications. Inventions, 4(1), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions4010006

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 17, 2019
Online Publication Date Jan 23, 2019
Publication Date Mar 31, 2019
Deposit Date Jan 24, 2019
Publicly Available Date Feb 15, 2019
Journal Inventions
Electronic ISSN 2411-5134
Publisher MDPI
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 4
Issue 1
Article Number 6
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions4010006
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1304593

Files

Published Journal Article (4.5 Mb)
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).





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