This paper proposes a damage assessment methodology for the non-structural elements, especially the ceiling, in cooperation with the smart sensors and the inspection blimp robot with the Wi-Fi camera. The developed smart sensors use the infrared LEDs in sending the measured data to the inspection blimp robot. The inspection blimp robot integrated in the proposed system has a Wi-Fi camera and an infrared remote control receiver for receiving the data from the smart sensor. In the proposed methodology, the distributed smart sensors firstly detect the damage occurrence. Next, the inspection blimp robots can gather the data from the smart sensors, which transmit the measured data by using an infrared remote control receiver and LED signals. The inspection blimp robot also can inspect the damage location and captures the photographic image of the damage condition. The inspection blimp robot will be able to estimate the damage condition without any process of engineers’ on-site-inspection involved. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the inspection blimp robot, the blimp robot is utilized to estimate the aging ceiling of a real structure. For demonstrating the feasibility or possibility of the proposed damage assessment methodology in cooperation with the smart sensors and the inspection blimp robot, the conceptual laboratory experiment is conducted. The proposed methodology will provide valuable information for the repair and maintenance decision making of a damaged structure.
This paper presents the basic concept of a damage assessment methodology for ceiling elements with the aid of smart
sensor board and inspection robot. In this proposed system, the distributed smart sensor boards firstly detect the fact of
damage occurrence. Next, the robot inspects the damage location and captures the photographic image of damage
condition. The smart sensor board for the proposed system mainly consists of microcontroller, strain gage and LAN
module. The inspection robot integrated into the proposed system has a wireless camera and wireless LAN device for
receiving signal to manipulate itself. At first, the effectiveness of the smart sensor board and inspection robot is tested by
experiments of a full-scale suspended ceiling utilizing shaking table facilities. The model ceiling is subjected to several
levels of excitations and thus various levels of damages are caused. Next, this robot inspection scheme is applied to the
ceiling of a real structure damaged by the 2011 off the pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake. The obtained results indicate
that the proposed system can detect the location and condition of the damage.
We have developed a novel relative-story displacement sensor capable of measuring the 5-degree-of-freedom movement
of building layers for structural health monitoring. Three pairs of infrared-light emitting diode arrays and positionsensitive
detector units were used for simultaneously measuring the relative-story displacement, the inclination angle of
the lower layer, and the torsion angle between two adjacent layers. For verification, laboratory tests were carried out
using a shaking table, a motorized micrometer and a rotation stage. In the static experiment, it is verified that the local
inclination angle and the torsion angle can be measured as well as the relative-story displacement using the sensor
system. The resolution of the sensor system in the displacement measurement, that in the inclination angle measurement,
and that in the torsion angle measurement were evaluated to be 0.10 mm, 34.4 μrad, and 14.6 μrad, respectively. In the
dynamic response experiment, the accuracy of the sensor system was experimentally evaluated to be 0.20 mm in the
relative-displacement measurement, 110 μrad in the inclination angle measurement, and 90 μrad in the torsion angle
measurement, respectively. These results indicate that the developed sensor system has a sufficient accuracy for the
structural health diagnostics of buildings.
KEYWORDS: Control systems, Earthquakes, Electroluminescence, Computer simulations, Structural engineering, Amplifiers, Data conversion, Digital signal processing, Smart structures, Sensors
This paper discusses microprocessor based variable slip-force level damper system providing one of the autonomous-decentralized
structural control schemes. This damper system consists of several dampers distributed to several floors in
a building. Either each damper or each group of dampers is autonomously controlled by its decentralized controller, then
providing an autonomous-decentralized control system. Autonomous-decentralized control seems very appropriate for a
huge building. In this paper, as a decentralized controller, a microprocessor is utilized with very simple control algorithm
integrated. The validity of the proposed control system is demonstrated by conducting experiments along with computer
simulation incorporated.
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