Strong motion monitoring typically refers to earthquake monitoring. Accelerographs, which include a motion recorder or datalogger and an acceleration sensor, are permanently installed on the structures to be monitored due to the fact that earthquakes remain very much unpredictable.
When an earthquake happens, it is important to be able to assess the structural damages over a large area and make sure that the multiple impacted structures are safe to operate again.
The main applications in this field:
Structures & buildings
High-rise buildings, historical buildings & landmarks, sensitive sites like hospitals, stadiums are usually monitoring when they are located in seismic zones. The permanent strong motion monitoring will give critical insights about the structural health and is able to raise automated local alarming in case of strong earthquakes. Several alarming levels can be setup typically in the systems, based on local structural response spectrums – RSP.
Aging sustainabiltiy and structural fault detection can also be addressed by these accelerographs, by using quite complex operational modal analysis methods.
Dams
Dams are among the existing structures that may lead to devastating consequences in case of critical failure and therefore needs to monitored, especially when subject to potential earthquakes. The dams are usually classified using several parameters like the dam height and the volume of water in the dam lake for example. Based on their class assessment, a tailored seismic monitoring system is installed for local alarming and automated actions during and post-earthquake. Structural analysis will be carried out in case of vibration levels close or exceeding the designed basis levels of the structure.
Our solutions
Hydro Dams (HPP)
Strong motion monitoring of hydropower related structures
Structures & buildings
Strong motion monitoring of high-rise buildings for SHM