Announcements
11 May 2011 - Professor James Browhjohn writes the Technoogy Update in The Structural EngineerThe 3 May 2011 issue of The Structural Engineer features the Technology Update "structural health monitoring: examples and benefits to structure stakeholders." In the article Professor James Brownjohn from the University of Sheffield reports on a new technological data gathering process that monitors the ‘health’ of structures in real time and provides warnings and alerts should the prognosis change.
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2 September 2010 - "Structural Health Monitoring: The paradigm and the benefits shown in some monitoring projects."A presentation at the 14th European Conference on Earthquake Engineering, in Ohrid, Macedonia in which Prof Alex Pavic introduced Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) in the context of large civil engineering structures as having two key elements - automated continuous long-term monitoring and offline assessment. More»
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19 July 2010 - International testing of a 6 lane highway in USAAs part of the US Federal Highways Agency Office of Infrastructure Research and Development’s 20 year “Long Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program”, a handful of vibration engineering experts from around the world were invited to International Bridge, New Jersey for comparative assessment of techniques. More»
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8 July 2010 – Dynamic testing of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) test bridge.NPL have constructed a test structure, a reinforced concrete bridge, which was typical of 50’s style design, and is situated at a test facility in Teddington, Middlesex. NPL have invited various research groups to visit the structure and to demonstrate their various methods and technologies. The structure is then to be systematically damaged and retested to assess the technologies performance with regard to SHM. More»
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14 May 2010 - "VSATs software for assessing and visualising floor vibrations serviceability based on first principles."A papaer at the 2010 joint ASCE Structures Congress in Orlando Florida, by Professor Brownjohn, on the application of VSATs software to floor dynamic performance analysis. The session was well attended by academics and industry professionals, demonstrating that floor vibration serviceability is increasingly important and topical worldwide. Download» |
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International Bridge, New Jersey, USA.
NPL testing bridge, Surrey.
Modal testing set up for SPS floor.
Prof Alex Pavic at the European Conference on Earthquake Engineering.
Case Studies
| Rugeley Power Station chimney More» |  |
| Office building vibration testing More» |  |
| Modal test of a 6 lane Highway Bridge More» |  |
| Interference effects for in-line chimneys More» |  |
| Gatwick Airport Link Bridge More» |  |
The 183m tall original chimney at Rugeley power station operated without incident
since it was built in 1968 until construction, in late 2006, of a replacement chimney
in the upstream direction of the prevailing wind. An investigation of cross-wind
interference effects, on the old chimney, prior to construction and commissioning
of the new chimney led to the installation of a tuned mass damper (TMD) and of a
system for monitoring performance of both TMD and chimney during the remainder of
its operational life.
The office structure is on the 2nd floor of a purpose-built office building. It has steel
primary beams at 6m centres, secondary beams at 3m centres and steel columns
approximately on a 6x12m grid.
In April 2008 the Federal Highway Agency’s Office of Infrastructure Research and
Development launched the Long Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program, a 20 year
project with the objective of collecting scientific quality data from the Nation’s
bridges. The information collected will provide a detailed and timely picture of bridge
health, improve knowledge of performance and promote safety, reliability and longevity
of bridges in the USA.
Following on from the Rugeley Chimney and TMD monitoring exercise, FSDL proposed
to carry out a study on interference effect for inline slender chimneys. As a result,
CICIND commissioned FSDL to provide design guidance for such effects using
numerical techniques for fluid-structure interaction based on computational fluid
dynamics and validated using the Rugeley Chimney data.
The Gatwick Airport Pier 6 Link Bridge, completed in 2005, was constructed to connect
a new pier to an existing terminal building at the airport. The bridge traverses a major
taxiway and there is sufficient clearance for Boeing 747-400 aircraft to pass underneath.
