Concerns had been raised about the large amplitude vibrations that had been observed during high winds on a guyed steel lattice mast used to transmit telecommunications in a remote location in Wales. A Tuned Mass Damper was planned to be installed to mitigate these vibrations, but performance monitoring of the structure was also needed. Full Scale Dynamics were called to design and supply a long-term vibration monitoring system capable of providing key data on the structural dynamics following installation of the Tuned Mass Damper.
Five sets of two-axis accelerometers were positioned along the structure to capture motion relating to all key modes of vibration, and an anemometer was installed near the top to enable real-time correlation of wind speed and direction with the measured accelerations. All measurements were GPS synchronised and uploaded via 4G mobile broadband to an internet-connected data server for ease of data collection and quality assurance.