An Efficient and Reliable Structural Health Monitoring System for Buildings after Earthquake

Occupation of buildings of high importance like hospitals and shelters after earthquake is a risky yet vital task for rescue workers. This paper presents a structural health monitoring system to ensure the safety and reliability of the buildings after earth quack. It is understood that ground motion and lateral displacement due to earthquack may cause deformation and thus excessive strain and stress at the main structural elements. Therefore, the building may suddenly goes to failure, requiring a reliable yet efficient health monitoring system. An array of piezoelectric sensors is mounted at desired location to measure the deformation and stress at critical points. The voltage generated by piezoelectric sensors is sent to computer via a data acquisition system. Measuring and monitoring the trend of changing sensors voltages indicate the probability of existing damages and the rate of propagation. The performance-based seismic is reported based on the nonlinear static analysis (pushover) under the influence of the lateral loading and structural behaviour through the Sap2000® software and FEMA356. The proposed model is verified for a three-story steel structure building. The effects of the lateral displacement caused by earthquake forces on strain and sensors voltage are investigated for each main element in each floor. Increasing the strain and displacements at selected elements increases the voltage generated at piezoelectric sensors. Continuous monitoring and analysis of generated signals helps the building manager to apply warning alarm or call for evacuation of the building.