Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent sustainable Construction - I3con

HANDBOOK 2 SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION
Use of wireless sensors in the building industry, SensoByg
Claus V. Nielsen – Danish Technological Institute (cln@teknologisk.dk)
Henrik E. Sørensen – Danish Technological Institute (hks@teknologisk.dk)
Abstract
The use of sensors for monitoring material properties and structural
health in buildings and civil structures yields obvious technical and
economical advantages for building owners and for society. Repair
and maintenance of buildings and structures are typically performed
only on the basis of a visual inspection, sometimes combined with a
more thorough technical survey, where a few properties related to
durability and strength are measured. Such tests are often
destructive and furthermore, disturb the inhabitants of the building or
bridge traffic.
Due to recent developments in wireless technology a good basis has
been formed for further development of sensor technology for
monitoring structures and buildings. Wireless sensor systems are
expected to drop in price which makes them interesting for the
construction industry.
A Danish R&D consortium titled “SensoByg” addresses the use of
wireless sensors for surveying buildings and structures. It is a four
year project comprising 18 partners from industry and academia. The
scope is to develop and demonstrate the advantages of using
monitoring systems based on embedded, wireless sensor technology
and intelligent support systems for decision-making.
Focus is placed on wireless monitoring of moisture and temperature
as such sensor units are readily available on the market.
Applications addressed in the paper include the following: (i)
management, operation and maintenance of civil structures, (ii)
moisture related damage to buildings and houses including
implications for indoor climate and (iii) drying out of newly cast
concrete. Examples of these applications are given in the paper.
Keywords: wireless, moisture, relative humidity, durability, maintenance, sensors, condition
monitoring, concrete, bridges
Introduction
The paper describes a Danish R&D project “SensoByg” on wireless surveying of structures and
buildings. Focus of the project is placed on the systems handling the sensor data, providing decision
making tools for building owners, building operators and contractors. Technical details regarding
installation of sensors for various applications are investigated. Most of the project is based on full
scale demonstrations made in close collaboration with the industrial partners of SensoByg. Fig. 1
shows the main applications to be investigated within SensoByg. These are large (civil) structures,
moisture related damage in housing, moisture and temperature in concrete production (both cast-inplace
and precast elements). These applications are described further in the following sections.
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