University of Salford Logo University of Salford Logo

Thinklab

Envisioning Digital Futures

Thinklab

  • Home
  • Enterprise
  • Innovation
  • Research
  • Our Facilities
  • Our People
  • News
  • Home
  • Research
  • Innovate UK. Developing a satellite-structural health monitoring system

Innovate UK. Developing a satellite-structural health monitoring system

The problem

Owners of large assets such as nuclear plants and transport infrastructure require reliable, long-term monitoring and assessment of their asset’s performance and condition. This allows them to schedule maintenance in a timely fashion and make sure the asset is safe and productive for as long as possible.

Traditional methods of surveying are expensive, time consuming and only provide a snapshot of the asset’s condition on a specific date and time.

The application of structural health monitoring techniques provide increased accuracy over existing survey methods by using a variety of in-situ sensing techniques such as accelerometers, strain gauges and displacement sensors to assess the health of the asset.

This project involved the development of the tools necessary to allow a satellite- structural health monitoring product and service to be offered. Satellite remote sensing makes sense when looking at large infrastructure assets because it takes advantage of a technology called InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar). This is a technique for mapping deformation of the Earth’s surface using radar satellite images and it can be used to detect millimeter-scale displacement of physical structures.

Since satellites can image many thousands of square kilometers in one pass, it’s potentially possible to assess the structural health of a multitude of assets in a single pass. This would result in a lower cost per asset as well as access to assets that are not frequently assessed.

Our Solution

Working together with our project partners, we helped to develop the workflow and tools necessary to allow satellite derived ground displacement measurements to give a measured status to elements of a building information model of the structure.

We also created a structural analysis tool that informed the health of the structure and advised of any areas of concern.

Finally we developed a platform that pulled data from the satellite, Building Information Model and structural health monitoring engineers into one place, allowing the user to explore a model of the asset through an interactive visual interface.

The structural health-monitoring platform was validated via case studies with Transport for London and EDF’s Hinkley Point B and C site.

  • Vimeo
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
Tweets by THINKlabsalford

    Contact

    THINKlab
    7th Floor Maxwell Building
    University of Salford
    Salford
    M5 4WT

    +44 (0)161 295 6579
    thinklab@salford.ac.uk

    Simon Hadfield, Facilities Co-ordinator

    s.j.hadfield@salford.ac.uk

    Recent Posts

    • Novel Digital Toolset for Supporting Community engagement to strengthen disaster resilience in Salford
    • THINKlab to pilot advanced digital solutions as part of Program for Asia Resilience to Climate Change 
    • THINKlab and the School of Health develop a new high-tech project to help patients with dysfunctional breathing
    • THINKlab recognized with Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games
    • How THINKlab aligns with Cop 26: Day 9, Adaptation, Loss and Damage.

    Recent Comments

      Archives

      • August 2022
      • March 2022
      • February 2022
      • December 2021
      • November 2021
      • September 2021
      • May 2021
      • February 2021
      • January 2021
      • December 2020
      • November 2020
      • August 2020
      • July 2020
      • June 2020
      • May 2020
      • March 2020
      • February 2020
      • January 2020
      • December 2019
      • November 2019
      • September 2019
      • August 2019
      • May 2019
      • November 2018
      • October 2018
      • September 2018
      • August 2018
      • July 2018
      • November 2017
      • October 2017
      • March 2017
      • November 2016
      • August 2016
      • June 2016
      • April 2016
      • February 2016
      • January 2016
      • December 2015
      • October 2015
      • September 2015
      • August 2015
      • June 2015
      • May 2015
      • April 2015

      Categories

      • Enterprise
      • Events
      • Festival of Research
      • Green Impact
      • MOBILISE
      • RenoZEB
      • THINKlab Projects
      • TRANSCEND
      • Uncategorized

      Meta

      • Log in
      • Entries feed
      • Comments feed
      • WordPress.org

      © 2023 University of Salford.