Structural Dynamic and Deflection Monitoring Using Integrated GPS and Triaxial Accelerometers

G. W. Roberts, X. Meng and A. H. Dodson

Abstract:	Reliable monitoring and prediction of the dynamic, deflection and aeroelastic behaviour of flexible structures such as long span bridges and tall towers due to severe environment factors, such as wind and earthquake induced vibrations as well as daily increasing traffic, are of great interest. Various techniques have been used in the past and a satisfactory one is still the subject of research. The civil engineering community is still waiting for a large variety of accurate and instant data to validate and calibrate their analytical models. In this paper, the authors present an integrated monitoring system consisting of Leica 10Hz CRS 1000 GPS receivers and precise triaxial accelerometers to monitor the dynamic and deflection behaviour of large structures under different external loading conditions. Two kinds of sensors are physically fixed together on the structure and data sets from the two sensors are synchronized. For improving the final positioning solution, some outlier detection and multipath mitigation techniques are used in the context of ambient circumstances. Using spectrum analysis, main natural frequencies are extracted from the field GPS and accelerometer measurements and used for filtering higher frequency signal noise. A simple data processing algorithm is presented in the paper as well. At the end of the paper, some preliminary conclusions are reached and further research is proposed.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 13th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2000) September 19 - 22, 2000 Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, UT
Pages:	59 - 68
Cite this article:	Roberts, G. W., Meng, X., Dodson, A. H., "Structural Dynamic and Deflection Monitoring Using Integrated GPS and Triaxial Accelerometers," Proceedings of the 13th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2000), Salt Lake City, UT, September 2000, pp. 59-68.
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