Structural health monitoring system for snow and wind load measurement

Abstract

This article presents a system for monitoring the load caused by strong winds and snow on buildings’ roofs. An estimation of the total load on the structure is obtained by measuring the strain on the main roof girders. The system is based on a wireless sensor network structure. The measurement node uses metal strain gauges and strain sensors based on conductive carbon polymers. The application of such sensors allowed us to achieve a measurement resolution of 5.5 ustrain. The node is managed by an Atmeg8A microcontroller. The use of energy saving modes allows for a battery life of 6 months.