Design and validation of a fast wireless low-frequency vibration inspection system for offshore platform structures

Abstract

Structural health monitoring has become increasingly important in the effective evaluation of structural health conditions and the maintenance service of structures. The validity and convenience of obtaining sensor data are critical for data mining, feature extraction, and condition assessment. A fast wireless low-frequency vibration inspection system (FWLVIS) based on wireless sensor networks for offshore platform structural vibration inspection is presented in this paper. The designed system consists of intelligent acquisition equipment and eight wireless nodes with low-frequency acceleration sensors, while the entire system has 64 collection channels. The wireless nodes integrated with a vibration sensing unit, an embedded low-power micro-processing unit, a wireless transceiver unit, and a large-capacity power unit perform functions, which could perform data collection, initial analysis, data storage, and wireless transmission. The intelligent acquisition equipment integrated with a high-performance computation unit, a wireless transceiver unit, a mobile power source, and the embedded data analysis software could completely control the multi-wireless nodes, receive and analyze the data, and implement the parameter identification. Experiments are performed on a single pendulum, and then on an offshore platform model is constructed to verify the FWLVIS. The experimental results show that the system has the following characteristics: fast arrangement, high sampling rate, high resolution, and capacity for low-frequency inspection. Thus, the system has good application prospects and practical value in the field of structural health monitoring and non-destructive inspection.

Exploring Autonomous and Remotely Operated Vehicles in Offshore Structure Inspections

“…The use of vectored thrusters based on parallel manipulators has been investigated to improve the control and manoeuvrability of AUVs [86]. Additionally, the development of wireless low-frequency vibration inspection systems has been explored for offshore platform structures [87].…”

“…In the last 20 years, various organisations including educational institutions, universities, industries, and military bodies have undertaken significant efforts to create autonomous surface vehicles for a range of purposes. ASVs have been utilised in different applications, such as search and rescue operations [100], seismic surveys [101], structural health monitoring [87,102], and asset management of offshore facilities [103].…”

Buildings’ Biaxial Tilt Assessment Using Inertial Wireless Sensors and a Parallel Training Model

“…The authors of [24] presented only a short review of structural health monitoring of historic buildings. Other papers addressed the monitoring of electrical towers [25,26] with wireless systems or vibration inspection systems for offshore platform structures [27]. Some projects analyzed injuries due to telluric movements, evaluating the performance of prototypes during and after earthquakes [28,29].…”

“…Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology represents a significant advantage due to cost reduction, as presented in [5,6,17,29,35]; likewise, their reduced sizes are more widely accepted for optimizing nonintrusive monitoring in buildings. Many works have been developed on wireless sensor networks that help create embedded systems for monitoring civil infrastructures [27,[34][35][36].…”