Experimental investigations on seismic damage monitoring of concrete dams using distributed lead zirconate titanate sensor network

Abstract

Seismic damage detection of concrete dams has always attracted much attention in hydraulic structure community. In this article, a novel seismic damage detection system was developed to perform seismic damage monitoring in concrete dams. As its importance in achieving the dam damage detection, the arrangement of a distributed lead zirconate titanate sensor network was introduced in detail. A dam model system with a distributed lead zirconate titanate sensor network was used as an object for verification. A shaking table was used to simulate the earthquake ground motion for the object to be tested. The seismic damage detection system could be used in not only the seismic damage process monitoring by measuring the dynamic stress history but also the distributed detecting of the dam damaged region. By analyzing the sensor signals, the emergence and development of the structural damages could be monitored timely. A damage index matrix was presented to evaluate the damage status of the dam in different paths. The experimental results verified the timeliness and the effectiveness of the proposed method.