With great potential to ensure the safety of civil structures, structural health monitoring (SHM) systems have attracted much attention in recent years. This research will investigate a novel approach of harnessing mobile sensor networks for SHM. With optimal placement and reconfiguration strategies, intelligent mobile sensor networks provide a means to adaptively reconfigure network architecture while achieving unprecedented high spatial resolutions.
The research will begin with investigating criteria and principles for designing mobile sensor nodes; a magnet-wheeled mobile sensor prototype will then be developed for navigating on ferromagnetic structures. Substructure-based finite-element (FE) model will be updated and damage detection algorithms that best utilize the high spatial resolution provided by the mobile sensing nodes will be developed. Finally a systematic methodology will be developed for adaptively optimizing and readjusting network configurations.
Benefiting from the high-valued educational tradition at Georgia Tech, considerable efforts will be made to recruit graduate and undergraduate students from minority groups. The prototype mobile sensors will be integrated with a new course on advanced dynamics and smart structures, which is to be offered by the PI at Georgia Tech. One-day outreach activities will be designed for groups of K-12 students, in order to spark their strong interest in science and engineering.
