Research Seminar - Institute for Infrastructure Engineering

Associate Professor Sergiy Kharkivskiy, Program Director-Infrastructure Health Monitoring, HDR Director - IIE will present 'Microwave sensor technologies for structural health monitoring of infrastructure'.

Abstract: Several papers related to wired and wireless sensors for structural health monitoring have been recently published. They presented many different classifications of sensors depending on measured/sensed physical parameters such as displacement and moisture, on functional principles such as mechanical and electrical, and on the applications such as civil infrastructure, aircraft and maritime structures. The existing standard sensors used in civil infrastructure such as strain sensors and accelerometers may not always be capable of sensing critical parts of infrastructure. For instance, strain is one of the most important physical parameters that provide information about loading, boundary, fatigue and material conditions. Traditional strain gauges are reliable, practical and inexpensive, however, they require a wired physical connection and this is not suitable for structural health monitoring of large scale civil infrastructure systems. This paper provides a review of novel microwave sensor technologies developed for structural health monitoring of infrastructure. Microwave sensor technologies may provide wireless passive (unpowered) strain sensors in addition to wireless sensor networks. They based on the interaction between materials and electromagnetic waves at frequency range from 300 MHz to 30 GHz with corresponding wavelength range from 1m to 10 mm. This paper focuses on passive wireless sensor systems and microwave sensors that provide the measurement of strain and displacement in civil infrastructure members such as bridges and building. These sensors include a resonant cavity, microstrip patch antenna and dielectric-loaded waveguide sensors that can be mounted on or embedded in the members.

For catering purposes, please RSVP to iie-admin@uws.edu.au by COB Tuesday 20 August 2013. Please advise if you have any special dietary requirements.