Investigação de um sistema alternativo para o monitoramento de deformações em estruturas de concreto armado (Investigation of an alternative system for monitoring strains in reinforced concrete structures)

In civil engineering, variations in material properties together with the application of different construction techniques and environmental conditions may not be fully considered in structural designs, which could lead to structural damages. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) makes it possible to follow the behavior of a structure, allowing the evaluation of ist conditions and the investigation of ist damages and need for interventions. However, SHM is not commonly applied yet due to ist high instrumentation cost and the complexity of ist procedures. Therefore, the present work aims the development of a low-cost strain measurement system for reinforced concrete structures composed of strain gages, amplifiers, signal converters, and microprocessors. Thus, an easy-to-use and low-cost data system composed of an AD620 amplifier module and an ADS1115 converter was built. Additionally, to facilitate field instrumentations, a steel plate with strain gages arranged in a full Wheatstone bridge was also built. The evaluation of the system was conducted by lab testing a column, four-point bending tests of four beams, and the field monitoring of two columns in a residential building during construction. The results showed that the proposed system performed satisfactorily, being able to accurately measure the strains in reinforced concrete structures.