The effects that climate change has been having on our daily lives in recent years are now a very obvious fact for each of us: from the strong summer heat waves to the increasingly frequent anomalous disturbances, more and more extreme conditions are being encountered every day.

The same is also true for infrastructure, which is under increasingly critical pressure due to climate change.

Precisely from that context, in this article we will present the case of one of our monitoring interventions of a light tower on which anomalies had been visually detected.

The specific case of monitoring a light tower

After an initial site survey, it was decided to install our SHBox system on this structure to check its stability and detect any critical vibrations or oscillations.

To achieve a comprehensive measurement of the structure, a total of seven multi-sensor nodes, placed at certain strategic points:

• 2 knots on the top of the tower to measure peak oscillations;
• 2 nodes in the middle of the tower to monitor vibration along the structure;
• 3 nodes at the base to detect any movement or deformation at the base of the tower.

In this way, by transmitting data through the LoRa network, our solution enabled real-time recording of key parameters, such as vibration amplitude and “elastic capacity” to return to the tower’s initial position through triaxial inclinometers.

Want to learn more about how the SHBox system installation takes place? Read our in-depth article.

Driving maintenance through data

During the period of monitoring the structure, our system collected a wide range of information, allowing us to compare the actual behavior of the tower with that predicted by the design.

This has highlighted an extremely significant fact, namely that today’s stresses do not always tend to correspond to those for which the infrastructure was originally designed. At the same time, the increase in extreme weather events is progressively accelerating the deterioration of architectural works.

This type of monitoring has highlighted how the adoption of predictive technologies can become a crucial advantage for infrastructure maintenance.

Where visual inspection may fail, monitoring detects minimal alterations, allowing early intervention before a critical issue results in damage or, in extreme cases, an emergency.

Toward a new cultural paradigm

Given this scenario, a brief reflection in the margin of the example just given is appropriate.

Predictive maintenance is, in fact, a necessary cultural change to ensure the increased longevity of infrastructure and the safety of places. However, it is not always perceived as an added value; indeed, many companies still see predictive maintenance as a cost rather than an investment.

Instead, Sysdev’s SHBox system and various related monitoring solutions enable companies to look beyond that, protecting their infrastructure from the risks of unforeseen stresses and progressive wear and tear, thereby containing repair costs and, most importantly, maximizing safety.

Join the Sysdev ecosystem, too

Sysdev supports companies and institutions in monitoring their architectural works, enabling predictive management of infrastructure assets.

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