Design and Testing of a Structural Monitoring System in an Almería-Type Tensioned Structure Greenhouse

Greenhouse cultivation has gained a special importance in recent years and become the basis of the economy in south-eastern Spain. The structures used are light and, due to weather events, often collapse completely or partially, which has generated interest in the study of these unique buildings. This study presents a load and displacement monitoring system that was designed, and full scale tested, in an Almería-type greenhouse with a tensioned wire structure. The loads and displacements measured under real load conditions were recorded for multiple time periods. The traction force on the roof cables decreased up to 22% for a temperature increase of 30 °C, and the compression force decreased up to 16.1% on the columns or pillars for a temperature and wind speed increase of 25.8 °C and 1.9 m/s respectively. The results show that the structure is susceptible to daily temperature changes and, to a lesser extent, wind throughout the test. The monitoring system, which uses load cells to measure loads and machine vision techniques to measure displacements, is appropriate for use in different types of greenhouses.