Measurement of Acceleration Response Functions with Scalable Low-Cost Devices. An Application to the Experimental...

Area of Science:

• Structural Health Monitoring
• Modal Analysis
• Sensor Systems

Background:

• Modal parameters are crucial for structural health monitoring, typically estimated from frequency response functions (FRFs).
• Accurate FRF estimation requires synchronous acceleration measurements at high sampling rates.
• Existing systems can be costly and complex for large-scale applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present and validate a scalable, low-cost acquisition system for modal analysis.
• To enable high-quality, synchronized acceleration measurements on large structures.
• To demonstrate the system's effectiveness compared to commercial alternatives.

Main Methods:

• Development of a synchronized, multi-device acquisition system using myRIO and digital MEMS accelerometers.
• Implementation of a master-slave architecture for system scalability.
• Validation through modal analysis of a timber platform and comparison with a commercial system.

Main Results:

• The proposed system achieves synchronization delays below 100 ns.
• Modal properties estimated by the new system closely match those from a commercial system.
• The developed system offers a significantly lower cost solution.

Conclusions:

• The scalable myRIO-based system provides a viable and cost-effective alternative for structural health monitoring.
• Digital MEMS accelerometers integrated into this system deliver high-quality modal analysis data.
• This approach facilitates advanced structural health monitoring for large structures at reduced expense.