Monitoring system for concrete pilings and method of installation

• US 20060021447A1
• Filed: 07/25/2005
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smart Infrastructure LLC
• Original Assignee: Smart Structures, Inc.
• Inventors: Hecht, Kurt, Hecht, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,637,166 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/803
• CPC Class Codes: E02D 13/06 for observation while placing
• CPC Class Codes: E02D 33/00 Testing foundations or foundation structures testing methods and apparatus, see the relevant subclasses of class G01; testing structures or apparatus as regards function, in general, G01M; testing or determining chemical or physical properties, in general G01N
• CPC Class Codes: E02D 5/22 Piles sheet piles, i.e. elements shaped to mutually lock or mate E02D5/02; pile shoes E02D5/72; foundations on piles E02D27/12, E02D27/20
• CPC Class Codes: E02D 5/34 Concrete or concrete-like piles cast in position ; Apparatus for making same E02D5/50 takes precedence; moulds E02D5/665; placing, removing moulds E02D7/00 - E02D11/00; placing the concrete E02D15/04
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2001/021 Correlating sampling sites with geographical information, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00881 network configurations
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2203/0664 using witness specimens
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/383 Concrete, cement
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00871 Communications between instruments or with remote terminals

Abstract

A system for tracking and monitoring data related to the manufacture, installation and/or life cycle of concrete structures, such as pilings, as well as related system components and methods for tracking, storing and accessing such data is provided. The system utilizes one or more embeddable antenna assemblies as well as sensor packages that are installed in the concrete structure form before casting. The antenna(s) provide wireless communication of the data from the structure. On board memory is also provided to store structure related data with the structure. A system for tracking a pile during driving is also provided.

Claims

1. A method of forming a piling with wireless monitoring cababilities, comprising

placing strands in a piling form;

inserting a sensor package between the strands to position sensors of the sensor package in a piling core area;

placing at least one antenna in the form so that the antenna is located on at least one side of the piling near a top of the piling and at least one radio transmitter associated with the antennas;

connecting the sensor package to at least one of the antennas using wires or cable; and

casting concrete in the piling form to embed the sensor package and the antennas.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

securing the sensor package in position using a spring loaded clamp assembly that is generally vertically inserted into the piling form and engages at least two opposing strands.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing the spring loaded support assembly having upper and lower U-shaped frames that are connected to one another, at least one hook member being located on each of the frames for engaging the piling strands; and

a carrier sled for receiving the sensors connected to at least one of the U-shaped frames.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing a mounting plate for the sensors; and

attaching the sensors to the mounting plate and the mounting plate to the carrier sled.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the hook members is formed from a spring material.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensors comprise at least one strain gauge and an accelerometer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor package comprises first and second sensor packages, the method further comprising:

positioning a first sensor package in a location near a tip of the piling being formed; and

positioning the second sensor package near a top of the piling being formed, both sensor packages being connected to at least one of the antennas.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

positioning a tube between the first sensor package and at least one of the antennas at the top of the piling;

providing an excess wire or cable reservoir chamber at a tip end of the tube; and

providing excess of the wire or cable in the reservoir that can be drawn up from the reservoir.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing conditioning electronics associated with the sensor package.

10. An antenna assembly for wet installation in a concrete structure, comprising:

an antenna having a length of at least λ

/4; and

a reflector having at least one wall located approximately λ

/4 to λ

/6 from the antenna, the reflector forming a cavity in which the antenna is located.

11. The antenna assembly of claim 10, wherein the reflector has two angled walls located at an angle of about 90 to 120°

from one another, and end caps are located at opposing open ends of the walls to define the cavity;

a hollow tube extends through openings in the end caps, a cap located on one end of the hollow tube, and the antenna extends into the hollow tube from the other end;

a plug surrounding an end of the antenna and sealing the antenna to the hollow tube and to an electronics housing;

the housing having a removable cover; and

the flat cover and the housing cover extending in a common plane adapted to be at a surface of the concrete structure.

12. The antenna assembly of claim 11, further comprising a foam gasket located around the periphery of the housing cover and an adjacent portion of the housing sides.

13. The antenna assembly of claim 10,

wherein the antenna is moveable from a stowed position in the cavity to a deployed position in which the antenna extends out of the cavity.

14. The antenna assembly of claim 10, further comprising a foam block for supporting the antenna in the cavity.

15. A suspension assembly for positioning at least one sensor between strands in a concrete structure, comprising:

first and second U-shaped frames connected to one another;

at least one hook located on each of the U-shaped frames facing away from one another and adapted to engage opposing reinforcement strands or bars of a concrete structure; and

a slidable carrier attached to the frames for supporting at least one gauge.

16. The suspension assembly of claim 15, wherein at least one of the hooks is formed of a spring material.

17. The suspension assembly of claim 15, wherein the first and second U-shaped frames are spring biased away from one another;

and

centering springs extend between the slidable carrier and the frame for centering the slidable carrier on the U-shaped frames, the slidable carrier including provisions for attaching sensors.

18. The suspension assembly of claim 15, further comprising:

a first opening with at least two opposing V-shaped side walls for registration with a first sensor housing located in the slidable carrier or a mounting plate connected thereto; and

a second opening defined in the slidable carrier or the mounting plate connected thereto for a second sensor.

19. A method of monitoring pilings, comprising:

inserting a sensor package between strands or reinforcements in a piling form to position sensors in a core area of a piling;

casting the piling;

driving the piling and obtaining data from the sensor package during driving; and

at least one of monitoring the data obtained from the sensor package during driving and monitoring and using the data during the driving to adjust driving parameters for the pile.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

retrofitting the piling with a networked monitoring node that is connected to the sensor package;

retaining unique addressing information of a given piling, by logically linking a sensor package address ID; and

connecting the node to an external gateway for data transmission for long term monitoring.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

storing pile data in a memory located in the piling.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

for a pile having the top cut off after driving, pulling excess wire or cable from a wire reservoir in proximity to a tip wire or cable reservoir in order to connect a tip sensor package to the networked monitoring node.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

providing a GPS at the pile;

obtaining a location for the pile; and

obtaining soil properties for the location using the GPS.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

providing a temperature sensor with the sensor package; and

monitoring a curing of the pile using temperature data from the sensor package.

25. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

positioning a radio/antenna assembly in the piling; and

transmitting data from the piling.

26. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

providing a re-writable memory in the piling; and

storing and updating data in the re-writable memory.

27. A method of automatically tracking piling drive data, comprising:

tracking a number of blows through data transmitted from a sensor package including at least one of an accelerometer and a strain gauge in a piling;

tracking a height of the piling above a reference height using a laser lidar which tracks a reference marker on a top of the piling or through differential barometric pressure between altimeters located at the top of the piling and the reference height.