NDT PLATFORM FOR STRUCTURES MANAGEMENT AND DECISION SUPPORT IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

The use of non-destructive techniques (NDT) for structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructures is crucial especially for those structures, like buildings and roads, that need efficient and reliable emergency management systems. For this reason, this study aims at designing and validating a new sensor-based NDT platform for SHM, emergency management, and decision support. Different structures of a thematic park have been monitored. The effects of different events (e.g., seismic) and failures (i.e., cracks) have been investigated using a wireless monitoring system consisting in several sensor units (properly placed), wirelessly linked to one controlling unit. The set-up of the software platform has been tuned using the data gathered through in-lab simulations and on-site experiments. Results show that the hardware and software platform paves the way to automatic detection of failures, to identify which infrastructures are still available around the monitored areas, and to generate a proper emergency plan.