The heroism of entering a burning building is amplified by the fact that, at any moment, it could collapse. During evacuations and rescue missions, every second counts. Imagine if we improved monitoring systems \u2013 for mines, bridges, towers \u2013 to gauge hazards more precisely. How many lives could be saved?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
University of Adelaide researcher Dr Noune Melkoumian<\/a> has invented an innovative structural health monitoring (SHM) system for this exact purpose \u2013 and she\u2019s about to take her sensor technology global.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1988, Armenia witnessed one of the most destructive earthquakes in human history. The shock tore through cities, distorting structures and reducing others to rubble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter the earthquake, we didn\u2019t know if the remaining buildings were safe or not,\u201d Noune recounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith this early-warning technology, we could have known where to shelter survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an engineering academic in Adelaide, Noune teamed up with an earthquake expert to test her unique prototype. The sensor system identified damage to large-scale structures eight minutes before even a hairline fracture appeared, a life-saving length of time that grew with each new model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Noune\u2019s SHM system has attracted two companies keen to take her invention to market as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NVMS Solutions, the company responsible for the structural monitoring of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, will distribute the sensor technology in Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hegel Industrial Solutions, meanwhile, will lead the manufacture of the system and its launch in Australia and offshore \u2013 with an initial focus in the United States where over 47,000 structurally deficient bridges were reported in 2019 and more recently, last January, a Pittsburgh bridge collapsed, plunging a passenger bus into a park ravine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve made an extremely versatile platform product,\u201d Noune says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt monitors the whole structure in one go. It\u2019s extremely cost-effective compared to current monitoring tactics. The sensors are flexible in shape and size. They can be retrofitted or built into a design, and they can be used in submarines, tankers, aircraft \u2013 even for soil monitoring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Noune attributes much of her market success to the University of Adelaide\u2019s Innovation and Commercialisation Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With their support, her ideas left the lab and entered the hands of industry leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe team\u2019s enthusiasm and professional insights were invaluable,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can\u2019t wait for the next stage. We\u2019ve got building blueprints ready to go and are investigating new applications all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt won\u2019t be long before we\u2019re monitoring structures off-world on the Moon and Mars. I\u2019m excited to explore low-gravity environments and test our technology at extreme temperatures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The future of infrastructure is looking bright \u2013 and significantly safer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tune into the University of Adelaide\u2019s podcast series \u2013 The Discovery Pod<\/a> \u2013 to hear more from Noune<\/a> and other researchers at the forefront of innovation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The heroism of entering a burning building is amplified by the fact that, at any moment, it could collapse. During evacuations and rescue missions, every second counts. Imagine if we improved monitoring systems \u2013 for mines, bridges, towers \u2013 to gauge hazards more precisely. How many lives could be saved? University of Adelaide researcher Dr Noune […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4972,"featured_media":2066925,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5553,1147],"tags":[42155,42153,23117,1134,281,42154],"acf":[],"views":20,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/unnamed-2022-12-27T163057.032.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4972"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2066924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2066925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2066924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2066924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2066924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}