Development and experimental validation of a low-cost sensor system for structural health monitoring applications.
1
Wasit University, Iraq
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Submission date: 2026-04-18
Final revision date: 2026-08-24
Acceptance date: 2026-09-14
Online publication date: 2026-09-16
Publication date: 2026-09-16
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) enhances the safety and reliability of civil infrastructure through continuous assessment of structural conditions. However conventional SHM systems are often limited by high installation costs, complex hardware, and challenging implementation. This study presents the development and experimental validation of an integrated, low-cost SHM platform for reinforced concrete structures using conventional electrical resistance strain gauges. The platform combines a signal-conditioning circuit, an STM32-based data acquisition unit and a real-time monitoring interface into a practical SHM system. Experimental validation was conducted on a reinforced concrete slab subjected to progressively increasing compressive loading. Strain measurements from the proposed system were compared with those obtained using commercial DataTaker DT85G system. Performance of the system was evaluated using 326 paired measurement points based on Normalized Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE) and the Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE). The proposed platform achieving an NSE value of 98.86% and an NRMSE value of 3.3% demonstrates excellent agreement with commercial reference. These results confirm the accuracy and reliability of the developed platform for strain measurement. The proposed system provides reliable real-time strain monitoring while significantly reducing implementation costs and maintaining a simple hardware architecture making it a practical and cost-effective solution for long-term SHM applications.
FUNDING
This research did not receive any external funding.
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