Daniela Isidori

Vibration-Based SHM of Ordinary Buildings: Detection and Quantification of Structural Damage

One of the most important issues in civil and in mechanical engineering is the detection of structural damages, which are defined as changes of material properties, of boundary conditions and of system connectivity, which adversely affect the system’s performances. The damage identification process generally requires establishing existence, localization, type and intensity of the damage.During its service life, a structure, besides his natural aging, can be subjected to earthquakes. These events may have a deep impact on building safety and a continuous monitoring of the structure health conditions, through Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques, is necessary in many cases.Within this a background, the purpose of this work is to propose an integrated novel approach for the diagnosis of structures after a seismic event. The proposed monitoring system is based on recording the accelerations of the real structure during a seismic input, and the reintroduction of them into a numerical model, suitably tuned, in order to outline a possible post-earthquake scenario.This approach provides an estimation of the health of the building and of its residual life, and to detect and quantify the damage, some of the crucial aspects of SHM. Actually, we also get both online and self-diagnosis of the structural health.The technique is applied to a real structure, an industrial building liable of some seismic vulnerabilities. It it did not undergo an earthquake, so we have not recordered accelerations, and get them from a different numerical models subjected to the ground acceleration of a realistic earthquake.Copyright

Ba virtual and inter-organizational evolution: a case study from a EU research project

Purpose Taking Nonaka’s SECI model as the main reference, this paper aims to offer reflections on the virtual evolution of ba, the places for knowledge creation. Indeed, looking at the current scenario, widening the knowledge spiral to the inter-organizational epistemological level is inevitable. To this aim, information technology tools and virtual communities can establish effective interactions to exchange knowledge, making ba evolve congruently. Design/methodology/approach The paper takes the exemplary case of a platform developed during a European research project called “BIVEE: Business Innovation in Virtual Enterprise Environments”. The investigative approach chosen is participatory action research (PAR), with two researchers conducting PAR in real time, and two others involved ex post. Findings The paper shows that the virtual evolution of ba can lead the SECI model towards an inter-organizational level. Moreover, through a learning history, it describes how all the phases of the SECI process, even the Socialization one, can take place or be supported in virtual spaces. Research limitations/implications Taking into account just one single exemplary case study provides a rich, contextualized understanding of phenomena, while allowing only some theoretical generalizations. Originality/value This paper contextualizes the SECI model within a Web platform for open innovation, to investigate whether the knowledge creation process can take place entirely within a virtual environment linking subjects from different organizations. In so doing, it applies the SECI model to the phases of the innovation process, called waves.

Design of Wireless Sensor Network for Real-Time Structural Health Monitoring

During its whole service life, a building can be subjected to operational and environmental forces usually present, or to episodic seismic loadings (earthquakes). An automated smart building is a house capable of self-monitoring in order to signal the need of maintenance, when a reduction in performance levels is detects, or to signal the need of action if there are some structural problems. One of the most important issues in civil engineering is the detection of structural damages. The flexibility of the monitoring system is fundamental, expecially in case of existing buildings. For these reasons the adoption of wireless sensor networks with different nodes is desiderable in order to monitor conditions like seismic activity. This work propose a sensor node, based on ARM micro controller, IEEE 802.15.4 wireless communication and GPS syncronization, for a wireless sensor network that solve a critical aspect in this kind of application: syncronism, when one has to collect dynamic input. Finally the paper shows the preliminary results obtained in laboratory.

Efficient monitoring system for Data Center: Agorà case study

Nowadays, the large share of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) shows a remarkable increase in energy consumption. One of the most common and energy consuming ICT application is related to Data Centers; in such a scenario, the management involves, at least, two different types of activities: one is related with Information Technology and the other one with Facilities. Typically, these management activities are complementarily done by two teams or by external companies or departments. For this reason, a higher integration between IT infrastructure management and facility management is crucial and necessary. Furthermore, Data Centers are usually characterized by high energy consumptions due to monitoring and IT activities. The aim of this paper is to show the performances of the proposed monitoring system applied to the Agorà Data Center of the Ancona hospital as a case study of RenewIT European Project. Such a solution integrates the two main management activities and monitors consumptions in one Web-based platform that enables users to efficiently collect and analyze data, and handle advanced features for planning, forecasting, and reporting.

A Methodology for the Set-Up of a Virtual Innovation Factory Platform

BIVEE project will enhance a new point of view on the latest generation methods and on the industrial systems oriented to promoting and managing innovation. A new ICT platform able to manage the innovation process has been developed and installed in one of the end-user of BIVEE project. During the validation and comparison activities, end users and related stakeholders are called to provide feedbacks regarding any issues detected in the BIVEE Platform. Based on these feedbacks, a series of actions has been implemented on the BIVEE Platform. In this context the support of technical partners in order to map the requirements of the actual architecture of BIVEE is a fundamental aspect. This paper will present the set up procedure needed in order to test the effectiveness of BIVEE proposed approach.