Built Structures 

GPS World?s Survey & Construction site offers survey and construction professionals exclusive daily features, opinion pieces, and e-newsletter, and product information. Areas highlighted include Survey, Mapping, Deformation, and Built Structures, Agriculture, and Natural Resources.

Articles

Measuring Mach 8

 Measuring Mach 8

The Benchmark Survey System, developed for the U.S. Air Force's Holloman High Speed Test Track. replaces legacy NGA conventional survey techniques with a GPS-only system, maintaining sub-millimeter positioning accuracy while increasing throughput by 400 percent, with an 85 percent decrease in manpower. Results agree with recent NGA precise survey data to better than 0.6 mm horizontal and better than 1.0 mm vertical.

2007-06-01
Innovation: Dam Stability

 Innovation: Dam Stability

A precise and modernized monitoring program is an important component of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' long-term risk-management plan for hydroelectric structures. Recent work at Libby Dam in Montana demonstrates that GPS deformation monitoring systems can accurately track displacements at critical points, making it an important asset in ensuring dam safety.

2006-10-01
Bridge Deflection Monitoring — Tracking Millimeters across the Firth of Forth

 Bridge Deflection Monitoring —...

Kinematic GPS trials with dual-frequency surveying grade code- and carrier-phase receivers measure 3D displacements of Scotland's Forth Road Bridge to millimeter precision. Researchers also found that measured frequencies of bridge movements compared well to the bridge frequencies obtained from finite element models.

2006-02-01
Steep-Slope Monitoring

 Steep-Slope Monitoring

Although GPS is an efficient tool for deformation monitoring, it also is an expensive one for large projects. The authors developed a remote-controlled monitoring system using an electronic switching device for multiple antennas to monitor steep slopes at the Xiaowan hydropower station in China.

2005-11-01
Millimeters in Motion

 Millimeters in Motion

Brazilian researchers devised a way to detect dynamic millimetric displacements in large structures using single-frequency GPS receivers. They combine interferometry, satellite geometry, and a novel analysis of L1 double-difference phase residuals of regular static observations over a short baseline.

2005-01-01
The Height of Precision

 The Height of Precision

GPS sensors track wind-driven displacements of Chicago skyscrapers and provide the first full-scale insight into structural response that will help produce better building designs.

2003-09-01
Real-Time Kinematic Spans the Gap

 Real-Time Kinematic Spans the Gap

Hong Kong's Tsing Ma Bridge is the world's longest span suspension bridge carrying both road and rail traffic.

2001-07-01