Mining services provider BUMA offers comprehensive end-to-end services to its clients throughout Queensland. With a focus on safety and collaboration, the Company has rapidly expanded its use of operational technology in recent years, tailored to meet the unique requirements of each client and project. Jack Walker leads Operational Technology initiatives across BUMA sites, providing solutions and offering comprehensive support for technology incorporated into the day to day running of a site. “As a mining services provider we partner with our clients over the long term and our commitment is to deliver on their evolving objectives,” he says. BUMA’s scope and scale of operations are varied and dynamic, offering tailored mining service solutions to clients. These range from comprehensive

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Sensor-based Monitoring System. How Many Do I Need?

One of the questions we get asked the most when we’re helping a client design a sensor-based monitoring system is “How many do I need?”

It’s a fair question and can be answered a few different ways depending on the scenario.

In the case of a large structure or an infrastructure project, the quantity may be mandated by a monitoring scope which, depending on the technology in the mind of the engineer, could result in a reduced number of monitoring points.
In other instances, an engineering specification such as a trackbed monitoring standard often drives the quantity and spacing of sensors.

Beyond these scenarios, our clients’ present us with walls, embankments, highwalls, dams, benches, plinths, chimneys, wind turbines, tunnels, bridges, high rises, conveyors, crushers, rail tracks and transmission towers to name a few. We work with a range of expertise levels and enjoy showing how new technology can provide not just a better monitoring outcome, but also a more productive way of working.

Inevitably at some stage, we’re often asked how many sensors we think are required for the project. The short answer, apart from having to satisfy some basic criteria for some structure, is that it is not up to us. However, there are some questions that can help come to some decision around the spacing of the sensor which typically then defines the quantity.

One line of thinking is to distinguish between brittle and ductile deformation. Is the structure likely to bend or crack? A series of non-contiguous tilt sensors is great at picking up trends over time and across points but sometimes less effective in monitoring a structure that might be expected to fail in a discrete location. This may require the sensor layout to be adjusted to cater for this kind of deformation.

In either a brittle or ductile deformation scenario, another consideration is the size of the failure to monitor for. This may be applied to earth embankments and other geotechnical scenarios where a probabilistic or engineered approach has been taken towards the size of a failure. In this instance an approach may be to space sensors at half the size of the potential slump in the case of an tailings dam wall or a wedge failure in an open cut to ensure the sensor array covers the area of concern.

The decision could be budgetary and may be influenced by the duration of the monitoring requirement. In any instance, there is often more than one way a monitoring system can be configured. Importantly, a monitoring system can easily be scaled and adding sensors after an initial installation is very straightforward. We can talk through the difference between systems that will provide an isolated indication of movement versus a measurement of deformation of the underlying structure.

Learn more about the Southeast Queensland surveying firm that successfully deploys Senceive deformation monitoring and Omnidots vibration monitoring systems across a range of infrastructure, construction, heritage and utilities projects.