An IoT system recently developed by Chinese engineers for monitoring railway tunnels is quite innovative. This Raspberry Pi-Based IoT System for Grouting Void Detection in Tunnel Construction is an innovative solution designed to ensure the structural integrity of tunnels during the grouting process.
The system uses a Raspberry Pi microcomputer, embedded electrical wires, and a cloud platform for data storage and access.
With this, Chinese engineers have found a novel use for the Raspberry Pi: detecting voids/holes in the linings of railway tunnels. This innovative approach was detailed in a paper published in the journal Buildings.
The system aims to detect voids in the secondary lining of railway tunnels, which can compromise structural integrity.
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| The proposed grouting void detection system |
Engineers embedded wires in the secondary lining of a 600-meter tunnel and connected them to the Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins. The Raspberry Pi measures the conductivity of concrete, with dips indicating possible voids or holes.
Unlike traditional methods like ground penetrating radar, the Raspberry Pi system provides continuous monitoring. Readings from the sensors are uploaded to Alibaba Cloud over a 5G connection and stored in a MySQL database for real-time monitoring and historical analysis.
Data is uploaded to a cloud platform, allowing engineers to access it via smartphones.
System Components:
- Raspberry Pi: The core of the system, connected to GPIO pins to measure the conductivity of concrete.
- Sensors: Embedded wires in the tunnel lining act as sensors to detect changes in conductivity.
- Data Transmission: Data from the sensors is uploaded to Alibaba Cloud over a 5G connection.
- Database: The data is stored in a MySQL database for real-time monitoring and historical analysis.
One of the Raspberry Pi's key strengths is its general-purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins, which allow it to interface with sensors, motors, and other devices, making it an ideal platform for real- time monitoring system.
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