Displacement and deformation monitoring method and system without using any strain sensor, and components thereof

A system for monitoring changes in a structural member (SM) as the SM undergoes one of displacement or deformation, the system comprising:

• an antenna configured to:
• induce, using a first electrical signal, a magnetic or electromagnetic field in the vicinity of the SM to create a coupling of the magnetic or electromagnetic field between the antenna and the SM, where characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM are associated with one of the distance between the SM and the emitting antenna or the deformation state of the SM;
• and
• output a second electrical signal representing the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM, without using any strain sensing device directly attached to the SM;
• an antenna holder configured to hold the antenna at a fixed distance from the SM so that the antenna is spaced from the SM and not contact the SM at least at no load condition;
• a network analyzer configured to:
• output the first electrical signal to the antenna for inducing the magnetic or electromagnetic field;
• receive the second electrical signal from the antenna;
• and
• determine the characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM based on the received second electrical signal;
• a controller including a memory storing instructions and a processor configured to implement instructions stored in the memory and execute:
• a collecting task that stores, in the memory or another storage device, a plurality of characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM determined at a predetermined interval by the network analyzer over an evaluation period;
• a first determining task that determines a shift in characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM over the evaluation period;
• and
• a second determining task that determines a temporal change in relative deformation or displacement of the SM over the evaluation period.

A system for monitoring change in a structural member (SM) as the SM undergoes one of deformation or displacement, the system comprising:

• an antenna configured to:
• induce, using a first electrical signal, a magnetic or electromagnetic field in the vicinity of the SM to create a coupling of the magnetic or electromagnetic field between the antenna and the SM, where the characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM are associated with one of the distance between the SM and the emitting antenna or the deformation state of the SM;
• and
• output a second electrical signal representing the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM, without using any strain sensing device directly attached to the SM;
• an antenna holder configured to hold the antenna at a fixed distance from the SM so that the antenna is spaced from the SM and not contact the SM at least at no load condition;
• a controller including a memory storing instructions and a processor configured to implement instructions stored in the memory;
• and
• a hardware interface configured to output the first electrical signal to the antenna and receive the second electrical signal and convert the received electrical signal to a third signal readable by the controller,
• wherein the processor is configured to execute:
• a first determining task that receives the third electrical signal from the hardware interface and determines characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM based on the third signal;
• a repeating task that repeats the first determining task to obtain a plurality of characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM determined by the first determining task at a predetermined interval over an evaluation period;
• a second determining task that determines a shift in characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM after each occurrence of the first determining task determining twice the characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM at the predetermined interval, or collectively at the end of the evaluation period;
• and
• a third determining task that determines a temporal change in relative deformation or displacement of the SM over the evaluation period.

An apparatus for monitoring change in a structural member (SM) as the SM undergoes one of deformation or displacement, using an antenna configured to:

• induce, using a first electrical signal, a magnetic or electromagnetic field in the vicinity of the SM to create a coupling of the magnetic or electromagnetic field between the antenna and the SM, where the characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM are associated with one of the distance between the SM and the emitting antenna or the deformation state of the SM;
• and
• output a second electrical signal representing the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM into a second electrical signal, without using any strain sensing device directly attached to the SM,
• wherein the apparatus comprises:
• a controller including a memory storing instructions and a processor configured to implement instructions stored in the memory;
• and
• a hardware interface configured to output the first electrical signal to the antenna and receive the second electrical signal and convert the received electrical signal to a third signal readable by the controller,
• wherein the processor is configured to execute:
• a first determining task that receives the third electrical signal from the hardware interface and determines the characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM based on the third electrical signal;
• a repeating task that repeats the first determining task to obtain a plurality of characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM determined by the first determining task at a predetermined interval over an evaluation period;
• a second determining task that determines a shift in characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM after each occurrence of the first determining task determining twice the characteristics of the magnetic or electromagnetic field coupling between the antenna and the SM at the predetermined interval, or collectively at the end of the evaluation period;
• and
• a third determining task that determines a temporal change in relative deformation or displacement of the SM over the evaluation period.