Prefabricated building systems associated with factory production serve the often-made argument that they offer superior precision and monitoring. Harvested information during fabrication attunes production lines and avoids the repetition of costly errors. Buildings being prototypes, even manufactured buildings rarely benefit from this type of real-time monitoring and tweaking. However, as the modular construction industry is leveraged for more than single family dwellings, the need for precise measurement and monitoring becomes crucial. Manufacturers are being urged to produce modules and panels for high rise structures. This uptake in off-site construction is in part driven by new requirements and potentials, including metrics, that are difficult to achieve with traditional methods.
The factory environment is controlled and conducive to the digital threads, from design to fabrication, to delivery and assembly, that are gaining traction in the industry. Virtual construction models convey and integrate a digital fingerprint based on criteria, parameters and constraints, adjusting schedules, costs and delivery according to evolving factors such as traffic patterns, rising resource costs or other determinants. Pushing monitoring even further, it is possible for a project’s digital thread to include metering of a building’s performance during its entire service life. Climate levels, temperature and humidity, are already monitored to optimize comfort. Structural performance could be verified as a warning tool for impending failure. Applicable most acutely in large structures, bridges and high-rises, displacement and deformation metrics make it possible to track and respond to instabilities.
Recent research by professor Tobi Haist of the University of Stuttgart proposes the use of lasers mounted on structures linked with receptors and sensors to identify deformation, displacement and movement of structural components. Configured in a simple test structure, the laser’s light sources are read from a distance and recorded as points on a plane. Each point of light can be instantaneously compared to what a normal displacement should look like. In the event of a pattern that is not in sync with what is calculated as a benchmark, a signal could be sent. The research discusses the potentials for such monitoring and it is increasingly possible to imagine its use during component fabrication and construction to adapt the production of volumetric modules or panels according to changing dimensional conditions during a building’s construction.
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| Image from Professor Tobi Haist's research project |
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