Structural & Environmental Monitoring

Monitoring allows the digital twin to ‘come alive’, providing key, up-to-the minute data to help asset owners make informed decisions and support the transition to predictive maintenance decision-making. This helps improve the safety of our built environment and reduces the likelihood of costly threshold exceedances or failures. As the Internet of Things and Smart City initiatives proliferate, Murphy Geospatial are here to support our clients on this exciting journey. 

We provide a comprehensive range of monitoring services including structural monitoring, geotechnical monitoring, environmental monitoring, vibration, noise and dust monitoring for multiple markets. We deliver verified geospatial data recorded over time. 

Our structural health monitoring services help our clients to determine the structural integrity of their assets. We work with railway operators, light rail operators, road network operators, airports, ports, local authorities and private clients to plan, install and operate instrumentation and monitoring networks for their assets. 

In construction, heavy mechanical operations such as excavation, piling and steel erection can generate large amounts of noise, dust and vibration. Murphy Geospatial work with contractors and authorities to provide a comprehensive range of monitoring services, ensuring that these impacts are measured with certainty. This allows project stakeholders to manage these impacts so as not to cause a nuisance to neighbouring property owners, as well as to help protect the safety of those working in and around the site. 

At Murphy Geospatial, our people have a wealth of monitoring experience gathered through delivery of large monitoring projects in both Ireland and the UK over the last number of years. These shared experiences have strengthened our knowledge, making us well placed to assist in planning a monitoring solution to meet your requirements.  

• Our project managers help advise on requirements and provide a single point of contact for your project.  
• Our Instrumentation & monitoring technicians install instruments, sensors, targets and telemetry with significant knowledge in communications, power and fixing requirements.  
• Our experienced monitoring surveyors provide consistency and precision in manual and automated monitoring projects.  
• Our database and processing technicians mange our monitoring databases, web portals and reporting. 
• Our environmental and geotechnical specialists analyse and advise on results. 

 

Following initial consultancy, we apply our process and workflows honed from our experience on 1000s of projects to design a solution that meets the project requirements. We can design a range of monitoring solutions suited to your site or network, from fully automated or manual systems to tilt sensor monitoring, using the latest cutting-edge technology. Our experienced team can install and implement solutions in any environment, including basement structures, high-rise buildings, bridges, tunnels, heritage structures and dams. 

Data management and governance are key elements of any monitoring project. The large volume of data generated from monitoring systems needs to be managed and presented in a way that is intuitive and easy to understand. Our approach is to present the data in regular comprehensive reports and collate multiple data feeds into a single cloud-based platform. This solution allows better integration between multi-sensory solutions, vibration units and deformation points for instance. The advancement of scanning, BIM and image-based technology has allowed the end user to also view the assets through this platform for a better understanding of the probable cause of deviation from expected performance. In addition, we can set up alerting systems to notify key project stakeholders of threshold exceedances so that action can be taken in a timely manner.  

Railway & Tunnel Monitoring 

Murphy Geospatial have been responsible for implementing many I&M projects for tunnels, railway track and railway assets for both LUAS, Irish Rail, Translink, Veolia, Transdev, London Underground, DLR and Network Rail. Our monitoring surveyors are also proficient in the use of railway measuring devices to carry out pre-construction/ demolition surveys and condition surveys. 

Geotechnical Monitoring 

Geotechnical monitoring allows us to understand the impact of natural and man-made movement that could impact the integrity of the structure. From changes in the earth’s movement and water levels, to rock pressures and soil displacement, we offer a range of geotechnical monitoring solutions to capture the data that’s needed to make critical decisions about design, planning, construction, as well as predict the lifespan of a structure.  

Our teams have installed Geotechnical I&M in several large projects over the years including Dublin Landings, ESB Inniscarra and Carigadroghid Dams, National Gallery of Ireland and many more in the UK.  These projects consisted of in-place piezometers, manual inclinometer tubes in secant pile walls and strain gauge sensors on temporary structural supports. We also use several types of in-place or tilt meters where line-of sight is unavailable. 

Real-time Vibration Monitoring 

We offer real-time vibration monitoring to measure the impact of vibration movement. Vibrations can occur for a number of reasons, from an engine, vehicle or other mechanical system, and can cause pressure waves and unwanted sound, annoyance and disruption to the natural environment. We provide a service that can detect vibration in real-time and trigger an alert or alarm when preset tolerances are breached. The alerts then send vital information to the main contractor and/ or consultants to allow them to carry out mitigating procedures.  

We have carried out structural vibration monitoring for Vartry Tunnel, NCH, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Crossrail, London Underground and various construction and demolition sites in the UK and Ireland. The systems can be deployed rapidly and all data is sent via cellular network to a central database. Real-time alarm messages are sent upon a trigger breach to the main contractor and/or consultants. 

Real-time Noise Nuisance Monitoring 

Meeting regulations for noise restrictions during demolition or construction is essential to protect neighbouring communities, wildlife and ensure compliance. Unwanted, annoying, nuisance noise can cause stress, unnecessary local aggression and costly project delays. We offer real-time noise monitoring to help contractors mitigate against the risk of noise on their sites. If the sound goes beyond a pre-agreed level, alerts and alarms can be sent instantly to the main points of contact, so mitigating procedures can be put into place, saving the contractor thousands in non-conformance fines.  

Real-time Dust Control Monitoring 

Predicting the level of dust emission is extremely difficult because of the complex nature of mineral operations and the variable dispersion and dilution characteristics of dust in the air. We offer a dust monitoring service, using fully automatic environmental dust monitors. 

The instrument we offer is a light scattering device capable of continuous measurement of total suspended particulates. The dust monitors can be set up for remote sampling, with all measured data sent via modem to a remote PC. Downloading of data is carried out by our specialist engineers for further analysis and reporting on a regular basis. 

Automated & Manual Structural Monitoring 

Our network of sensors and structural health monitoring equipment can measure the smallest movement in real-time, both manually and automatically, alerting the responsible engineer or consultant should the movement exceed an agreed tolerance. This allows them to put preventative measures in place to resolve the issues that, if not dealt with, can incur costly project delays, damage and put lives at risk.  

Our experienced installation technicians can deploy an automated monitoring system within days. Our project managers then liaise with clients and contractors on a day-to-day basis to ensure peace of mind during construction, demolition or throughout the in-use phase of the asset. 

Tilt Sensor Monitoring 

Tilt sensor monitoring is generally used where sight lines do not allow for conventional automated total station monitoring or where the geometry of the site to be monitored is too difficult to install a site wide monitoring reference network. Murphy Geospatial have used tilt sensors in Luas Cross City, National Childrens Hospital, wind farms in Ireland and UK, structural assets for road and rail, including tunnels, bridges and retaining walls. Tilt sensors have also been deployed for party wall monitoring, façade monitoring and retaining wall monitoring for above ground structures. 

Surface & Road Monitoring 

During tunnelling or pipe laying works there may be a need for surface or road monitoring. This can be done manually or using automated total stations depending on the extent of the construction works. 

For major construction or demolition projects, where there is a possibility of heave or settlement from mass change in volume, there can be a requirement for site perimeter pavement monitoring. 

Automated & Manual Structural Monitoring 

 We monitor structural health at a variety of structures and report changes in: 

• Movement 
• Inclination 
• Displacement 
• Rotation 
• Load 
• Strain 
• Temperature 
• Vibration 
• Cracks 
• Acceleration 
• Resonance frequency 

Geotechnical Monitoring 

Our geotechnical monitoring services provide: 

• Ground investigation 
• Ground and wall movement 
• Borehole monitoring 
• Manual culvert monitoring 
• Installation works 
• Basal stability 

Environmental Monitoring 

• Construction and demolition sites 
• Urban and national air monitoring networks 
• Industrial perimeter monitoring: construction and waste sites, quarries and mines, ports and bulk handling terminals, transport hubs 
• Near road: motorways, street canyons, traffic information systems 
• Short- term monitoring of ‘hot spots’ 
• Community exposure: epidemiological studies, microenvironment, residential, schools, hospitals 

Vibration Monitoring 

• Quick deployment by our specialist engineers 
• Compact and portable to fit into any environment 
• Long battery life and low power consumption 
• Option to use solar power 
• Real-time automatic alerts (text / email / audio visual) 
• Easy and secure online portal for analysing data 

Noise Monitoring 

• Highly- sensitive and rugged (IP 55 dust and water) microphones to detect sound frequency 
• Pre-trigger alerts can be set to mitigate before the noise reaches a tolerance 
• Horizontal or vertical reference direction set by external frequency correction 
• Fulfils BS EN 60651, BS EN 61672 class 1 and ANSI S1.4 
• Delivered with individual calibration certificate 
• Built-in heating for enhanced weather protection in cold conditions 
• Local maintenance of sensors 

Dust Monitoring 

• Physical measurement of TSP, PM10, PM2.5 or PM1 mass fractions 
• Measures and reports data with user selectable averaging 
• MCERTS certified accuracy and repeatability 

• On board storage for over 20 years of data 
• Rugged weatherproof enclosure with solar shielding for very hot climates 
• Quick set up to minimize any potential disruption 
• Email / SMS alerts and FTP data export (optional) 
• Optional plug and play environmental sensors