Read how SmartBrick can be used as a first-line detection system for quay and bridge failure, and watch our newest Smartbrick movie.

18 July 2022

With a final presentation and research report, Althen recently completed the final phase of the SBIR call (Small Business Innovation Research) issued by the city of Amsterdam and the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO).

Four companies were the last to be selected from a total of 43 entries. In this phase, which ran from July 2021 to June 2022, Althen succeeded in developing SmartBrick into a mature end product. Supported by data from many different measurements and also the data from the Overamstel Test Load, SmartBrick has proved capable of detecting very small, significant movements. This allows SmartBrick to be used as a first-line detection system for quay and bridge failure.

In July 2020, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate invited enterprising parties in collaboration with the City of Amsterdam to submit a proposal for innovative solutions, other than tachymetry and water leveling, that contribute to the monitoring of bridges and quay walls in Amsterdam. Althen won the first and second phase with the SmartBrick concept. At the beginning of July 2021, the third final phase started, in which Althen and three other winners further developed their innovative solutions for monitoring bridges and quay walls in Amsterdam during a one-year real life pilot.

Four monitoring projects in Amsterdam

The Sensar project involves using satellite data to provide insight into the deformations of bridges and quay walls. Iv-Infra locates deformations of objects from the water with a 3D laser scan. The Villari project in Delft involves measuring cracks in steel structures with wireless sensors. Althen is developing SmartBrick, a special sensor solution without gateway or power supply, which can monitor the structural state of quay walls and bridges in Amsterdam online for at least five years without maintenance.

SmartBrick

SmartBrick is a scalable, easy-to-implement smart sensor that makes early detection of potential failure of quay walls and bridges more efficient, faster, more accurate and cheaper. Supported by data from measurements at the Overamstel Test Site, practical tests at more than 20 locations in Amsterdam, manual measurements of inclination at racks, and theoretical simulations, Althen has investigated how this inclination can warn of the failure of quays and bridges. In this final phase of the SBIR, the product has actually been realised: In early 2022, a fully working solution was presented, both in terms of hardware and the necessary data dashboard, the installation and maintenance protocols, capacity for serial production and proven evidence for predictive value on structural failure of bridges and quay walls.

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Test load location Overamstel

SmartBrick is not necessarily rocket science if you look at the inclination sensor in itself. The combination of features: wireless, battery powered for almost 7 years at 4 messages per day and a very user friendly dashboard, makes it very innovative and completely unique", Thijs Haselhoff, CEO of Althen, told the audience during his final presentation. "We were very pleased with the results of the test load. This allowed us to demonstrate in a controlled environment that SmartBrick can be used to detect subsidence." Althen reports in the final report that during the Overamstel Trial Load it was also able to validate the accuracy of SmartBrick by comparing it with an expensive, high-accuracy reference sensor. The data was identical.

Use of Smartbrick

To be honest, the compact inclination sensor solution is less suitable for the high-precision mapping of deformations. SmartBrick, on the other hand, is designed for large-scale, high-frequency monitoring and detecting movements, so that warnings can be issued in time and thorough inspections can be carried out in a targeted manner. In cooperation with the municipality and Deltares, we have drawn up a shared vision for the various applications. The SmartBrick turns out to be of great value in the monitoring process of Amsterdam: quay walls with risk class B for early detection of quay movement and possible quay failure, under bridges, and in combination with tachymetry on a high-risk monitoring system.

Berd Rietberg

How to proceed next?

For Hasselhoff, Rietberg and the Althen IoT team, Althen's final report and presentation for the municipality of Amsterdam do not mean the end of SmartBrick. "Currently, we as a team are working on an ultra-accurate SmartBrick for applications where a thousandth degree accuracy is required, where we are currently above a hundredth degree. We were also asked by the municipality to look at the applicability under water. The first test results of the addition of an antenna are very encouraging," notes Thijs with satisfaction. After the summer, the City of Amsterdam hopes to provide the four parties with further clarity on the continuation of the monitoring process in the city.

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