Visualized spatiotemporal data management system for lifecycle health monitoring of large-scale structures

Lifecycle structural health monitoring (SHM) systems provide an abundance of information that is greatly beneficial for securing structural safety over the whole service life. In application to large-scale structures, the management of accumulated massive data from a sophisticated long-term SHM system poses a challenge. A robust data management system (DMS), which not only facilitates spatiotemporal data management but also enables display in an attractive way, is highly desirable. This article presents the development of an effective visualized DMS specific for managing immense and heterogeneous SHM data by integrating nested relational database, three-dimensional (3D) model, and virtual reality (VR) technology and demonstrates its application to an instrumented supertall structure. A custom nested data model is designed to store redundant inherent temporal data and hierarchical inherent spatial data. Strategies for speeding up querying massive data are set up in the database. Making use of OpenSceneGraph (OSG) 3D engine, a 3D model is reconstructed from the 3D spatial data, which serves as a platform for data visualization. A four-dimensional (4D) animation protocol is presented by tying temporal data and construction schedule to the 3D model. The efficiency of the proposed DMS is exemplified through its application to a supertall structure instrumented with a sophisticated long-term SHM system.