Among the new generation of landmarks, the CCTV Headquarter attracts even more attention because of its eye-catching, almost surreal design that can only be realized with premium budget and ingenious considerations for structural integrity. To add to the controversy, the double-Z shaped 54-storey tower has been criticized for increased risks associated with terrorism, earthquake, etc.
To ensure the functionality of this special structure, Prof. You-lin XU, Head of PolyU's Civil & Structural Engineering Department, and his colleagues were engaged by CCTV to conduct comprehensive vibration study of the new headquarters. With their rich scholarly knowledge and professional expertise, our Structural Health Monitoring team was able to thoroughly analyze the tower structure for its occupant comfort under different environmental conditions including traffic-induced ground motion.
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructures has been a leading field of application mastered by the PolyU scientists, involving real-time vibration measurements, moving force identification, fatigue assessment, dynamic analysis and modeling. SHM system performs not only health checks for high-rise structures, but also critical information on structural deterioration and damage for mega-structure bridges and dams, giving early warning of structural failure caused by extreme loadings from both natural and man-made origins.
The impact of PolyU's application in structural health monitoring has been phenomenal since its first live study of wind and structural health monitoring at the Lantau Fixed Crossing (青嶼幹線), Ting Kau Bridge (汀九橋) and Tsing Ma Bridge (青馬大橋) in Hong Kong in 1997-98. A good number of the mega-cable bridges erected across Yangtze River at the turn of the century have benefited from our technologies, including SuTong Bridge (蘇通大橋) (2004) and JiangYin Bridge (江陰長江公路大橋) (2004). At home we continue to support local infrastructural development, providing technical advice and services to Stonecutters Bridge (昂船洲大橋) (2003). Nearby in Guangzhou, Dr Yi-Qing Ni and his team are building the health monitoring system for the new Guangzhou TV Tower (廣州新電視塔), scheduled to be completed in 2009. At 610 meters, the Tower is due to be completed by 2009 for 2010 Asian Games, and will be the tallest structure in the Far East and the third tallest freestanding structure in the world.
If you would like to know more about what structural health monitoring may do for you, please contact Miss Kit Chan (3400-2713), Prof. You-lin Xu (2766-6074), or Dr Yi-Qing Ni (2766-6004).
