BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A real-time risk perception and early warning system for ancient buildings, developed by a Chinese research team, has been applied to restoration projects in north China, according to a report by China Science Daily.
Over 70 percent of China's ancient buildings feature brick-wood or stone masonry structures. Due to their age and relatively poor structural stability, these buildings are highly susceptible to irreversible damage during restoration, including wall cracking, foundation settlement, and even structural collapse.
Traditional practice to protect those ancient buildings faces challenges such as insufficient monitoring accuracy and delayed warnings. Furthermore, intrusive monitoring methods would damage the building fabric itself, violating the principle of restoring the old as old with minimum intervention. Manual inspections are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and lack standardized risk assessment.
A team nicknamed "Guardians of Ancient Buildings" from north China's Hebei GEO University has made full use of the university's expertise in geotechnical and underground engineering research. Focusing on low-power consumption and non-destructive approaches, the team used digital monitoring technologies for ancient buildings and established a replicable and standardized monitoring system.
Drawing on experience from ancient building protection projects, the team has finalized three core technologies. First, integrating drones and Internet of Things technology to deploy distributed non-destructive, low-power sensors for zero-damage collection of building settlement and deformation data.
Second, relying on mechanical modeling and numerical simulation to customize exclusive risk warning thresholds for individual ancient buildings.
Third, constructing a three-tier intelligent architecture of "perception-network-application," which leverages 5G and cloud computing technologies to achieve real-time data transmission and graded warnings, thereby shifting ancient building protection from post-damage emergency repair to proactive intervention.
This early warning system has already been applied to ancient building restoration projects in Hebei Province, Shanxi Province, and Tianjin Municipality.
Team leader Dong Yucang said that the team will optimize the system's operational effectiveness, promoting the deep integration of geotechnical engineering monitoring technology with cultural heritage protection, and providing feasible solutions for active protection of historic buildings. ■
