Monitoring and Analysis of Vertical Deformation of Palm House Benin City Using Digital Level

Abstract

Monitoring the integrity of engineering structures such as bridges and tall buildings using geodetic methods cannot be underestimated as they provide information about the health of the structures and their safety aspects as well the safety of the public. This study monitored and analyzed the vertical deformation of Palm House in Benin City using Digital Level. Four reference stations and six monitoring points were used. The digital level was used to determine the orthometric heights of the monitoring points with respect to the reference stations heights. The observations were carried out at six epochs of three months interval and adjusted using the least squares adjustment technique to determine the reliability of the adjusted observations and that of the adjusted heights. The vertical displacement magnitudes of the monitoring points were computed using the heights differences between the first and the subsequent epochs observations. The evaluated displacement magnitudes were compared with their corresponding computed 95% confidence intervals to determine the significance of the reported movements. The comparison results showed that the building did not undergo any vertical displacement during the monitoring period. It was recommended that large engineering structures such as high rise buildings, bridges, etc should be monitored at regular basis so as to determine their structural integrity since any vertical displacement of the structure which can cause the structure to collapse and thereby result to loss of lives and properties can be detected by epoch monitoring and appropriate measures can be taken.Monitoring the integrity of engineering structures such as bridges and tall buildings using geodetic methods cannot be underestimated as they provide information about the health of the structures and their safety aspects as well the safety of the public. This study monitored and analyzed the vertical deformation of Palm House in Benin City using Digital Level. Four reference stations and six monitoring points were used. The digital level was used to determine the orthometric heights of the monitoring points with respect to the reference stations heights. The observations were carried out at six epochs of three months interval and adjusted using the least squares adjustment technique to determine the reliability of the adjusted observations and that of the adjusted heights. The vertical displacement magnitudes of the monitoring points were computed using the heights differences between the first and the subsequent epochs observations. The evaluated displacement magnitudes were compared with their corresponding computed 95% confidence intervals to determine the significance of the reported movements. The comparison results showed that the building did not undergo any vertical displacement during the monitoring period. It was recommended that large engineering structures such as high rise buildings, bridges, etc should be monitored at regular basis so as to determine their structural integrity since any vertical displacement of the structure which can cause the structure to collapse and thereby result in loss of lives and properties can be detected by epoch monitoring and appropriate measures can be taken.