Development of a mems-based strain sensor platform for health monitoring of mining structures

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The current project is a collaborative effort between the University of Alberta (UofA) and Syncrude Research Centre. Its objective is to develop a MEMS-based strain sensor that is capable of measuring mechanical stain sustained in their mining equipment with low power rate that range between 0.1 to 75mW. Such specifications will allow this MEMS-based strain sensor to be integrated within a sensing platform that can be deployed and instrumented within a wireless sensor network; which will then be used to perform real-time SHM of the Syncrude Canada Ltd. operated mining equipment. The MEMS-based strain sensor will be developed in Dr. Walied Moussa's MEMS/NEMS Advanced Design Laboratory (ADL) at UofA. The microfabri-cation process of this MEMS sensor will be carried out in the open access Nanofab facil-ity at UofA where some of the characterization steps of the microfaprication results will also be assessed using the characterization equipments in this facility. Further characteri-zation of the micro sensor will also be conducted in the advanced MEMS/NEMS ADL to calibrate the sensor at different stress levels and to test its functionality under expected harsh weather conditions within limited power sources. The wireless development of the MEMS-based strain sensor will be achieved using the ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4) protocol and will be developed in collaboration with the wireless research team at the Glenrose hospital. The integration of this wireless module with the MEMS-based strain sensor will be performed in the characterization facility at the MEMS/NEMS ADL. And, the field testing of the wireless MEMS-based strain sensor will be conducted in Syncrude Canada Ltd. Mildred Lake mine site.