Global Vipassana Pagoda: Medium Term IoT based Structural Health Monitoring

The paper presents some structural health monitoring (SHM) results belonging to a stone masonry structure located near Gorai, north-west of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The targeted structure is Global Vipassana Pagoda. It has the world's largest span (85.15 m Internal diameter) stone masonry dome which is being used as a meditation hall by the Vipassana meditators. The main dome has capacity to accommodate more than 8000 Vipassana meditators. The global vipassana pagoda was inaugurated by Pratibha Patil (then President of India), on 8th February 2009. The designer has achieved a height of approximately 90 m by dome over dome construction methodology. It is a unique engineering marvel structure and has national as well as religious importance. Being a stone masonry structure, the structural stability depends on the geometry of the structure. At present, The adopted SHM includes the main dome's diameter monitoring, temperature monitoring and humidity monitoring. The readings are recorded in ambient condition. The paper presents the selection of structural parameter to be monitored, selection of the sensor, installation of the sensors, and post-processed data in graphical format. The SHM system was later converted to an IoT based SHM system to access the real-time data remotely using a single board computer (SBC). Medium term monitoring was planned and based on the output of the medium-term monitoring scheme, the line of action for the long-term SHM is planned