Environmental Instrumentation – Useful for Several Applications

There are huge numbers of industrial applications where the role of our environment cannot be overestimated. In a bid to come out of these environmental issues, we make the use of different types of environmental instruments. For instance, there are numerous geotechnical and structural sensors for monitoring strain, tilt, displacement, and pressure.

Heave/settlement points are mainly used to monitor settlement in the ground beneath surcharges or embankments. They are also used to monitor heave (uplift) emerging from excavation or grouting. The Borros-type anchor is ideal for soft clays. It is relatively much difficult to extend the prongs of the anchor in other types of soil, such as stiff, over-consolidated clays, shales, dense sand, or sand and gravel.Inclinometer is one such type of environmental instrumentation tool that has been immensely used to monitor angular tilt. Inclinometers are used for sensing movements, whether in concrete structures, attached to a dam, buried down a tunnel or even for monitoring the volcanoes. It is equally capable of monitoring very accurate results even at most rough surfaces.There are various types of inclinometers available in the market that include accelerometer, electrolytic, mercury, gas bubble liquid and pendulum. The electrolytic tilt sensors are able to deliver a very accurate measurement and produce an electric signal to show precisely how much a structure is leaning in reference to gravity. This kind of tilt sensors is generally used in automotive industry, electronics, gyroscopes, and satellites. If there is a mercury type tilt sensor, the tilt is measured by a metal or glass can, within which there is tiny drop of mercury and two electrodes.A gas bubble liquid sensor is made of a glass tube filled with liquid. The tube comprises of the liquid and the bubble is normally bent. The position of the bubble signifies the angle. This type of inclinometer is also known as a tilt meter, clinometer or a slope indicator. While thinking about the environmental instrumentation about your project, it is extremely important to take your budget into consideration as well as the size and risk of your project. In case your project encompasses high risk, you can choose to hire the services of a consulting firm  that may prove costly at first but it will huge costs for you at a later stage.Operational for over 45 years, Gage Technique International Ltd has been at the cutting edge of Environmental instrumentation for both structural and civil engineering disciplines.