Underground Car Park in Boppard: Cracks at the Ramp Measured

Challenge

Cracks at the point with the most traffic

In the ramp area of the underground car park in Boppard, critical cracks indicating structural stresses in the building were identified in 2023. Crack formation at this point is a significant risk for long-term stability, especially in an area with high traffic volume. It had to be controlled, not just documented.

Solution

A gateway that needs no mains connection

A battery-powered gateway with cabled displacement transducers was installed. This was the decisive choice for this structure: the measuring point sits where the crack is, not where a power socket is. The gateway is designed for locations without an external power supply and runs for a long time on battery life.

The displacement transducers record the widths of the critical cracks and transmit the values hourly to the cloud-based platform. There, the crack movements can be reviewed over time and thresholds can be set, triggering an automatic alert on exceedance. Because the system operates self-sufficiently, it also works in the hard-to-reach areas of the car park.

Result

Two alerts, not one

Not only the structure is monitored, but also the measurement itself. Alongside the threshold for crack width, a second alert is set up: if the battery charge falls below 10 percent, a notification goes out, and the replacement can be scheduled before a gap appears in the measurement series. For a self-powered installation, that is not a detail but the condition for the series to remain reliable at all.

The project shows how crack monitoring works in parking structures even without a mains connection. If you have cracks at a ramp, a ceiling or a column, describe your structure to us through our project inquiry.