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Inspection and monitoring system for structural health

Faena: Andina Division

Deadline 01/06/2023

Closing Time 4:00 pm

The infrastructure of Codelco Andina Division Plants Management, with its various assets, such as traffic and evacuation routes, buildings, civil works, among others, presents structural deterioration problems that imply risks to people’s safety, as well as operational and environmental risks. This condition is due to several factors such as: age of the works, low level of maintenance, highly corrosive environment, spills, among others. In addition to these conditions, the oldest facilities have undergone modifications over time, most of which have not been properly documented and therefore, there is no knowledge of the actual condition of some of these structural systems. Finally, it is important to mention that inspections and maintenance are currently carried out only at a local level and there is no analysis of the global situation of the structures.

Identify technological solutions to meet the following objectives: 1) Perform a mapping of the current condition of building structures and civil works of the Plants Management that includes 3D modeling and finite element modeling. 2) Establish a permanent monitoring system of the structural health of buildings and plant civil works in real time. The scouting process could be conducive to identify and select suppliers for a competitive procurement or purchase process, whose scope will be defined according to the degree of maturity of the proposals that apply to the open innovation process, which could give rise to a pilot validation test, or to an implementation if they are relevant and meet the evaluation and selection criteria defined by Codelco.

  • It is desirable that the proposal addresses both objectives, however, those that consider only one of them will also be accepted.
  • Both for the mapping and structural health monitoring, the underground application should be considered, with reduced spaces and low visibility.
  • Minimal personnel requirements for implementation, operation and maintenance
  • Given that there are structures with adhered, covered or semiburied materials, it is desirable that the technologies to be applied for both objectives be of the penetrating type.
  • For the mapping of the current condition, it is desirable that no plant shutdown is required during the execution of the service.
  • For the permanent monitoring of structural health:
  1. It should consider at least sensorization, communication systems and data processing, analysis and storage platform.
  2. It is desirable that the monitoring platform includes artificial intelligence with predictive data analytics to feed the structural maintenance plan.
  3. It should deliver alerts and/or recommendations to the operation/maintenance online and in real time in case of detecting substandard conditions.
  4. High availability and continuous operation of the system.
  • The sensorization must have heavy duty characteristics, with high resistance to adverse environmental and climatic conditions such as extreme temperatures, wind, fog, rain, snow, humidity, particulate material, corrosive environment, among others.
  • The components must be compatible with the infrastructure available at Codelco Andina Division.
  • Comply with the health, safety and environmental standards of Codelco Andina Division

Consulting, advisory and engineering services

There is currently no global infrastructure monitoring system in place to detect substandard conditions in buildings and civil works of the Plants Management.

  • Lack of knowledge of structural health does not allow for proper planning or prioritization of maintenance activities.
  • Risk of accidents to people passing through operational areas.
  • Operational and environmental risks in case of spills or leaks.
  • Production losses due to corrective maintenance of infrastructure.

Permanently

Local inspections and maintenance of substandard infrastructure conditions.

No new technologies have been tested.

Questions?