Building monitoring
Buildings and structures
Measure how your building actually responded to the shaking, so the decision to occupy, inspect or evacuate starts on the structure's own data, not a visual guess.
Trusted on critical assets
After the shaking stops, the building has to be judged.
A cordon goes up, an engineer is called, and the building sits closed while a queue forms. The delay is rarely about damage. It is about not knowing how hard the building was actually shaken.
Canterbury Seismic instruments record the motion at the base, up the height and at the roof on one synchronised clock, so you can see the drift and acceleration the structure experienced rather than infer it. In New Zealand, Sentinel™ compares that record directly against the building's own code design demand and returns a white, amber or red answer within minutes. Elsewhere, the same record feeds your engineer's assessment.
How buildings are instrumented, from two units up
Start: two to three instruments. Ground or base plus roof. Captures the building's fundamental period and overall drift. Enough to tell a big response from a small one.
Standard: base, mid-height, roof. Tri-axial at each level, the recognised approach for structural instrumentation, resolving how motion builds up the structure.
Extended: full array. Multiple levels on one EQR-C for inter-storey drift, LVDT on movement joints, and the Sentinel decision layer (NZ) turning the record into an occupancy answer.
Right-sized protection: IP54 as standard for plant rooms and risers, IP65 where a location is exposed. Pay for the rating the location needs. The EQR-90's low installed cost means you can instrument more floors for the same budget.
Proven in real buildings, through real earthquakes
Our instruments run in occupied commercial and civic buildings, including a multi-level structural array in the Christchurch Civic Offices, and Sentinel is chosen by organisations that need a fast, defensible occupancy call. Supplied, installed and commissioned by the team that builds the hardware.
Why Canterbury Seismic is the right seismic and structural monitoring partner.
Modular seismic monitoring, configured to your site.
Your data, in your systems
Every instrument records raw time-series acceleration and outputs MiniSEED, CSV and a programmatic HTTPS API, with SeedLink streaming and dry-contact relays into your SCADA or PLC. The web interface is the console, so there is no separate software licence or subscription to run it. Feed the record into your existing dam-monitoring and control systems, or hand it to your engineer's own analysis tools. If you specify instrumentation as a consultant, we supply the measurement layer for your analysis. Your data stays yours.
Talk to us about your building
Tell us the building, its structural system and who makes the occupancy call. We will scope the instrumentation and, in New Zealand, the Sentinel plan around it.
Building seismic monitoring questions
How many sensors does a building need?
Two to three is a workable start: one at the base and one at the roof, capturing the building's period and overall drift. The recognised approach is base, mid-height and roof, tri-axial. Taller or higher-value buildings extend to a multi-level array coordinated by one EQR-C.
Where do the sensors go?
At the base or foundation, at one or more intermediate levels, and at the roof, so the record shows how motion builds up the structure. Movement joints can be monitored with an LVDT on the same clock.
Will it tell me if the building is safe to occupy?
In New Zealand, yes. Sentinel compares the measured shaking against the building's NZS 1170.5 design limits and returns a white, amber or red answer within minutes, with an action attached. Outside New Zealand the record feeds your engineer's assessment.
Do we need a subscription to run the instruments?
No. The instrument's web interface is the console for configuration, live data and event downloads, with no separate software licence. Sentinel is a separate optional service for the NZ occupancy answer.
Will it integrate with our building management system?
Yes. Instruments output MiniSEED, CSV and a programmatic HTTPS API, with dry-contact relays into a BMS or alarm system.
Has it recorded real earthquakes?
Yes. Canterbury Seismic instruments have captured strong ground motion through a major earthquake sequence and run continuously in occupied buildings.