The Kathryn Spirit is a cargo ship currently docked in the Port of Beauharnois, 30 km from Montreal. A cofferdam had to be built around the ship to protect the St. Lawrence River from possible pollution
Instrumentation, to monitor the possible movement of the Kathryn Spirit cargo ship during the construction of the cofferdam, was provided by Roctest. As the ship was already listed at a critical angle, it was important that the cofferdam construction not make the situation any worse.
GPS Antenna at the stern
Tiltmeter at the bow
A tiltmeter and a GPS antenna were installed at both the bow and the stern of the ship. The tiltmeters provide angle values in the longitudinal axis of the boat and the GPS antennas provide the XYZ coordinates at the bow and stern.
Each of the four cables, between the ship and the bank, also has a load cell to monitor tension. Finally, to monitor the water level inside the cofferdam, an ultrasonic distance sensor was also installed. All the instruments are connected to three datalogger systems, two slaves and one master; programmed to send warnings at preset alarm levels.
Load Cell on Cable
Ultrasonic Distance Sensor
