Estudo estatístico para determinação da confiabilidade do micrômetro em substituição do coordinômetro para a leitura dos pêndulos da Itaipu Binacional

Abstract

The present research work has the objective of determining the validity of a new reading instrument, the micrometer, to replace the coordinometer in the reading of the Direct and Inverted Pendulums installed in the Itaipu Binacional dam. The pendulums are part of the dam monitoring instrumentation, providing information of the highest value for the analysis and interpretation of the behavior of the civil structures, with which it is possible to determine the state of health of the dam. If the collected data indicated an anomaly, it would be possible to act effectively before any undesired event occurred. It is understood, therefore, that the reliability of the collected data is of vital importance, which, in turn, is closely linked to the quality of the readings performed in the field. Hence the relevance of the study. It is worth mentioning that the replacement of one instrument by the other aims to improve the work of technicians and other advantages, since the coordinometers are very wear after 35 years of continuous use and need to undergo constant adjustments, with which the micrometers become a more appropriate option. The technical requirements needed in such a validation, require strict and high reliability methodologies, such as those provided by the Scientific Method, of proven efficacy and high acceptance by the academic community. In this sense, a statistical analysis of the data collected by both instruments constitutes a powerful tool that complies with the parameters of the Scientific Method. Thus, the process consists in comparing the two populations of measurements made with both instruments, from the samples collected, and apply Student's ttest to compare their means, which allows to determine if there are significant differences between the two devices, validating the substitution of one for the other. Another objective of the study was to determine the most suitable value that could be used as an offset and to maintain the pattern of previous readings, as well as to perform analyzes based on the graphs generated with both instruments