Tiltmeter

Synonyms

Accelerometer transducer tiltmeter; Clinometers; Electrolytic level transducer tiltmeter; Inclinometer; Mechanical tiltmeter; Vibrating wire transducer tiltmeter

Definition

A tiltmeter is a sensitive inclinometer designed to measure very small changes from vertical orientation, either on the ground or in structures.

Context

Tiltmeters are used extensively for various types of monitoring, such as the response of dams to filling, small movements of potential landslides, inclination of towers or rotation of retaining walls, movement of piers and piles, changes to the orientation and volume of hydraulic fractures, morphological changes to volcanoes, or the response of built structures to various influences such as loading and foundation settlement.

Tiltmeters may be purely mechanical or they may incorporate vibrating-wire or electrolytic sensors for electronic measurement. A sensitive instrument can detect changes as minute as one arc second. Precision is expressed in arc seconds,...