Turkey is located in a geography with high seismicity. One of the precautions to be taken against earthquake hazard is to build earthquake resistant structures as well as to monitor the strength and health of these structures. Structures are subject to constant vibration under their own weight, even if they do not encounter earthquake force, depending on the material and design features they are built on, as well as the ground and environmental conditions. It is important to monitor these vibrations in order to follow the effect of damage or fatigue under the applied loads. These kinds of studies, called Structural Health Monitoring, are an important research subject for undergraduate Civil Engineering education and also a special topic for graduate degree studies. According to the innovations provided by technology, MEMS ((micro electro-mechanical sensor) circuits are also used as vibration sensors. Another technology offered tool is the single-board circuit, in which all functions (ethernet connection, memory card, processor etc.) are collected on a single card. Accelerometers are developed with the integration of these cards and sensors are widely used for vibration measurement and interpretation.
Within the scope of this project, for the integration of 15 Arduino UNO board in the Earthquake and Structural Engineering laboratory instrument pool with MEMS sensors. It is aimed to provide scientific data as an “Accelerometer” to be used.
Within the scope of “CE_103 Introduction to Computers and Programming for Civil Engineers” course in Gebze Technical University Civil Engineering undergraduate education curriculum, Python open source programming language is supported by examples prepared for civil engineer candidates. With the Accelerometer device to be obtained as a project output, an important step will be taken in order to train competent engineers by supporting students. With the documented lecture notes on the subject of generating and processing vibration data and analyzing data will be produced as an output of this project. It is thought that the accelerometer devices that will be the product of the project will also be an important resource for graduate research.
Keywords: Open source software, Python, Low-Cost Device, Undergraduate Education, Earthquake issues