Practicalities of structural health monitoring

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), particularly remote monitoring, is an emerging field with great potential to help infrastructure owners obtain more and up-to-date knowledge of their structures. The methodology could provide supplemental information to guide the frequency and extent of visual inspections, and the possible need for maintenance. The instrumentation for a SHM system needs to be developed with longevity and the objectives for the system in mind. Sensors need to be selected for reliability and durability, sited where they provide the maximum information for the objectives, and where they can be accessed and replaced should the need arise over the monitoring period. With the rapid changes now occurring with sensors and software, flexibility needs to be in place to allow the system to be upgraded over time. Damage detection needs to be considered in terms of the type of damage that needs to be detected, informing maintenance requirements, and how detection can be achieved. Current vibration analysis techniques appear not yet to have achieved the necessary sensitivity for that purpose. Societal factors will influence the design of a SHM system in terms of the sophistication of the instrumentation and methodology employed.