Sensing Techniques for Structural Health Monitoring: A State-of-the-Art Review on Performance Criteria and...

Area of Science:

• Engineering
• Materials Science
• Computer Science

Background:

• Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is critical for infrastructure safety and longevity.
• Existing reviews often focus on single sensing methods, limiting cross-technology comparisons.
• A comprehensive evaluation framework is needed to assess diverse SHM technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and compare established and emerging sensing technologies for SHM.
• To propose a novel framework for evaluating SHM sensing capabilities and limitations.
• To identify future research directions for advanced SHM solutions.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review of widely utilized and emerging SHM sensing technologies.
• Development and application of a novel evaluation framework with five key criteria.
• Analysis of technologies including infrared thermography, electrochemical sensing, strain measurement, ultrasonic testing, visual inspection, vibration analysis, and acoustic emission.

Main Results:

• Established SHM technologies present trade-offs in scalability, environmental sensitivity, and diagnostic accuracy.
• A novel framework facilitates transparent and meaningful performance assessments of diverse sensing methods.
• Next-generation advancements like self-sensing structures and IoT-enabled data fusion show promise.

Conclusions:

• The proposed framework aids in understanding the capabilities and limitations of various SHM sensing technologies.
• Next-generation technologies offer potential solutions to overcome current challenges in SHM.
• Further research is needed to advance scalable and adaptive SHM for large-scale infrastructure.