Advanced Monitoring System for Large Structural Systems

The concept of a health monitoring system for civil structural systems is continuously evolving as a result of new requirements and the development of new sensor technologies. The area of structural health monitoring is still rather underdeveloped, and there is a lack of consensus on what needs to be monitored and how it can be implemented. The goal of a health monitoring system is to be able to provide advance notice of impending failures, and if possible provide objective data on preventive maintenance and retrofit requirements. In this article the authors have enumerated the general requirements of a successful health monitoring system for bridges, and have provided a real life example of a bridge monitoring system, that the authors are in the process of implementing.