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Monitoring and Structural Health Monitoring

By 29 March 2021October 18th, 2021No Comments
Monitoring and Structural Health Monitoring

Introduction

What is the difference between a simple " monitoring "and the " Explanations

Each structure is unique and each structure responds differently to external stresses. Simple monitoring, which consists of checking that the structure does not exceed a threshold in terms of speed, acceleration, shock, inclination, etc., is not necessarily a sign of good structural health. Each structure must be carefully studied in order to extract the intrinsic information and process it to define its state of health (here we speak of SHM).

Visual inspection of "structural parts" was the first and most common inspection procedure. Depending on the type of structure and its maintenance cost, various methods have been developed over time. Qualitative, time-specific methods have long been used to evaluate structures and equipment for their ability to serve their intended purpose. Over the past half century, technological advances in computer/digital equipment, communication facilities and advances in related disciplines have fostered the emergence of SHM as a management support tool.

SHM objective

Whatever the reason for the degradation The SHM allows to evaluate the remaining useful life of the structure and presents a way to minimize the number of inspections, it is concerned with directly evaluating the structural health state by trying to detect the presence and extension of damages.

SHM requires measurement data, data processing to extract the necessary information, often called "indicators", interpretation of the information and an action strategy. For example, for a vibration study, the data may be acceleration measurements, the information to be extracted may be the natural frequencies of the structure, the interpretation of the natural frequency variations may indicate an abrupt and abnormal variation, and an action may be the initiation of a detailed inspection.