• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-32
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• 2016

This paper describes the backgrounds, motivations and recent history of structural health monitoring (SHM) developments to various types of engineering structures. Extensive applications of SHM technologies in bridges, high-rise buildings, sport avenues, offshore platforms, underground structures, dams, etc. in mainland China are summarily categorized and listed in tables. Sensors used in implementations, their deployment, damage identification strategies if applicable, preliminary monitoring achievements and experience are presented in the lists. Finally, existing problems and promising research efforts in civil SHM are discussed, highlighting challenges and future trends.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.175-194
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• 2016

Based on the change of traditional viscoelastic damper structure, a brand-new damper is designed to control simultaneously the translational vibration and the rotational vibration for platforms. Experimental study has been carried out on the mechanical properties of viscoelastic material and on its multi-dimensional seismic response control effect of viscoelastic damper. Three types of viscoelastic dampers with different shapes of viscoelastic material are designed to test the influence of excited frequency, strain amplitude and ambient temperature on the mechanical property parameters such as circular dissipation per unit, equivalent stiffness, loss factor and storage shear modulus. Then, shaking table tests are done on a group of single-storey platform systems containing one symmetric platform and three asymmetric platforms with different eccentric forms. Experimental results show that the simulation precision of the restoring force model is rather good for the shear deformation of viscoelastic damper and is also satisfied for the torsion deformation and combined deformations of viscoelastic damper. The shaking table tests have verified that the new-type viscoelastic damper is capable of mitigating the multi-dimensional seismic response of offshore platform.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.85-105
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• 2017

Monitoring is the most important part of the construction and operation of the embankment dams. Applied instruments in these dams should be determined based on dam requirements and specifications. Instruments selection considered as one of the most important steps of monitoring plan. Competent instruments selection for dams is very important, as inappropriate selection causes irreparable loss in critical condition. Lack of a systematic method for determining instruments has been considered as a problem for creating an efficient selection. Nowadays, decision making methods have been used widely in different sciences for optimal determination and selection. In this study, the Multi-Attribute Decision Making is applied by considering 9 criteria and categorisation of 8 groups of geotechnical instruments. Therefore, the Analytic Hierarchy Process and Multi-Criteria Optimisation and Compromise Solution methods are employed in order to determine the attributes' importance weights and to prioritise of instruments for embankment dams, respectively. This framework was applied for a rock fill with clay core dam. The results indicated that group decision making optimizes the selection and prioritisation of monitoring instruments for embankment dams, and selected instruments are reliable based on the dam specifications.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.33-52
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• 2017

A cantilever beam with a breathing crack is studied to improve the breathing crack identification sensitivity by the parametric optimization of sample entropy and wavelet transformation. Crack breathing is a special bi-linear phenomenon experienced by fatigue cracks which are under dynamic loadings. Entropy is a measure, which can quantify the complexity or irregularity in system dynamics, and hence employed to quantify the bi-linearity/irregularity of the vibration response, which is induced by the breathing phenomenon of a fatigue crack. To improve the sensitivity of entropy measurement for crack identification, wavelet transformation is merged with entropy. The crack identification is studied under different sinusoidal excitation frequencies of the cantilever beam. It is found that, for the excitation frequencies close to the first modal frequency of the beam structure, the method is capable of detecting only 22% of the crack depth percentage ratio with respect to the thickness of the beam. Using parametric optimization of sample entropy and wavelet transformation, this crack identification sensitivity is improved up to 8%. The experimental studies are carried out, and experimental results successfully validate the numerical parametric optimization process.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.69-84
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• 2017

Delamination is the most common failure mode in layered composite materials. The author have found that the electrical potential change (EPC) technique using response surfaces method is very effective in assessment delamination in basalt fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) laminate composite pipe by using electrical capacitance sensor (ECS). In the present study, the effect of the electrodes number on the method is investigated using FEM analyses for delamination location/size detection by ANSYS and MATLAB, which are combined to simulate sensor characteristic. Three cases of electrodes number are analyzed here are eight, twelve and sixteen electrodes, afterwards, the delamination is introduced into between the three layers [$0^{\circ}/90^{\circ}/0^{\circ}$]s laminates pipe, split into eight, twelve and sixteen scenarios for cases of eight, twelve and sixteen electrodes respectively. Response surfaces are adopted as a tool for solving inverse problems to estimate delamination location/size from the measured EPC of all segments between electrodes. As a result, it was revealed that the estimation performances of delamination location/size depends on the electrodes number. For ECS, the high number of electrodes is required to obtain high estimation performances of delamination location/size. The illustrated results are in excellent agreement with solutions available in the literature, thus validating the accuracy and reliability of the proposed technique.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2017

Installation of sensors networks for continuous in-service monitoring of structures and their efficiency conditions is a current research trend of paramount interest. On-line monitoring systems could be strategically useful for road infrastructures, which are expected to perform efficiently and be self-diagnostic, also in emergency scenarios. This work researches damage detection in composite concrete-steel structures that are typical for highway overpasses and bridges. The techniques herein proposed assume that typical damage in the deck occurs in form of delamination and cracking, and that it affects the peak power spectral density of dynamic curvature. The investigation is performed by combining results of measurements collected by long-gauge fiber optic strain sensors installed on monitored structure and a statistic approach. A finite element model has been also prepared and validated for deepening peculiar aspects of the investigation and the availability of the method. The proposed method for real time applications is able to detect a documented unusual behavior (e.g., damage or deterioration) through long-gauge fiber optic strain sensors measurements and a probabilistic study of the dynamic curvature power spectral density.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.273-292
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• 2014

The effectiveness of a retrofitting method for concrete columns with particular weaknesses is experimentally evaluated and presented in this paper. Structural deficiencies namely the inadequacy of transverse reinforcement and short length of lap splices are very common in columns found in structures built prior to the 1960s and 1970s. Recent earthquakes worldwide have caused severe damages and collapses of these structures. Nevertheless, the importance of improving the load transfer capacity between the deficiently lap-spliced bars is usually underestimated during the strengthening procedures applied in old buildings, though critical for the safety of the residents' lives. Thus, the seismic performance of the enhanced columns is frequently overestimated. The retrofitting approach presented herein involves reinforced concrete jacketing of the column sub-assemblages and welding of the lap-spliced bars to prevent the splice failure and conform to the provisions of modern design Codes. The cyclic lateral loading response of poorly confined original column specimens with insufficient lap splices and the seismic behavior of the retrofitted columns are compared. Test results clearly demonstrate that the retrofitting procedure followed is an effective way of significantly improving the seismic performance of substandard columns found in old buildings.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.111-130
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• 2014

The increased use of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) in retrofitting reinforced concrete (RC) members has led to the need to develop non-destructive techniques that can monitor and characterize the unique damage mechanisms exhibited by such structural systems. This paper presented the damage characterization results of six CFRP retrofitted RC beam specimens tested in the laboratory and monitored using acoustic emission (AE). The focus of this study was to continuously monitor the change in AE parameters and analyze them both qualitatively and quantitatively, when brittle failure modes such as debonding occur in these beams. Although deterioration of structural integrity was traceable and can be quantified by monitoring the AE data, individual failure mode characteristics could not be identified due to the complexity of the system failure modes. In all, AE was an effective non-destructive monitoring tool that can trace the failure progression in RC beams retrofitted with CFRP. It would be advantageous to isolate signals originating from the CFRP and concrete, leading to a more clear understanding of the progression of the brittle damage mechanism involved in such a structural system. For practical applications, future studies should focus on spectral analysis of AE data from broadband sensors and automated pattern recognition tools to classify and better correlate AE parameters to failure modes observed.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.47-67
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• 2014

This study has been motivated to examine the performance of a wireless sensor system under the typhoons as well as to analyze the effect of the typhoons on the bridge's vibration responses and the variation of cable forces. During the long-term field experiment on a real cable-stayed bridge in years 2011-2012, the bridge had experienced two consecutive typhoons, Bolaven and Tembin, and the wireless sensor system had recorded data of wind speeds and vibration responses from a few survived sensor nodes. In this paper, the wireless structural health monitoring of stay cables under the two consecutive typhoons is presented. Firstly, the wireless monitoring system for cable-stayed bridge is described. Multi-scale vibration sensor nodes are utilized to measure both acceleration and PZT dynamic strain from stay cables. Also, cable forces are estimated by a tension force monitoring software based on vibration properties. Secondly, the cable-stayed bridge with the wireless monitoring system is described and its wireless monitoring capacities for deck and cables are evaluated. Finally, the structural health monitoring of stay cables under the attack of the two typhoons is described. Wind-induced deck vibration, cable vibration and cable force variation are examined based on the field measurements in the cable-stayed bridge under the two consecutive typhoons.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.293-308
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• 2014

In the aeronautical environment, numerous regulatory and communication protocols exist that cover interconnection of on-board equipment inside the aircraft. Developed and implemented by the airlines since the 1960s, these communication systems are reliable, strong, certified and able to contact different sensors distributed throughout the aircraft. However, the scenario is slightly different in the structural health monitoring (SHM) field as the requirements and specifications that a global SHM communication system must fulfill are distinct. The number of SHM sensors installed in the aircraft rises into the thousands, and it is impossible to maintain all of the SHM sensors in operation simultaneously because the overall power consumption would be of thousands of Watts. This design of a new communication system must consider aspects as management of the electrical power supply, topology of the network for thousands of nodes, sampling frequency for SHM analysis, data rates, selected real-time considerations, and total cable weight. The goal of the research presented in this paper is to describe and present a possible integration scheme for the large number of SHM sensors installed on-board an aircraft with low power consumption. This paper presents a new communications system for SHM sensors known as the Bi-Instruction Link Bi-Operator (BILBO).