Dear Colleagues,

There can be many reasons a civil infrastructure can deteriorate. First of all, the age of the structure—the passage of time can cause the phenomena of decay of mechanical and/or geometric characteristics as a result of fatigue, corrosion, relaxation, and so on, but also, seismic events or fire can damage it.

Until the last century, the concept of infrastructure maintenance was linked to episodic control, through static methods and the destructive or non-destructive investigation of materials and of parts of the structure. Today, the availability of new sensors or new materials, new methods of computerized analysis, and new data transmission systems, allows for the constant monitoring of civil infrastructures.

This gives rise to the concept of structural health, and, in particular, its monitoring. To achieve this purpose, sensors capable of instantaneously communicating their measurements to data processing systems, computational techniques for the definition of the structural behavior, and data communication, even at a distance, in a fast and safe way, were developed. These sensors are often dynamic, optical, wired, or wireless, and they are also accompanied by new materials with self-monitoring characteristics.

An important role is then played by the computational mechanics for the analysis of the behavior of the structure and the correct interpretation of the signals coming from the sensors, the geomatic methods for the definition of the geometry, and of its variation (both static and dynamic) as well as during the phases of use of the infrastructure, the Internet of things (i.o.t.)  for the management of data storage and transmission (especially in areas where there is no electricity), and, finally, the  new materials (in particular self-monitoring materials).

Therefore, in this Special Issue, in order to establish the state-of-the-art on the subject and to identify new challenges for the near future, we invite the publication of research results in each of these fields, namely: computational mechanics; geomatics; new materials, with particular regard to self-monitoring ones; and the use of I.o.T technologies, for the common purpose of constantly evaluating the structural health of civil infrastructures.

Prof. Raffaele Zinno
Dr. Serena Artese
Guest editors

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• Structural Health Monitoring (SHM)
• Self-monitoring materials and structures
• Computational Mechanics
• I.O.T. for S.H.M.
• Geomatics
• Civil Infrastructures