Applying Wireless Sensors to Structural Health Monitoring

Dear Colleagues,

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) involves a process of in-service damage identification and health assessment for a structure through an automated monitoring system. To ensure a reliable operation and to schedule maintenance and repair work in a cost‐effective manner, it is necessary to continuously monitor and assess the structural performance and to have an accurate estimation of the remaining useful life. SHM requires intensity studies in various fields due to its multi-disciplinary nature, including sensing network, data acquisition, signal processing, damage assessment and decision making.

The special issue focuses on the sensing technology in particular for the wireless sensors. In SHM, various types of sensors are often adopted for measuring different types of quantities, such as mechanical (e.g. strain, displacement, crack growth, stress and pressure), environmental (e.g. temperature and humidity), and chemical (e.g. corrosion, carbonation, pH and oxidation). The most common sensors include piezoelectric (PZT) sensors, optical fiber sensors, accelerometers, strain gauge. The quality of sensors should not be altered by environmental effects such as temperature, humidity and electromagnetic fields.

Wireless sensors are gaining popularity for monitoring of engineering structures because they are inexpensive and easy to install. The use of wireless communication has been investigated for the transfer of data between sensors and the data storage. Such wireless monitoring systems are assembled from low‐cost wireless sensors that offer sensing, communication and computing in a single device. Wireless sensors are generally divided into two groups: passive sensors and active sensors. Passive sensors measure a specific physical or chemical quantity by responding passively to the state of the system to be monitored. Active sensors, by contrast, generate signals in a controlled manner, and then they sense the response of the system to those signals. Compared to tethered sensors, wireless sensors have several advantages including limited demands for connecting hardware, capability for higher number of sensors and power sources via innovative methods. Without wires, wireless sensors require internally stored power for operation. Several power sources can be used in wireless sensing systems, such as conventional batteries, radio frequency identification (RFID), ambient energy sources, such as solar, vibration and thermal.

Articles reporting recent advances in sensor materials, sensor properties, sensor device concepts, sensor fabrication and testing techniques, application-oriented sensor systems, as well as closely-related topics, are welcome. This Issue will accept high-quality articles containing original research results, and review articles, which are relative to Structural Health Monitoring.

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• Structural Health
• Monitoring
• Wireless sensor
• Optical fiber sensor
• Piezoelectric sensor
• Strain sensor
• Temperature sensor
• Passive sensor
• Active sensor
• Signal processing
• Data acquisition
• Damage assessment