Smart wireless sensing and assessment for civil infrastructure

Recently, there has been increasing need for adopting smart sensing technologies to structural health monitoring (SHM) applications for civil infrastructure. In this paper, the state of the art in smart wireless sensing and assessment techniques for civil structures are reviewed focusing on full-scale applications. Three types of smart wireless sensing technologies are discussed: wireless acceleration sensor-based SHM, wireless impedance-based SHM and an optics-based non-contact actuation and sensing technique. At first, vibration-based SHM using a dense array of wireless acceleration sensors is implemented to a cable-stayed bridge. The modal identification of the bridge and cable tension estimation are carried out using the ambient acceleration data. Measured data during a typhoon is also discussed. Secondly, impedance-based SHM using piezoelectric active sensors is presented focusing on hardware and software issues. A wireless impedance sensor node is presented for local SHM and neural network-based smart assessment algorithm is proposed to detect multi-type damages. Finally, a wireless power and data transmission method using laser and optoelectronic technologies is presented for non-contact measurement of guided waves and impedance, and subsequent damage detection. This method is embodied in a small printed circuit board, and the performance is validated on a lab-scale steel truss member.