Effects of Environmental and Operational Conditions on Structural Health Monitoring and Non-Destructive Testing: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The development of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques has rapidly evolved and matured over the past few decades. Advances in sensor technology have facilitated deploying SHM systems for large-scale structures and local NDT of structural members. Although both methods have been successfully applied to identify structural damage in various systems, Environmental and Operational Condition (EOC) variations can influence sensor measurements and mask damage signatures in the structural response. EOCs include environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, and wind, as well as operational conditions, such as mass loading, vibration, and boundary conditions. The effect of EOCs can significantly undermine the reliability and robustness of damage assessment technologies and limit their performance. Thus, successful SHM and NDT systems can compensate for changing EOCs. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review of the effects of EOCs on SHM and NDT systems. It presents recent developments in advanced sensing technology, signal processing, and analysis techniques that aim to eliminate the masking effect of EOC variations and increase the damage sensitivity and performance of SHM and NDT systems. The paper concludes with current research challenges, trends, and recommendations for future research directions.

Lessons from Bridge Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Their Implications for the Development of Cyber-Physical Systems

“…The impacts of weather, especially temperature variations and differential temperatures, in addition to intrinsic self-equilibrating stresses and their flow within the structure over time due to weather and climate, must be included in evaluating the structural conditions based on measurements. An increasing number of studies are focused on those aspects (see, for instance, [34][35][36] and the references therein). However, the limited quantity of comparative studies, considering the heterogeneity of available methods and monitored structures, is still preventing us from reaching a broad consensus on the selection of the most effective approaches.…”

Color-Based Image Processing for Autonomous Human Following Trolley Robot Navigation with Camera Vision

“…In Table 6, the ultrasonic sensor at the center exhibits significant variation in values, along with some noticeable outliers, potentially impacting the overall performance of the robot. To address this issue, a comprehensive approach is recommended, including operational environmental analysis to identify influencing factors, measurement of environmental variabilities like light, temperature, and humidity, separate testing of the ultrasonic sensor for damage or interference http://dx.doi.org/10.36596/jcse.v5i1.727 detection, real-time system monitoring to record specific conditions during normal operations, analysis of log data to identify patterns causing sensor variations, correlation with external resources such as sunlight, development of correction algorithms for identifiable factors, and recalibration of the ultrasonic sensor to ensure reading accuracy [14], [15], [16].…”

A Review of Approaches for Mitigating Effects from Variable Operational Environments on Piezoelectric Transducers for Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring

“…Effects from different operational environment on piezoelectric transducers are reviewed by the following papers: buildings by [ 26 ], vibrational condition monitoring by [ 27 ], wind turbines by [ 28 ], railway vehicles by [ 29 ], hydrogen pressure vessels by [ 30 ], or structures in low earth orbits by [ 31 ]. The aspects of long-term operation of SHM system and transducer durability, however, has, so far, only received scant attention at best [ 32 ].…”