Smart Technologies for Health Assessment and Monitoring of Infrastructure Components

Abstract

Governments' and other reports indicate the critical state of disrepair of the infrastructure and call for urgent actions. Delaying prompt actions implies catastrophic failures and probable human loss. The technological assessment and/or monitoring of the infrastructure components is one of the means to reduce the vulnerability of those systems. This approach is essential in any urban development in general and in particular when sustainability is required. Data about the health of a system is always required for engineering calculations. Nonetheless, the true conditions are challenging in many situations because of the complexity of geometry, framing systems, detailing of connections, workmanship, etc. This paper presents smart technologies to reliably assess the health condition of three selected infrastructure components: utility poles, connections, and falling impacts. The presented technologies are based on the rigorous engineering fundamentals and are demonstrated using digital tools.