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Structural Monitoring is basically
an activity where actual data related to civil structures is observed
/ measured and registered. This has been performed
through all times by responsible designers, contractors and owners
with almost identical objectives - to check that the structures
behave as intended. Historically the activity has required
specialists, has been time consuming and hence costly and as a result
hereof only a limited number of performance indicators - typically
geometry - have been measured aperiodically
and supplemented by regular visual observations.
This situation has been dramatically
changed by the enormous development within information
technology in the last two decades. High performance sensors,
precision signal conditioning units, broad band analogue-to-digital
converters, optical or wireless networks, global positioning systems
etc. have all paved the way for a far more accurate, fast and cost
efficient acquisition of data. Very sophisticated and powerful
software for structural analysis has become available and increases
the beneficial use of the large amounts of data that can be acquired. Finally, significant developments
have been made regarding deterioration
mechanisms and environmental loads on civil structures. These
developments open the way for a wide range of applications related to
efficient operation and maintenance of structures.
Structural monitoring has thus emerged as a distinct
technical discipline as the new technologies have
been introduced in the field of civil engineering. Numerous
and rather sophisticated systems have been established. The
development of many of these systems seems to have been driven more
by the technological possibilities than by well defined objectives for application
areas of design verification, trouble shooting, user safety and
maintenance planning formulated by the “traditional key players”: the
designers, contractors, operators and owners. Most likely this is due
to the complexity of the new methodologies and systems and the
vendors dedicated efforts to market new products, but scientific
curiosity and enthusiasm may also have
played a role. As a consequence of weakly
defined objectives it seems as if the owners have not achieved the
optimal benefit from the – often rather significant – investment in
the structural monitoring systems and their occasionally extensive
operation.
It is the experience of the authors that an early and
thorough discussion with the future stakeholder(s) in the structural
monitoring programme paves the way for an
efficient and direct path to design, procurement, installation and operation
of an adequate and cost effective monitoring system.
With the hope
that future plans and designs of structural monitoring systems will
be straightforward and that cost efficient systems are developed that
are fully compliant with the stakeholders' clear objectives.
Dr. Jacob Egede Andersen
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